Photographing Paintings

[artoutwest]

Hi all
New here and new d7000 camera
I have been taking pictures of my oil paintings for years and cannot solve this problem
I have two incandescent lights pointing up to the ceiling reflecting off of a oval professional reflector (white side) I have set my white balance with both a gray neutral and a white canvas.
I have tried both and also set my white balance to auto and all of the images are showing too much light. Do any of you know a quick fix to let less light in?
thanks
Diane

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Smaller apperture, or faster shutter speed.

Shoot manual, or if you are using auto, use exposure compensation.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

White balance has nothing to do with how much light you get for your exposure. As mentioned, it's the shutter speed, aperture and ISO that control your exposure.

Your camera, in the auto modes, may not give you the correct exposure (or the exposure that you want), so you can either use manual mode or use Exposure Compensation to add or reduce exposure.

The White Balance will be important when it comes to getting accurate color. Check your manual for how to set a custom White Balance...and know that if you shoot in RAW, you can change the WB on the computer later.

 

[artoutwest]

Thank you- I will change that and try in auto. When I shoot raw for some reason I cannot open it in my Mac (photoshop) says it is unreadable...?
Any one have any ideas about that issue?
Thanks in advance

 

[Big Mike]

When I shoot raw for some reason I cannot open it in my Mac (photoshop) says it is unreadable...?

Every new camera requires an upgrade/update to Photoshop, for it to be able to open the RAW files. The part of Photoshop that opens RAW files is called Adobe Camera RAW and you can download an update from Adobe.com. However, you have to make sure that your camera model is supported by the latest version, if not, you'll have to wait for the next version of A.C.R.
Also, the latest versions of A.C.R. only work with the last few versions of Photoshop. So if you only have Photoshop 7 or something like that, you won't be able to update the A.C.R.

The other options are to use the Nikon software that came with your camera, or use Adobe's free RAW to DNF converter, then open those in Photoshop.

 

[pbelarge]

I have two incandescent lights pointing up to the ceiling reflecting off of a oval professional reflector (white side) I have set my white balance with both a gray neutral and a white canvas.
I have tried both and also set my white balance to auto and all of the images are showing too much light. Do any of you know a quick fix to let less light in?
thanks
Diane

Why don't you also remove one of the lights from the equation and see what happens to your exposure?