Now this might start some discussion… but I just want to share why I prefer to take photos on my iphone of my sketches in the full sun not in the shade.

These are all taken on my iphone 5 without any adjustment at all and all taken in late spring bright Sydney middle of the day sunlight (we do have strong shadows!)

1. sketch in the shade. the white of the paper has a very strong colour cast
2. same sketch in the full sun – might bleach a little of the linework but doing a level conversion to 1. would do the same. I think this is better and ready to post straight away. I try to position the book facing the sun with the spine following the direction of the sun rays so that there is minimum shadow through the gutter of the sketchbook
3. photo on an overcast day in what would be sunny
4. in the bright sunlight with some of my tools nearby…. if taking a photo of my sketch I want it to tell a different story than the final scan.

I still prefer to scan my sketches – but when I am out and about or travelling I want to post directly, I use photos.

How we choose to display our work is VERY important…I know scanning and doing the adjustments take time but I want to have the best quality digital copies of my work possible (within the current limitations of my time and hard drive space) both for my own record and to share with you all.