Photographing Artwork (Paintings)

[frommrstomommy]

Hello all,

I have not posted here in what feels like a lifetime, but this forum was incredibly helpful to me when I first started my hobbyist photography journey. That was like 12 years ago? Wow!

I have been photographing products over the last ~6 years or so and doing some graphic design work. I am niched down and moving along there more or less, but a year ago I started painting in acrylics. I am having the time of my life but struggling to photograph my artwork. I have been using a simple lighting setup that works well for most of my other work: 2 godox strobes with softboxes (strip style in case this matters though hoping not because space!!) and a clean white background. However, I feel like I am running into a few issues. On larger works I am getting a lot of sheen in the paints creating a glare on the far ends nearest the lighting sources. I can work around this somewhat with positioning but the bigger I paint, the harder that gets to avoid. I am also struggling with all colors to look accurate SOOC or post editing. My lighter backgrounds are either too light or more muted in color than they are in real life. Certain colors photograph spot on, and then others are all over the place it seems. I am of course playing with my HSL sliders in Lightroom but finding it tricky to get accurate color representation.

I also honestly think my vision is going downhill due to some health issues I have and I no longer really trust my eyes, which could very well be part of my problem. Does anyone have any suggestions there?

Does anyone here photograph paintings? I would love to know what you are using for lighting.

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

Bonnie

 

[adamhiram]

Here is the thread where I developed my copy setup, which is pretty much what I use today:
Large format scanning setup

And here is another thread with updates to my setup and some specific examples:
Digitizing and restoring old photos

Both links are to specific posts, but feel free to read through the entire threads to see how my process evolved. I would love to see what your setup is like and hopefully learn and improve my own!

 

[snowbear]

Hello all,

I have not posted here in what feels like a lifetime, but this forum was incredibly helpful to me when I first started my hobbyist photography journey. That was like 12 years ago? Wow!

I have been photographing products over the last ~6 years or so and doing some graphic design work. I am niched down and moving along there more or less, but a year ago I started painting in acrylics. I am having the time of my life but struggling to photograph my artwork. I have been using a simple lighting setup that works well for most of my other work: 2 godox strobes with softboxes (strip style in case this matters though hoping not because space!!) and a clean white background. However, I feel like I am running into a few issues. On larger works I am getting a lot of sheen in the paints creating a glare on the far ends nearest the lighting sources. I can work around this somewhat with positioning but the bigger I paint, the harder that gets to avoid. I am also struggling with all colors to look accurate SOOC or post editing. My lighter backgrounds are either too light or more muted in color than they are in real life. Certain colors photograph spot on, and then others are all over the place it seems. I am of course playing with my HSL sliders in Lightroom but finding it tricky to get accurate color representation.

I also honestly think my vision is going downhill due to some health issues I have and I no longer really trust my eyes, which could very well be part of my problem. Does anyone have any suggestions there?

Does anyone here photograph paintings? I would love to know what you are using for lighting.

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

Bonnie

Welcome back. How have you been?

Maybe try a polarizer to cut down on the reflections/shhen. Also try to get the lighting about 45 degrees from the surface of the painting.

I'd love to see some of your acrylics. I've done some quick shots of watercolors and pen-ink sketches but just go with available lighting. When I shoot them, they're pretty much for posting here.

 

[frommrstomommy]

Both links are to specific posts, but feel free to read through the entire threads to see how my process evolved. I would love to see what your setup is like and hopefully learn and improve my own!

Thank you for your reply. I checked these out. I see you are photographing overhead.. I have been putting my work on a wall or tabletop and photographing head on with my lights on either side of the camera. I feel like I might get more glare overhead but I might give it a go just to see!

Welcome back. How have you been?

Maybe try a polarizer to cut down on the reflections/shhen. Also try to get the lighting about 45 degrees from the surface of the painting.

I'd love to see some of your acrylics. I've done some quick shots of watercolors and pen-ink sketches but just go with available lighting. When I shoot them, they're pretty much for posting here.

Pretty well, thank you! How are you? I do recognize your name I think. I am not sure what the polarizer is but I am off to google! lol I will share an example to show what I mean with the glare issue. This is 18x24" for reference. I probably could have continued to play with lighting angles to make it a little better but didn't have it in me this day so I left it be. The one pic is a closeup of that upper left side.

