I've been so focused on improving sketching lately, that I've missed how important taking a good scan or photo of the sketch is. My photos of sketches thus far (even the crude sketches) have been very poor.
I know nothing about taking good photos and this seemed like a good opportunity to learn a little. My main challenge with black paper thus far is that it seems to pick up and reflect light easily. Doing a little research and some trial and error led to some positive results by taking the photo in an enclosed space where only indirect light is available (a closet). I then was able to adjust ISO to a level that is just high enough to see some of the more faint details on the page.
This helped with glare significantly. I then proceeded to edit the photos by adjusting black/white levels and contrast. This allowed me to eliminate the glare and get a background closer to the true dark color of the paper. This also helps me fine-adjust the brightness of an object to how a computer screen will display it.
I still have some room to grow in this area, but this is a good start. I took some time to practice by replacing all sketches since 2024-05-10 with new photos and applying these new editing methods on them.