Tips for photographing your artwork.
You want your work to look its best, so spending a little time and care (and maybe a little money) on your photography setup will ensure your images will properly represent your art.
While Photoshop and other image manipulation software can correct many photo flaws, from color correction to fixing tilts or plane distortions, it’s best to fix these issues in your camera to avoid the image degradation that might occur when using software.
Whether you’re shooting with a DSLR or a smartphone, use the RAW setting to save your files. If your camera doesn’t have RAW, use the highest resolution. It’s best to use software to scale down your photos for use on the web and save the originals for when you need higher resolution images.
Tips for photographing your artwork:
- Hang your work on a neutral colored wall (white or gray is best)at the height where the middle of your piece will be parallel to where your camera is lens (your camera can be on a tripod or sitting on a hard surface, such as a shelf or table to keep it stable). Make sure the plane of your camera lens is exactly parallel to your artwork.
- When shooting indoors make sure to shoot in a room with plenty of windows and natural light, although lighting may vary if you don’t shoot all your art at the same time. Avoid direct sunlight on your artwork as it can cause a glare and affect the colors of your photograph.
- You can also light your work with lamps. For 2D works, you really only need two lights (daylight bulbs are best). Clamp lights can be great for this. You want to place the lights halfway between the camera and your work on the wall at a 45-degree angle pointing towards the wall (this will help eliminate any glare you might get from the lights. You can diffuse the lights with white sheets in front of them if you are still experiencing glare. If you’re using a DSLR, a polarizing filter on your lens can help with glare. If you’re photographing many pieces of art, you might even want to invest in polarizing filters for your lights too.
- Double check your camera’s settings. Turn off any auto exposure settings that might change your color balance or light values when shooting multiple pieces of art. Checking your white balance on a white background or 18% grey card will ensure you won’t have to spend too much time adjusting colors later.
- Make sure that it is set to where the lens lines up with the middle of the painting, with little to no background showing. The ISO and aperture are important in getting clear, crisp, and bright images. Indoor/studio shots will generally do well being shot at ISO 100-200. With a DSLR the ideal range for shooting artworks is between f-8 and f-11 for as much depth of field as possible.
- Set your camera’s timer for a few seconds so that pressing the shutter button does not create a shake in your image.
- When photographing sculptural work place your artwork in front of a neutral background. You can place your artwork on a table pushed up against a wall or by creating your own backdrop with a large piece of white paper/cardboard. You can curve the paper to cut out any harsh horizontal lines in the background.
- Tip: Be aware of the lighting/shadows your artwork creates. Use lighting/shadow to your benefit. Some shadow may be helpful in giving a sense of depth to your artwork while lighting can also highlight the materials and texture of your work.
Check out these article on how to photograph your artwork for more tips.
https://www.muddycolors.com/2020/08/photographing-your-artwork/
