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2010-11-23 6:26 PM

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Subject: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
A friend of mine asked me if I would photograph her boyfriends paintings. He needs to submit a CD to the galleries in order to be considered. I am happy to do this for them, but wondered how best to do it?
I figure we need a white backdrop and VERY bright white light to eliminate shine or shadows...........am I on the right track?

Any help , from either artists or photographers, would be most helpful.

Thanks! 


2010-11-23 6:39 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
In a former life, this is what I did for a living (no, really!).

You want to have a place that is fairly dark, a background helps (dark gray is what museums use), a diffuser light help.

Edited by phoenixazul 2010-11-23 6:49 PM
2010-11-23 6:45 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Checkin' out the podium girls
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
I don't know how he photographs his work, but he tightly crops out all background and displays on a black webpage. I think it looks good. Brad was the best man at our wedding:

http://www.bradguarino.com/

2010-11-23 6:45 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Philadelphia, south of New York and north of DC
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??

First technique:

Depending on the size of the painting,
you need at minimum two lights.
You can use either strobes
or incandescent lights in reflectors 

Each light is placed 45 degrees from the surface of the paining,
and 90 degrees to each other. 

If the painting is large,
you may need to put two or more on each side
in order to even out the light.

Use a tripod for the camera.

That should get you through 90 percent of situations.

Occasionally you may need to polarize the light source
and the camera in order to remove glare from the surface of the painting.
In those situations, you place polarizing filters over each light
and orient them in the same vertical or horizontal axis.
Then you filter the lens with a polarizer and orient it 90 degrees opposite to the light source. 

That's the usual setup for photographing paintings.

Second technique:

Another cheaper alternative is to photograph the painting outdoors.
Choose a cloudy day, and place the painting in the shade.
That will provide an even light over the painting surface.

You can also use white foam core
or even just a white sheet 
to kick in some additional reflected light onto the surface. 
Place one sheet of foam core or one sheet on each side of the painting.
Again, try to aim for a 45 degree angle from the surface of the paining. 

With either technique:

The trick with photographing paintings is to realize that
if the artist used an impasto technique 
(whereby the paint is laid on heavily and the surface has texture)
then you're really photographing a three diminutional object rather than a two dimensional one. 
So you want to be careful with your lighting in order to bring out the
three dimensional aspect of the painting. 

You might also want to add a color chart or a gray card next to the painting
so that you can later color correct to the color chart or gray card.
That will then render the color of the painting accurately. 



Edited by dontracy 2010-11-23 6:51 PM
2010-11-23 7:06 PM
in reply to: #3224096

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Master
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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
dontracy - 2010-11-22 7:45 PM

You might also want to add a color chart or a gray card next to the painting
so that you can later color correct to the color chart or gray card.
That will then render the color of the painting accurately. 



Choose your camera's "spot metering" (or whatever the nearest equivalent is) setting.
Lay the gray card on the painting.
Meter on the card.
Remove card.

This only works in "manual" mode.  otherwise the camera will auto-meter for every shot!

For a cheap flash diffuser that will give decent results, affix a rubbermaid container over the flash.   This will generally give acceptable results. (and it's WAY cheaper than a LightSphere or equivalent!)

2010-11-23 7:15 PM
in reply to: #3224110

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Philadelphia, south of New York and north of DC
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??

moondawg14 - 

Choose your camera's "spot metering" (or whatever the nearest equivalent is) setting.
Lay the gray card on the painting.
Meter on the card.
Remove card.

That's absolutely right.

You can also use it as a reference for balancing the color temperature later.
The Macbeth type color charts are best,
but a good old 18percent gray card will work nearly as well. 

Then when you go into photoshop,
you can balance the color temperature off the card.
The correct colors of the painting should then fall into place. 



2010-11-23 7:39 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
This is a service we offer to our customers.
Don's pretty much covered it all but here a couple additions.

I assume the painting is not behind glass. If it is, that opens a whole other technique and the easiest would be to remove it from the frame.

The background shouldn't matter as it should be cropped out in post editing.
If you need that done, I'd be willing to help. 

