Photographing Artwork (also called “Copy Work”) Illustrations from The Quick and Easy Guide to Photographing Your Artwork by Roger Saddington

Photographing Artwork Unless you are a good photographer, think of your copy images as a way to archive your work, apply to competitions, and as an introductory portfolio to approach galleries and other venues. If you are asked to supply images for publication (anything of higher quality than a newspaper image), you will want to consider having a professional photographer shoot your work. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Equipment needed for copy images: A minimum 6 MP DSLR camera with a lens zoomed to around 65mm (assuming a focal length multiplier of 1.6). This will give a focal length that will give enough distance from your artwork, but will avoid “barrel distortion”). Gray card Professional photo lights, or 2 - 4 halogen “work lights” / “construction lights” (500 watts each) with stands or clips Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Other Supplies and Equipment Black background paper or velvet Tripod Level White umbrellas or white reflective cards (Foam core or gator board) Computer w/ Photoshop and CD burner Back-up drive or off-site storage Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Maximize your shooting space. It may be necessary to place larger works vertically (even if they are intended to be shown horizontally). Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Align camera and lights with the center of the artwork. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Camera must be level, centered, and parallel to the 2D work (to prevent keystoning). Lighting must be even. Use at least 2 matched lights at 45 degree angles to the artwork. 4 matched lights best for larger works. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork It’s best to hang work flat on wall, but if you must tilt the work, you also should tilt the camera to the same angle Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Look through camera and move tripod back and forth so that the artwork fills the frame with a slight gap between the edge of the viewfinder and the edge of the work (maximize the capture area) Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork At a 45 degree angle to the work, move one of the lights back and forth until you make the beam cover the entire work (point the light at the opposite end of the artwork) Kill that light and set the other in the same manner (they should be in approximately the same position on either side of the camera). Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Larger works will require more space and more light -- typically, you will need 4 - 500 watt lamps for larger pieces. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Don’t shoot works under glass – it’s best to shoot before artwork is framed or un-frame the piece. If impossible to un-frame, use a Polarizing filter on camera and gels in front of your lights -- OR – attempt to drape black cloth and use black tape on all reflective surfaces Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork A grey card held at the surface of the work is the best tool for getting a proper exposure (and setting color balance). Make sure when you take your reading, that the card fills your viewfinder. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Use your camera’s manual mode when calculating your exposure. Until you get a feel for shooting, bracket exposures (one stop over/one stop under the “recommended” exposure). Most DSLRs will do this automatically if you set them for “bracket” (BKT) on the menu. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Take readings of the gray card held at different areas of your work to make sure that your lighting is even. If you find more than 1/3 of a f-stop variation, your lights need to be adjusted. If exposure calls for a shutter speed of 1/30 second or slower, use remote release and viewer block / mirror lock Turn off all room lights and block windows if necessary Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork For best color results, set a “Custom White Balance.” This is actually a misnomer, you are actually setting a “Neutral Density Balance.” In fact, you can take the custom reading from your gray-card instead of a white piece of paper. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Include your gray-card in a shot. Then, you can tweak the color in your shots using Photoshop’s Level or Curve adjustments. The gray-card sample in PS should be set for neutral density (i.e. equal amounts of RGB). This will insure that all of your other colors are rendered accurately. You can then save and apply this correction to all images in your shooting session. These adjustment are even easier if you shoot RAW files Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Use small aperture (larger numbers like f 8 or f11) and slower shutter speeds (1/30 second 1/15 second, a full second or more). Use a good tripod, remote release or self timer. To shoot a 30-40 inch work, you’ll need to have about 12 feet of width to set up your lights / you’ll need to be able to have about 12 feet of depth from piece. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Work from larger pieces to smaller – once lights are set for large work, you can use same set-up for all other pieces (even same exposure). Just be sure if you move in for extremely small pieces that you don’t cast a shadow. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Always set your camera to the largest possible image size and least compression. If you have photo experience, shoot Camera RAW. If you don’t have experience, shoot JPG images. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Unless you are working in RAW, as soon as you open your file in Photoshop, do a “save as” to create a copy of your image as a Photoshop document. The IMMEDIATELY close your original and don’t touch it again Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork In post-production, you’ll use PhotoShop to straighten your images (skew to correct keystone if necessary, crop to work’s edges, adjust exposure and color, size for desired use, and sharpen. AGAIN, this should be a copy of your original file – NEVER WORK DIRECTLY ON THE ORIGINAL. Photographing Artwork

Photographing Artwork Using Adobe Bridge or similar D.A.M., apply metadate that includes your professional name, address, email, URL, work title; medium and HxWxD” in “description” field; copyright notice and status (use this format: © 2015, Your Name) – status should be set to “Copyrighted.” Photographing Artwork