 

[JoeW]

First, you need to test for color accuracy on your monitor. No--looking at the color on the back of your camera doesn't work--the distance and size at which we view color changes our perception of the color. Start by determining the color accuracy of your monitor. There are a number of tools for doing so. But since you're attempting to reproduce paintings, this is probably the single most critical aspect to your work. Otherwise, the photo you end up with won't match the painting or what's on the monitor won't match what's on the memory card.

Second, shoot in RAW. And then make sure you're using a RAW program designed for that camera. No, that doesn't mean use Lightroom or Adobe CS--because they don't do all RAW formats equally well.

Third, your white balance is a Big Deal here. You may need to develop a custom white balance if you find some colors are true and others not.

Fourth, if you're getting glare then you need to look at light modifiers (maybe using a scrim between the soft box and the painting. Or bounce everything off of a white panel. And related to this, the angle of the light (even if it's in a soft box) will affect what glare shows up.

 

[frommrstomommy]

Welcome back. How have you been?

Maybe try a polarizer to cut down on the reflections/shhen. Also try to get the lighting about 45 degrees from the surface of the painting.

I'd love to see some of your acrylics. I've done some quick shots of watercolors and pen-ink sketches but just go with available lighting. When I shoot them, they're pretty much for posting here.

Oh gosh.. I do know what a polarizer is! I have never used one though. I am so eager to try this. I am hopeful my issue could be fixed as simply as this!! Could I be so lucky??

 

[frommrstomommy]

First, you need to test for color accuracy on your monitor. No--looking at the color on the back of your camera doesn't work--the distance and size at which we view color changes our perception of the color. Start by determining the color accuracy of your monitor. There are a number of tools for doing so. But since you're attempting to reproduce paintings, this is probably the single most critical aspect to your work. Otherwise, the photo you end up with won't match the painting or what's on the monitor won't match what's on the memory card.

Second, shoot in RAW. And then make sure you're using a RAW program designed for that camera. No, that doesn't mean use Lightroom or Adobe CS--because they don't do all RAW formats equally well.

Third, your white balance is a Big Deal here. You may need to develop a custom white balance if you find some colors are true and others not.

Fourth, if you're getting glare then you need to look at light modifiers (maybe using a scrim between the soft box and the painting. Or bounce everything off of a white panel. And related to this, the angle of the light (even if it's in a soft box) will affect what glare shows up.

Thank you so much for your reply Joe. I am using 2 ViewSonic monitors that are supposed to be calibrated. I have noticed recently, one of mine was displaying really warm compared to the other. I have done a manual calibration for color on that left one thats been so warm and its looking better now but this is where I begin to question my eyesight. I would love to know what is recommended for calibration.

I also really appreciate you mentioning the RAW program for my camera specifically. I always import direct to LR and I do shoot RAW. I will have to research this further. I am shooting with a Nikon z6ii. I don't have plans to try to create prints of my work but I feel with my current abilities I should at least be able to photograph them for archival purposes and future potential uses. And of course I do want their colors to be accurately portrayed for potential buyers.

 

[snowbear]

Those are fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

 

[zombiesniper]

There are some good replies above.
This is a modified post of mine from another thread.

Shooting paintings is pretty much the same as shooting any subject.

The only real thing with shooting paintings to consider is how to get the brush strokes (if any are visible) without them casting shadows. The glare is likely due to the lighting being a little too on axis with the camera. If you can get them at a wider angle it should reduce if not eliminate the glare.

I used a basic two strobe set up like below. I always try to shoot for daylight balance, i.e. 5500k and then adjust from there based on the light balance of where they are to be displayed.

View attachment 256308

To get these results for a client.

Painting 2 by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr

Painting 6 by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr


Let us know if there is anything else you need.

 

[Rickbb]

Oh gosh.. I do know what a polarizer is! I have never used one though. I am so eager to try this. I am hopeful my issue could be fixed as simply as this!! Could I be so lucky??

This. When I was in the printing business way back, we shot art with large format sheet film. We used polarized filters on the lights and/or the lens to cancel the glare and reflections from some of the paints used.

 

[Soocom1]

Soft light!

I am sure that these have been tried to a degree, but also figure negative reflection (black) positioned in specific locations to catch stray light.

Also, this is something that you may want to consider, but try to use a flat field lens. This will cut down on poss. barrel and pincushion effect.

Don't forget that a lens shade works wonders on some paintings. Maybe not all but try.

Just my two cents.

 

[Don Fischer]

I have tried doing framed photo's in the house and spactacular failure's! Found out for me the best way was to take them outside and hang them on a house wall in the shade. shoot could hang a blanket behind them and would look like in the house!