How to Photograph Artwork

Photographing artwork can often pose quite the challenge. You need the best quality possible, the colors are going to be very important, you'll want to represent the shape and texture well, and the pressure is on you because if the artwork is sold you'll not have a second chance to photograph it. Here are some good tips to follow in order to achieve the best results.

Lighting

One of your biggest hurdles will be the light issue. Light is always an issue, and as any kind of photographer you'll likely find yourself constantly battling light. If possible, direct sunlight is the best light source. Direct sunlight, however, is not always available, and other natural and unnatural light sources have their qualities, too. They're just not as good nor cheap nor easy to deal with as the light from the sun. The best kind of sunlight for shooting artwork, actually, is indirect natural light, or a slightly overcast natural light.

If you have no access to natural light the very first thing you should do is to turn off your flash. Your flash will wash out detail on the artwork and it will not compliment the natural colors of the piece. Adequate and even lighting is essential for photographing artwork, you can use improvised indoor lighting, but having lighting equipment gives you more flexibility.

Lights should not be photoflood lights. They are expensive and their color quality degrades rapidly. A good choice would be photographic quality tungsten lights with stands, such as Smith Victor K61-U, which contains 2 600-Watt Q60SG Thrifty Quartz Light Umbrella Kit with Corrugated Carrying Case. Using barn doors is optional. They give you the ability to direct and shape the light. Another good option in this kit are the reflectors. These enable you to soften the light when you photograph art with raised edges, which could catch the light.

Alternatively, use less expensive construction grade tungsten lights. Look for 1000 Watt bulbs and individual stands (if possible). You can also use a clamp on variety, though these are more awkward to position if you don't have the right surface. One other thing. These lights don't have barn doors, but in actual practice, they're not necessary. Simply setting these lights up according to the instructions here will give you great results.

To set up the lights properly, make sure they are angled at approximately 45 degrees to the surface and position them so that they are slightly higher than the centre of the artwork. Square artwork to the camera as much as possible and set the lights to be parallel to the camera.

When positioning the lights, use an incident meter, such as the Gossen Luna-Pro S to determine the evenness of lighting from edge to edge and in the centre of your shooting area. The reading should be evenly accurate on all corners and in the centre. Once you have determined the correct location, you can place masking tape on the floor marking the position of the camera and light stands. This will reduce the setup process next time.

Positioning the Camera

One of the more difficult aspects of photographing artwork is to get the camera square with the piece you are photographing. A tripod will help in placement of the camera as well as giving the ability of using a long shutter speed. The camera should be placed so that it is completely horizontal and vertical to the artwork.

If your pieces are small (less than 10" x 14"), then you may be able to lay them flat on the ground and shoot from above. Larger work will be more easily shot if you lean it up against the wall. Either way, you may also find it beneficial to place a large piece of white cardboard or foam core behind your painting. This will eliminate any distracting background and allow the viewer to focus on your artwork. You will find this helpful especially if you are shooting slides, since your cropping options will be limited.

Whether you lay the art flat or lean it up against the wall, your challenge will be to shoot the artwork straight on, without skewing the frame or edges by leaning one way or the other. Imagine the plane your film is occupying in space and try to keep it completely parallel to your painting.

Use a self-timer or cable release so you don't shake the camera.

Filling the Frame

When shooting, position your camera close enough so the art almost fills the viewfinder.Whatever size your camera's sensor or film is, from one of the smaller econo models to the much larger sensors on an expensive digital Single Lens Reflex (or even larger and much more expensive, larger format cameras), if you fill the frame with your piece of art you'll make the best use of whatever resolution your camera has.

If it's not part of the art, the background is unimportant. You should minimize the area around the art. Let it go white, black or gray, whichever looks best. If that area is colorful, the colors will detract from your art. Of course, you can always re-frame the image in Photoshop or other image software.

White Balance

Unfortunately, not many digital cameras have manual White Balance, and most automatic White Balance features on digital cameras (including expensive ones) don't work well under all lights. You still have to check feature lists carefully.

Mixed lighting can vary by the inch from warm to cool, and homes with mixed light can be a challenge to adjust to. Mixing light colors is a hassle. If you are shooting "indoor" film or digital with indoor lights, and there is an unblocked window letting in outside light (which is probably brighter than anything indoors) so it can shine on or reflect in your art, some or all of your art may be rendered blue instead of the color you expect.

