Photographing your artwork in the digital age.

[Garth Herrick]

Thanks Tom,

Now you've got me thinking about the merits of painting my walls black. Your advice and experience is extremely helpful. After all, if one must have slides or traditional prints from negatives, there is no opportunity for a digital cheat like I have used.

Speaking of glare, the trickiest thing to photograph I have ever encountered is a Daguerreotype. This, as you probably know is the earliest form of photography (1839 to 1860), and is essentially a polished silver mirror that must be viewed against the darkest possible background. I came up with a black velvet funnel lens surround that reached all the way down, within an inch or so, to the daguerreotype plate, on the shooting stand. A thin slice of raking light, 5 or 10 degrees to the plate was more than adequate. Too much light, and the camera lens would be visible in the photograph, despite the long black velvet funnel!

Thanks again,

Garth

[Marvin Mattelson]

Tom, very informative. I have been shooting my own artwork for years and have been doing a very similar approach to what you describe here, except I use strobes with diffused umbrellas. I even do the standing in front of the lens technique. My walls are white however so I'll be going to the local fabric store and buying some black velvet. Never thought of that! Thanks.

[Tom Edgerton]

Marvin--

Velvet's good of course, but anything that kills the reflection from the wall will work, if money's tight. Even with a lens hood, there's junk in the air between the lens and the painting. As you know, down here in the South, it's WATER!
(I'll see you or your twin in DC...)

Everyone--

What, no lights???

I'm not sure about the suggestion of shooting in full sun--I'd bet it will glare on varnish. But hey, try anything.

I used to hang my paintings on a nail on the shadow side of an outside storage shed and shoot without lights. Meter over the surface of the painting as described to make sure the light is even. The only drawback is that plants, sky, etc. will reflect in additional colors. Maybe you can correct for this in Photoshop.

Bart Lindstrom used to open the garage door when the sun was on the other side of the house, so the door was in shadow, and set up his easel just inside the door and shoot with ambient daylight. He may still do it for all I know. It would eliminate the reflection of light from a wall behind the painting. Duck down to make sure you're not casting your own shadow on the painting. Also worth a try.

XXOO--TE

[Sharon Knettell]

Beth,

Oh that it were! The Hughes comes first.

[John Reidy]

Tom - regarding my post about using direct sun, I've done it successfully twice on varnished paintings and it worked great. However the last time I tried it I couldn't avoid the glare. I don't understand why it worked twice and failed so bad on the third attempt.

I use the technique of standing in front of the lense, too. It's a trick I learned as an art director on photoshoots.

I believe I will discontinue my outdoor technique and set up my lights per your suggestion.

Thanks for your post.

I do use black cotton velvet as a background as it helps frame the painting for slides (if I ever produce anything worthy of a slide I'll be ready).

[Elizabeth Schott]

Originally Posted by Tom Edgerton

Marvin--

Velvet's good of course, but anything that kills the reflection from the wall will work, if money's tight. Even with a lens hood, there's junk in the air between the lens and the painting. As you know, down here in the South, it's WATER!
(I'll see you or your twin in DC...)

Everyone--

What, no lights???

I'm not sure about the suggestion of shooting in full sun--I'd bet it will glare on varnish. But hey, try anything.

I used to hang my paintings on a nail on the shadow side of an outside storage shed and shoot without lights. Meter over the surface of the painting as described to make sure the light is even. The only drawback is that plants, sky, etc. will reflect in additional colors. Maybe you can correct for this in Photoshop.

Bart Lindstrom used to open the garage door when the sun was on the other side of the house, so the door was in shadow, and set up his easel just inside the door and shoot with ambient daylight. He may still do it for all I know. It would eliminate the reflection of light from a wall behind the painting. Duck down to make sure you're not casting your own shadow on the painting. Also worth a try.

XXOO--TE

Tom I am sure it was operator error... but when I did the garage door shooting, the metering of light was a mess, I think if I tired this again I would only do it with a hand held meter.


But then it would be my hand holding the meter, which would still be a problem!

[Tom Edgerton]

Garth--

I shoot copy work with a couple of TotaLites too. Glad the suggestions sparked something. Also, thanks for posting your refinements of the method.

Beth--

You gotta experiment. But to your point, I would imagine that trying to meter a number of points on the canvas with the reflective meter in the camera and a gray card would be incredibly cumbersome. You would almost always be metering into your own shadow--make sure you're not between the light source and your painting.

Folks, do yourself a favor. If you are going to do your own copy work, get a hand-held meter. They're not THAT expensive, and you can probably find one used. You'll pay yourself back by not having to have a professional lab shoot your paintings. If your setup is metering evenly across the canvas, you're 99 percent of the way home.

Onward--TE