Photographing your artwork in the digital age.

[Chris Saper]

For many years I used natural sunlight, and used daylight film (5500K) and which needs to be shot about 10 am or 2 am-it works here in AZ where there is never anyhting but a clear sky.

After writing my book ( I was virtually forced into a Tungsten light set up, and I have to say they were right.)..regardless of whether you are going to shoot under natural or artificial light, you will need to control both the Kelvin temps and the angle of the light. Varnish creates glare.

I have really found that tungsten light results in wonderful color and consistent results. The more varnish-glare, the more obliquely you need to set up your light source angle.

I think that there are probably some filters that can help but that is more technology than I want at the moment

[Sharon Knettell]

Hi,

The pro used properly angled strobes and 4x5 film.

I have been photographing inside my studio slightly past midday with a polarizer. I put black velvet on the floor under the painting to reduce glare and on the wings. I have huge sliding door windows that let in a LOT of light. This area has worked really well on the pastel (sans velvet and polarizer) as pastels have no glare.

Beth, the 14 megapixel Kodak/Nikon is a camera, not a back.

[Mike McCarty]

I think this is the Kodak camera you mention:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakslrc/page2.asp

[Elizabeth Schott]

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

I think this is the Kodak camera you mention:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakslrc/page2.asp

Sweet! Sharon is this your camera?

[Michele Rushworth]

Shoot at an Angle! (No Kidding.)

Don't laugh, but to avoid all glare, I shoot my paintings at an angle! This gives them terrible keystoning and perspective issues, but........

Don't worry, because this is not hard to fix and restore in Photoshop! This may not be for everyone, but it works for me. Virtually every 2D work I've posted was shot at an angle!

Just my two cents, Garth

Great idea! Do you then use the Photoshop Distort function to put the image back to its correct dimensions?

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth

Great idea! Do you then use the Photoshop Distort function to put the image back to its correct dimensions?

Yes!
click (Here's how:) click

Garth

[Tom Edgerton]

I used to work in a lab, shooting artwork (including paintings) for the printing industry, with an 8x10 view camera, on both transparency and negative film.

For lighting, we used 4 tungsten photofloods with umbrellas. I've also done it with two. We didn't use polarizers, though I don't see why you couldn't, however I'd suspect it alters value relationships. I also don't see why you couldn't do it with strobes, though you'd need modeling lights to do what I describe here. And always use a tripod; don't try to do copy work holding the camera.

The key to eliminating the glare is to position the light farther out from the canvas and shallower than 45 degrees--the typical copy setup. Our lights were on a really shallow angle to the canvas, and very much out to the side, about 4-5 feet from the canvas. And instead of aiming the lights to the middle of the canvas, I'd aim them to the opposite edge, so the lights would cross in front of the canvas and mix in a softer, more even way. Meter the light with a hand-held meter at all corners, sides, and center of the canvas to make sure the light is even over the whole surface. A half-stop difference will show in the result, and your copy won't be evenly lit.

In addition to truing up the camera level and perpendicular with the wall to eliminate keystoning, here's another tip that I consider very important: Stand directly in front of the camera with the back of your head blocking the lens, in other words, position your eyes where the lens is (becoooome the caaaamera). You'll see whatever glare there is, and can tell which light it's coming from. Move the lights in or out--usually out--to get rid of the glare. You will detect way more glare than if you try to discern it through the viewfinder. If you move the lights, re-meter.

Some more tips: Try for a dark colored room, with no strong color on the walls; the color will reflect onto the painting. We shot in total darkness in a black-painted room. At least put a black cloth behind and around your painting as far out as you can; whatever is behind your painting will reflect into the lens--if it's a light color, it will "fog" and wash out your color--even with a lens hood. If you have windows or doors in the room you can't cover, shoot at night. Often, what we thought was glare from the floods was a door open down the hall, or light sneaking in from a window somewhere. And this may be more important than anything: bracket the copy with a half-stop exposure above and below what the meter says you should use. Don't try to do copy work with only one exposure. Film, or chip space, is CHEAP compared to the time you're spending.

For color fidelity, whenever we'd open a new box of film, we'd run a color test, and put color correction filters over the camera lens to bring the image to neutral color, then shoot the whole box with that filter pack. Some photographers test film before every photo session. But a lot of this has been eliminated with digital cameras and color correction in imaging programs like Photoshop.

You can eliminate keystoning with Garth's method in Photoshop, but I try not to, as I've found that even a one degree difference in the height to width ratio will distort my subjects' features. But sometimes it can't be helped, so thanks to Garth--it's still good to know how.

You may rebel at this discipline. Maybe it rubs against the "artistic temperament" (whatever THAT is). But being a little painstaking here will pay off.

Hope all of this helps--TE