If you shoot art inside or near color objects, those objects' color(s) can reflect in the art. Colored walls and ceilings are prime suspects for color shifts, but if you have a big red couch where it can reflect in your art, it can make your art pink. Even outside, a big green tree, a bright yellow garage or red bricks can alter color subtly or substantially. The blue paint on the ceiling of your porch can ruin warm hues.

ISO

Film and other materials are rated by the International Standards Organization (ISO) according to their relative sensitivity to light. If you use film, use slow film to photograph art. If you use digital, set the camera to a low ISO setting.

With either film or digital, the lower the speed, the lower the visual noise and the higher the contrast. Conversely, the higher the ISO, the higher the noise and the lower the apparent contrast. Grain looks like noise in the image. Fine grain looks better than coarse grain.

In film, visible grain was a clumping of light-sensitive silver halides suspended in the hardened gelatin of the film. In digital, the same effect is caused by other factors, which can be somewhat controlled in post production via image-editing software or a plug-in. In digital that "graininess" is called visual noise, which comes in two varieties — color noise and contrast noise — with essentially similar results that look a lot like grain.

80 or 100 is the lowest ISO available on most digital cameras. Some even very expensive digital cameras render images that are so noisy at any rating higher than 100, that they are unusable for photographing art. Although newer, better and only sometimes more expensive digicams can render images at higher ISO ratings very well.

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Some Photographic Rules

1) When photographing 3-D work, use a neutral gray background. Avoid bright colors or black when shooting light, metallic or otherwise reflective art. Film and digital media can only duplicate a limited tonal range.

For 2-D work, it's better if the background (behind the art work.) is black, because that lets viewers focus their attention on the art. Do not include the mat or frame, so the image appears larger, and those brighter elements do not distract from the art

2) If the art is translucent (light passes through it) — like glass, film or sheer material, photograph it with light passing through it.
o The light source should be behind the art (but not visible to the camera)
o That light source should be the same color as the light illuminating the rest of the art
o Don't let anything else show through the translucent parts, unless you really want them visible
o Be sure all the lights used are the same color

3) Put the camera on a tripod.
o If you don't have a tripod, borrow one. This is important. Tripods don't just hold the camera steady. They also hold it in the same place, which can be helpful when shooting more than one piece of art that's the same or a similar size.
oMake sure the camera is steady
+ use a self-timer, if it's available.
+ don't touch the camera while it's shooting
+ or walk around if your floor shakes

4) Use the smaller apertures (bigger f numbers — on the f/8 - f/22 end of the lens' range) and longer shutter speeds. Most lenses give their best quality when stopped down two to three f/stops. This slight adjustment can make a big difference in resolution, color, focus and apparent sharpness. Read camera and lens tests to learn the optimum aperture of your lens.

The major f-stops, from large to small, are f/ 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 22 and 32.

5) If you're shooting Outdoor film (Daylight), don't illuminate your art with light bulbs or fluorescent lights. You may not be able to tell the difference, but your film or digital camera will.

6) If you're shooting Tungsten film (Indoor or "Type B"), don't let daylight seep onto or reflect into the subject.

7) Check exposure on the art itself — make sure the meter doesn't "see" the white mat or dark background.
o If you have a gray card (18% reflectance) or or something in a medium green (grass, outside), use that to make a substitute reading, but be sure it is in the same light and facing the camera the same way your art does.
o to determine correct exposure, point your camera or light meter at a medium gray object.
+ If you point the light meter at a white object, the object will be underexposed
+ If you point the light meter at a dark object, the object will be overexposed.
o Move the camera closer to the work to check the exposure

8) Make sure rectangular work — like paintings and photos — are straight, and the whole surface is in focus.
o Don't let them tilt.
o Photoshop and some other software can correct for un-straight, sometimes even tilted art, but if part of the image is out of focus, it cannot be saved.

9) Focus! In some digital cameras the image on the LCD can be zoomed or magnified, so we can check focus and details, but the LCDs on many cameras are too small for much precision or they do not accurately reflect tonal ranges. LCDs show images with a lot of contrast that makes even out of focus shots look good. If you can magnify the image, you'll see what the image is really like.