What’s the best way to digitize darkroom prints for accurate web display?

Question

I make photographs on film, process them, and produce finished darkroom prints. I’d like to share those prints online, so I’m looking for the best way to create digital representations of the physical print itself—not just the negative.

My main options seem to be:
- scan the negative and try to edit it to match the print,
- photograph the print carefully with controlled lighting and white balance,
- scan the print on a flatbed scanner.

I’m not trying to solve screen calibration here; I just want the most faithful digital file for viewing on a properly calibrated display. For someone working at home, what method is usually best? And how is this typically handled professionally by museums or galleries when they need accurate digital images of prints?

user76947 · Accepted Answer

Considering that you put a significant amount of work in at the darkroom printing stage then scanning the print is the best way to go. However this can be done either by yourself using a your own scanner or by sending the originals to a company that will scan them to professional standard. The second option I would only use if the images were to be reproduced in a published book. A lot of this depends on what the digitized images will be used for - reproduction in a published book, your website, social media sharing, archival purposes. If the digitized images are only ever going to be viewed on a monitor (ie. they won't be reprinted) then you only need low resolution scans of the original print. A decent flatbed scanner should easily do the job and it shouldn't cost that much.

Personally I would scan the originals myself except for those few images that will be published in print form in which case I would consider using the services of a company to do the scanning for me.

What’s the best way to digitize darkroom prints for accurate web display?

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