The most important part is to make sure your camera is dead center to the print and as perpendicular to the painting as possible. If it's not you'll end up with a "trapezoid" type effect. 

Do NOT use flash. 
Do NOT use a wide angle setting on the camera. You want to use closer to a "normal" focal length or slightly telephoto.
The tripod part has been mentioned (a must!) If you don't have a cable release/remote shutter trigger then use the self timer function so that there are no fingers touching the camera while the photo is being taken.

Good luck...hopefully your not under a deadline.
2010-11-23 7:43 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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The Land of Ice and Snow
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
Oh boy........
Umm.....this is all a bit complex for a girl who is coming from a point and shoot!!

OK since I am clearly out of my depth here........can we dumb it down a wee bit?
The artist was just going to take shots with his point and shoot so I do not think he is really looking for professional results here.......

Maybe outside would be a better idea.......cloudy day? That does sound easier.
 

Edited by aquagirl 2010-11-23 7:49 PM
2010-11-23 7:52 PM
in reply to: #3224138

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Philadelphia, south of New York and north of DC
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??

aquagirl - Oh boy........
Umm.....this is all a bit complex for a girl who is coming from a point and shoot!!
 

I reread your OP.

If the artist lives near peby,
he should think about taking his work to him and have it done right.

If he is using the images to try to get into a gallery,
it might benefit him to invest in high quality reproductions of his work. 

 

2010-11-23 7:57 PM
in reply to: #3224147

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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
dontracy - 2010-11-23 8:52 PM

aquagirl - Oh boy........
Umm.....this is all a bit complex for a girl who is coming from a point and shoot!!
 

I reread your OP.

If the artist lives near peby,
he should think about taking his work to him and have it done right.

If he is using the images to try to get into a gallery,
it might benefit him to invest in high quality reproductions of his work. 

 


Alas........Peby is on the opposite side of this vast land!


This is an experienced artist.....so I am not really sure what he has done in the past , to be quite honest. 
Kind of surprised that they asked me to take the pics........ 
2010-11-23 8:02 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Veteran
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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
This is what you do. Take the work outside on an overcast day, try to find a neutral background, like the side of a house. Point and shoot. Thats it. The truth is very few galleries will really look at work submitted cold, the art world works thru recommendations, word of mouth... But you don't have to tell your friend that, if he's experienced, he knows how hard it is.

Edited by Corncub 2010-11-23 8:05 PM


2010-11-23 8:36 PM
in reply to: #3224163

Master
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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
You can use a flash but you shouldn't point it at the painting.  With an external flash you can bounce it off the ceiling or use other studio methods to diffuse it such as an umbrella.
2010-11-23 9:40 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??

I'm an artist, and all the suggestions above are great but a bit complicated - it doesn't have to be that hard. 

The main thing is that the images need to appear professional for a gallery - crop out the background (with a digital camera, it doesn't really matter what the background is), square up the paintings in photoshop, make sure there is NO glare on the brushstrokes, make sure the frame is NOT showing in the image. I use fancy lights and polarizers now, but I used to just set up the paintings in a part of my house where there was diffuse light so there would  be no glare, and shoot with a tripod. Used to work well to set them up on a chair inside the garage (far back with no direct sunlight on them). Sometimes it helps to shoot at a *slight* angle (i.e. camera a bit higher than the center of the painting) to get rid of glare, then fix the perspective in photoshop. NO flash.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. I'm sure he doesn't want to pay a pro $50 per painting if he's at the seeking gallery representation stage, so do some trial and error and I'm sure you can both come up with some good images

2010-11-24 6:16 AM
in reply to: #3224080

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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
With a camera.
2010-11-24 11:18 AM
in reply to: #3224339

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Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
mrbbrad - 2010-11-24 6:16 AM With a camera.


winner winner chicken dinner!!!
2010-11-24 3:00 PM
in reply to: #3224080

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Expert
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West Palm Beach, FL
Subject: RE: Anybody know how to properly photograph paintings??
For an amateur get yourself a tripod and don't use a flash.  Get a couple cheap painting lights from the hardware store and use a diffuse, low wattage bulb.


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