Art & Art Tutorials
How to Photograph Traditional Art
Intro
In this beginners tutorial I will explain how to take decent photographs of traditional artworks even with a limited setup. If you are an experienced photographer already with a five thousand dollar camera and a professional setup this tutorial is most likely not for you. With that in place lets have a look at what you'll need to get a proper job done:
The Camera
Needless to say the more expensive your camera the better results you'll usually get. But cameras such as those found in the Canon Ixus series will be sufficient to get going. All you need to know is how to operate whatever camera you've got reasonably well.
A Well Lit Room
If you're not planning on shooting outside you'll need a well lit room to get the best outcome. The optimum is to photograph your art during the daylight hours. High noon for instance would be an excellent time as you'll need all the daylight you can get. It is important that you do not take shots of your painting with it placed in direct sunlight as the colors on the shots will become overly bright or saturated. You need plenty of natural in-direct (diffused) light, not direct light. Also, you should take the shots in a room with bright walls preferably completely white.
Info: Light will exit the painting at the same angle it hits the surface as shown below. Please note that a highly structured painting will cause the light to exit at many different angles.
Use a Tripod Or An Alternative
Having a tripod will make things much easier but if you have none you can use something else as a substitute; a chair, a shelf, a stack of boxes or whatever you like. The important thing is that the surface upon which you place your camera, is absolutely horizontal and completely steady. If you have a tripod simply attach your camera and make sure it is adjusted to a 90 degree upright angle.
Lets Get Going
With all of the above in place it's time to take some shots. Hang your painting on a wall or position it where it's completely vertical. If you have no tripod place your camera infront of the painting on a completely horizontal and steady surface, otherwise use your adjusted tripod. Try and position the camera so the lens levels and points as close to the absolute center of the painting as possible.
Start taking some shots and experiment with the zoom level and different camera settings until you find a combination of settings you are satisfied with. You should use a relatively low ISO setting and try out different shutter settings. Do this manually or by using the cameras built-in presets. Remember to note down or save the settings you find most satisfactory. Also, the flash is not needed so turn it off if you haven't already. Below is a sideview example setup.
Post Processing
Once you have taken the shots you need it's time to import them into your preferred image editing application, and start adjusting things such as contrast, black/white level, colors etcetera to make the shots appear as close to the original artwork as possible. If needed you can crop the image once you are done adjusting.
Outro
That's pretty much how to start out with basic level art photography. I hope you learned something useful from this tutorial, and without any further a-do I wish you some happy shooting sessions.
Have comments, suggestions or critique? Sign up and share it here!
In this beginners tutorial I will explain how to take decent photographs of traditional artworks even with a limited setup. If you are an experienced photographer already with a five thousand dollar camera and a professional setup this tutorial is most likely not for you. With that in place lets have a look at what you'll need to get a proper job done:
- A camera (obviously)
- A well lit room
- A tripod/camera stand, or something serving a similar purpose
The Camera
Needless to say the more expensive your camera the better results you'll usually get. But cameras such as those found in the Canon Ixus series will be sufficient to get going. All you need to know is how to operate whatever camera you've got reasonably well.
A Well Lit Room
If you're not planning on shooting outside you'll need a well lit room to get the best outcome. The optimum is to photograph your art during the daylight hours. High noon for instance would be an excellent time as you'll need all the daylight you can get. It is important that you do not take shots of your painting with it placed in direct sunlight as the colors on the shots will become overly bright or saturated. You need plenty of natural in-direct (diffused) light, not direct light. Also, you should take the shots in a room with bright walls preferably completely white.
Info: Light will exit the painting at the same angle it hits the surface as shown below. Please note that a highly structured painting will cause the light to exit at many different angles.
Use a Tripod Or An Alternative
Having a tripod will make things much easier but if you have none you can use something else as a substitute; a chair, a shelf, a stack of boxes or whatever you like. The important thing is that the surface upon which you place your camera, is absolutely horizontal and completely steady. If you have a tripod simply attach your camera and make sure it is adjusted to a 90 degree upright angle.
Lets Get Going
With all of the above in place it's time to take some shots. Hang your painting on a wall or position it where it's completely vertical. If you have no tripod place your camera infront of the painting on a completely horizontal and steady surface, otherwise use your adjusted tripod. Try and position the camera so the lens levels and points as close to the absolute center of the painting as possible.
Start taking some shots and experiment with the zoom level and different camera settings until you find a combination of settings you are satisfied with. You should use a relatively low ISO setting and try out different shutter settings. Do this manually or by using the cameras built-in presets. Remember to note down or save the settings you find most satisfactory. Also, the flash is not needed so turn it off if you haven't already. Below is a sideview example setup.
Post Processing
Once you have taken the shots you need it's time to import them into your preferred image editing application, and start adjusting things such as contrast, black/white level, colors etcetera to make the shots appear as close to the original artwork as possible. If needed you can crop the image once you are done adjusting.
Outro
That's pretty much how to start out with basic level art photography. I hope you learned something useful from this tutorial, and without any further a-do I wish you some happy shooting sessions.
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Have comments, suggestions or critique? Sign up and share it here!