How to Scan or Photograph Artwork for Prints

Every great art or photographic print starts with a great digital file. If your original is a painting, drawing, or anything made by hand, that file comes from one of two places: a scanner or a camera. Get the capture right and printing is the easy part. Get it wrong and no paper, ink, or printer can put back the detail and color that never made it into the file.

This guide walks through both methods step by step, including the equipment you actually need, how to light artwork without glare, how much resolution to capture for the print sizes you want to sell, and the mistakes we see most often when files arrive at our shop.

Scan or Photograph? Start Here

The right method depends on the size and surface of your original, not on which one sounds more professional.

How Much Resolution Do You Need?

Before you capture anything, decide the largest size you'll ever want to print. Your file needs about 300 pixels per inch at the final print size for prints viewed up close. Large posters viewed from a few feet away can drop to 150–200 pixels per inch without anyone noticing.

Pixel dimensions shown at 300 DPI.

Capture more than you need today. If a small piece takes off, you'll want to sell it bigger, and going back to rescan an original that's already been sold isn't an option. For the math on any size, see our guide to converting inches to pixels and centimeters.

Method 1: Scanning Your Artwork

A flatbed scanner is the most reliable way to digitize flat artwork. The light source is built in, the distance never changes, and the glass holds paper perfectly flat.

Choose the Right Scanner

Look for a flatbed photo scanner, not a sheet-fed or all-in-one office scanner. Office scanners are built for documents and often compress color, sharpen aggressively, and top out at lower resolutions. A dedicated photo scanner with an optical resolution of at least 1200 DPI is more than enough for artwork. Most consumer models have a letter-size bed (about 8.5×11.7 inches); larger 12×17 models exist but cost considerably more.

Use the Right Settings

• Resolution: 600 DPI lets you print at twice the original size at full quality. A 9×12 painting scanned at 600 DPI produces a 5,400 × 7,200 pixel file, which is enough for an 18×24 print. Use 1200 DPI for small originals you want to enlarge more.
• Color mode: 48-bit color (sometimes labeled 16 bits per channel) if your scanner offers it. The extra data gives you room to adjust color without banding.
• File format: TIFF. Never scan straight to JPEG; every save throws away detail you can't get back.
• Auto-corrections off: Turn off auto-exposure, auto color restoration, dust removal, and sharpening. These "helpful" features change your artwork, and you'll do a better job adjusting it yourself.

Scan It Cleanly

• Clean the glass with a microfiber cloth before every session. Every speck of dust shows up at 600 DPI.
• Remove the artwork from any frame or sleeve. Scanning through a second layer of glass or plastic adds glare and softness.
• Close the lid, or place a clean sheet of white paper and a light, even weight on top if the lid won't close. Buckled watercolor paper needs gentle pressure to lie flat.
• Square the artwork to the edge of the glass so you don't lose resolution straightening it later.

Tip: Scanner light comes from one direction, so textured paper and raised paint can cast small shadows. If you see shadows, scan the piece a second time rotated 180° and compare. Sometimes one orientation looks noticeably better.

Scanning Art Bigger Than Your Scanner

You can digitize large flat pieces by scanning them in overlapping sections and stitching them together:

1. Scan the artwork in sections, overlapping each one by about 25–30%.
2. Keep every scan at identical settings, with all auto-corrections off, so the sections match.
3. In Photoshop, use File → Automate → Photomerge with the Reposition layout. Reposition aligns the scans without warping them, which is what you want for flat artwork.
4. Check every seam at 100% zoom before you flatten the file.

Stitching works best on paper. Canvas and stretched work rarely lie flat enough across sections to line up cleanly, so photograph those instead.

Method 2: Photographing Your Artwork

A camera is the only practical option for canvas, panels, and anything too large or textured for a scanner. The results can rival a scanner, but only if you control the lighting and alignment.

The Equipment You Need

• Camera: A DSLR or mirrorless camera that shoots RAW is ideal. Recent phones can work for smaller prints, especially in their full-resolution or RAW modes.
• Lens: A 50mm or longer lens. Wide-angle lenses (including a phone's default lens up close) bend straight edges and stretch corners.
• Tripod: Non-negotiable. Even slight movement softens detail.
• Two identical lights: Daylight-balanced (5000–5600K) LED panels or bulbs with a high color accuracy rating (CRI 95 or higher). Mismatched bulbs give you mismatched color across the painting.
• Gray card or color checker: A neutral reference you photograph alongside the art so you can correct color accurately later.

How Many Megapixels Do You Need?

Largest print sizes shown at 300 DPI.

Keep in mind that you'll crop away some of the frame around the artwork, so your usable resolution is always a bit lower than the camera's full size.

Set Up the Lighting

Lighting makes or breaks a photographed painting. The goal is perfectly even light with no glare.

• Shoot in a room with the overhead lights off and the windows covered. Mixed light sources create color casts you can't fully remove.
• Place one light on each side of the artwork at a 45° angle, both at the same height and the same distance from the piece.
• Check for hot spots by holding a sheet of white paper over different areas of the artwork, or by taking a test shot of a blank white board. Adjust until the brightness is even corner to corner.

