Photographing your artwork in the digital age.

[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