How to photograph your Artwork
Lately, it’s been my custom to take images of my artwork via my camera phone. It’s economical, it easily transfers to my computer for web viewing and it’s really, really horrible image quality.
So, I have contracted out this little task to a great friend of mine who I help him with his blog on occasion, Claude Barclay has agreed to be my personal photographer for my artwork.
Claude is a professional photographer here in the central Ohio area and has been doing photography for… well, more years than I’ve been alive. He knows his stuff, and has the equipment to pull it off.
So let’s skip to the finished product, and then we’ll come back to what the process was to get there.
This is an abstract painting I completed awhile ago that is as of yet untitled still.
The dimensions are 24″x48″
Medium: Latex Enamels
The challenge: This is a very reflective painting as it was painted in enamels, so many of my personal attempts at photographing it resulted in weird glares and distorted lighting. I decided I needed a more controlled studio lighting environment for this painting to really be seen correctly.
Here was the first photograph that was taken using a softbox flash unit and a reflective umbrella unit.
One was positioned about 45 degrees above, and the other was an umbrella flash about 15 degrees in front of the painting to the right.
Both glared. But this gave us an idea of what we could and couldn’t do to get this particular painting to really show itself off.
Next, we decided to go a little more simple and just used one softbox at about a 15 degree angle about 3 feet above the painting. This brought out a lot more color, but that stupid glare still showed up.
So, as with most things that glare, changing the angle is usually the best way to accomplish getting rid of it. Here I am holding it at an odd angle to minimize the glare. (saves us time in moving lights to test it out this way). This worked, but the angle was wrong and I don’t want myself in the picture of course.
almost there…
We also decided that we needed to brighten things up more.
Lighting is like so. One softbox unit is almost directly over the painting (it’s not far enough back yet to get the glare off, but it’s closer)
A second softbox was bounced off the rear wall of the studio to give the painting more of a foreground look rather than just blending into the background. (which by the way is a black background paper and an easel covered with a black cloth)
This second softbox really helped out the overall look tremendously. The umbrella flash is no longer being used at this point either.
Here is the final image. Colors are vibrant, image is centered, glare is minimized.
We moved the top softbox directly over the painting minimizing glare and bounced the other softbox off the back wall. This gave us the gallery look we were going for.
Update: if anyone is interested in buying this painting, contact me at william@b5media.com
10 Comments
[...] he wants great pictures…ones for which his camera phone won’t suffice. Check out How to photograph your art work…and maybe how not [...]
Great post. I have a brother who has recently taken photos of his work and uploaded them. Flickr, your own blog, and even Facebook are great ways to share your artwork and taking photographs is the first step.
Thanks Ryan, have your brother submit his work. I am working on a new video podcast to feature some work from readers.
[...] he wants great pictures. Ones for which his camera phone won’t suffice! Check out How to photograph your art work…and maybe how not [...]
[...] Artists should think about how much care and attention they place on setting up an exhibition in a gallery or art fair. A great article demonstrating this has just been posted at Artist Hideout. [...]
May I critique this photo?
Casey,
Feel free. There are a few things I want to do better next time too. I think the lighting should have been done from both sides (as this was a landscape oriented painting), though I’m not sure it could have been done without glare.
The black on black, well, in afterthought, it might have been better to use a different color for contrast reasons.
Anything else you might want to suggest, go for it.
Thanks.
I would crop out absolutely all background. That means the end product will always be a 2:3 ratio image. If submitted to a jury, that means tough beans for the artist who has a different “shape” of painting. In other venues, though (self designed web site, book, etc.) you can crop it any way you like with PS Elements, or Lightroom, or whatever.
Yes, you really do have to get rid of all glare. The two (Tungsten) lights set at a 45 degree angle should do it. I know it’s difficult with big works. You may have to experiment or research different intensities of Kelvin in the bulbs for that size (I’m no expert).
Be sure to square the image and the camera to be perfectly parallel.
The art looks great, BTW.
I think it is the eye of the ARTIST,and it is always good to see some one else,but when it comes to how to present your work you should be open minded.
Lighting certainly seems to be key. The flash on my camera is EVIL!