Nancy

All of the shells at this site were scanned directly off of a flat bed.
Just cover the shells to give a background that suits the shell

http://www.usaplaza.com/seashell/index.htm

Cheers
Rick


At 05:44 PM 10/26/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi folks,
>
>I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on getting good results with
>scanning specimens directly on a flatbed scanner.   I have never even
>remotely considered myself "graphically challenged", as a matter of fact it
>is a forte of mine, however I have not been able to get decent looking
>direct scans of specimens, most especially those very shiny ones like
>Cypraea.  I have seen sites where the author has obviously scanned the
>images directly and has had them come out quite good (however he appears
>not to want to share his methodology), so I know it's possible.  I've tried
>various approaches to this, all with no acceptable results.   Of course I
>realize that the best quality images are going to be photographic but when
>one begins cataloging images of specimens, and at least three photos per
>specimen (showing all orientations), developing gets ridiculous in
>price.  I don't have a digital camera; I'm more of a 35 mm purist in that
>respect.
>
>At any rate, suggestions, hints, methods, or any ideas for directly
>scanning shells would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Regards,
>Nancy Smith
>
>