How to photograph your kids' artwork (so it looks good)

You don't need a scanner or a fancy camera — your phone is fine. A few small habits make the difference between a dull, crooked snap and a photo that actually looks like the drawing.

Light it evenly. Daylight is your friend. Lay the artwork flat near a window, but out of direct sun (hard shadows and glare wash out crayon and marker). Overhead kitchen lights at night can work if you avoid casting your own shadow over the page.

Shoot straight down. Hold the phone parallel to the paper, centred over the middle, so the edges stay square. Standing over it on a chair helps for big pieces. Fill the frame with the artwork and a little background — you can tidy the edges later.

Flatten the curl. Paper that's been in a backpack curls up. Smooth it under a sheet of glass, or weigh the corners down with coins just outside the frame.

Tap to focus, then check the colours. Tap the screen on the drawing so it's sharp, and make sure the whites look white, not grey or blue. If they look off, move nearer the window.

Let Canvasy straighten it. Even with care, photos come out slightly tilted or angled. When you upload to Canvasy, the straighten tool lets you pull the four corners to the edges of the paper and it squares the picture up — so a quick phone photo ends up looking flat and neat.

Keep the original. Upload the full-size photo; Canvasy keeps your original and makes smaller copies for fast viewing. You can always download the original later.