Kill Glare With Cross-Polarization

Varnished oils, glossy acrylics, and heavy impasto reflect light off every ridge, and those reflections show up as white specks across the image. The professional fix is cross-polarization:

1. Cover each light with linear polarizing film, with both sheets oriented the same way.
2. Put a circular polarizing filter on your lens.
3. Look through the camera and rotate the lens filter until the reflections disappear.

The difference is dramatic, especially on dark, glossy paintings. If you don't want to invest in polarizing gear, photograph your work before you varnish it.

Align the Camera Perfectly

• Hang the artwork or set it on an easel perfectly vertical, and keep the camera sensor exactly parallel to it. If the camera tilts, the painting turns into a trapezoid.
• Center the lens on the middle of the artwork.
• Fill most of the frame, leaving a small margin so you can crop cleanly.
• Use a 2-second timer or remote release so pressing the shutter doesn't shake the camera.

Camera Settings

• File format: RAW.
• ISO: The lowest native setting (usually 100) for the least noise.
• Aperture: Around f/8, where most lenses are sharpest edge to edge.
• White balance: Set it from your gray card, or fix it later in editing from the gray card shot.
• Focus: Manual focus, zoomed in on fine detail.

Tip: Take your first frame with the gray card or color checker held flat against the artwork, then remove it and shoot the clean frames. Use that first frame to set color for the whole session.

Editing Your File for Print

Whether you scanned or photographed your artwork, the raw capture still needs a little cleanup. Work on a copy and keep the original untouched.

1. Correct the color. Click the gray card with your editor's white balance tool, then compare the screen to the original under daylight. Adjust until they match.
2. Straighten and correct perspective. If the edges aren't perfectly square, use Lightroom's Transform tools or Photoshop's Perspective Crop.
3. Crop to the artwork. Remove the background, tape, and easel. If you plan to print full-bleed, leave a little extra or add bleed.
4. Clean up dust. Use the Spot Healing tool on dust and lint, but leave the artwork's own texture alone.
5. Sharpen lightly. A small amount of sharpening restores crispness lost in capture. Too much creates halos and a digital look.
6. Export for printing. Save a full-resolution TIFF or a high-quality PDF in the sRGB color space. sRGB converts to the printer's CMYK more predictably than wider color spaces. Our guide on CMYK vs. RGB explains why.

Common Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

The print looks darker than the original

Your monitor is likely too bright, so you edited the file too dark without realizing it. Lower your screen brightness and recheck. Our guide to why prints look too dark covers every cause.

One side of the painting is brighter than the other

Your lights aren't balanced. Re-measure the angle and distance of each light, then reshoot.

White specks across dark areas

That's glare reflecting off paint texture or varnish. Use cross-polarization, move the lights to a steeper angle, or photograph before varnishing.

The edges of the artwork curve or bow

That's lens distortion from a wide-angle lens or standing too close. Step back and use a longer focal length, or apply your editor's lens correction profile.

Colors look off no matter what you do

Mixed lighting is the usual culprit. Shoot with daylight-balanced lights only, and use a gray card to set a neutral reference.

Metallic, gold leaf, or fluorescent paint looks flat

Those colors sit outside what any standard printer can reproduce. They'll print as their closest flat equivalent, so plan for that when you choose which pieces to reproduce.

The file is too small for the print size you want

Rescan or reshoot at a higher resolution if you still have the original. If you don't, AI upscaling can help in some cases. Learn more about how we fix low-resolution files.

Test Before You Print the Whole Run

No monitor can show you exactly how a print will look on paper. Before ordering a full batch for a convention or a limited edition, order a single print and hold it next to the original in indirect daylight. If it matches, you're ready to print the run. If it doesn't, you've caught the problem for the cost of one print instead of fifty.

Once your file is ready, our guide to turning paintings into giclée prints walks through choosing paper, proofing, and editioning your work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What DPI should I scan artwork at for printing?

Scan at 600 DPI for most artwork. That gives you enough resolution to print at up to twice the original size. Use 1200 DPI for small originals you want to enlarge further.

Is it better to scan or photograph a painting?

Scan flat work on paper that fits your scanner. Photograph canvas, panels, textured paintings, and anything larger than the scanner bed.

Can I photograph artwork with my phone?

Yes, for smaller prints. Use the phone's highest-resolution or RAW mode, mount it on a tripod, avoid the wide-angle lens up close, and light the artwork evenly from both sides. For prints larger than about 11×14, a dedicated camera will give you noticeably better detail.

What file format should I send for printing?

Send a full-resolution TIFF or a high-quality PDF in the sRGB color space. High-quality JPEG works too, but avoid re-saving a JPEG multiple times.

How do I stop glare when photographing oil paintings?

Light the painting from both sides at 45° and use cross-polarization: polarizing film over the lights and a circular polarizer on the lens. Photographing before varnishing also helps.

Should I hire a professional art scanning service?

For large originals, high-value pieces, or work you plan to sell as limited editions, a professional capture is often worth the cost. For everyday prints and smaller pieces, the methods above will get you excellent results at home.