Flatbed scanners use light to record information fed back to a computer where it can be copied, edited and manupluated. A cyanotype was of sorts an early natural light scanner, recording the exact details of the specimin placed on the light sensitive paper.
The process of recording using light has advanced somewhat since anna atkins and the early days of cyanotype photography, with scanners able to record minute detail, often microscopic, as well as colour.
Botanists today make use of flatbed scanners when documenting and making additional records of dried plant specimins which feature in the herbariums worldwide. Botanical illustrators are known to scan in specimins from herbariums to then work from away from the museums archives. Especially in use today as many of the natural history museums are eager to digitise their collections, each dried specimin which has been arranged and labelled is scanned then added to a digital archive. This has obvious benefits. The more a dried specimin is viewed and handled, the more likely it is to diminish and time is also a key factor to how well a specimin is preserved. Unlike soecimins pickled in vinegar which can last hundreds of years, dried specimins in herbariums will last a long time - but in order to popularise a collection - the specimins need to be seen and what better way than having an onine archive.
The scanning process is a great way to accurately record size, shape, colour (when the specimen is fresh not dried) and intricate details of a plant and its makeup such as the veining in a leaf. It is ofcourse still a flat record, meaning the specimin being scanned and recorded is not in its natural positioning and is ofcourse taken out of its habitat and often without the remainder of the plant as a whole. This is still down to the illustrators to bring to life through their scientific artwork - however scanning is still pretty cool.
examples of digitial herbariums being assembled today are:
- KEW
- Natural history museum
With this in mind I have had a little play with my own scanned in specimens. This may be moving away from the focus of botanical illustration however after my last post on Anna Atkins - I just couldn't resist.
