Some feedback on shooting paintings

[dylanstraub]

In the night no less. I have a collection of my fathers paintings (Acrylic on canvas) which I want to photograph. I would prefer to do this after work as that's when I'll actually have a few hours to dedicate to this project. I've taken a few test shots and nothing comes out with the right color cast. I think this is because of the overhead light. I'm using a Canon Ti1 (or the one before it I dunno) with an efs 60mm and a Gary Fong light dome on the flash. That setup seems to be working ok during the day so what kind of light source would be good at night? I think the flash will supply enough light so maybe I just need enough for focusing? This is all new for me so I would really appreciate any feedback.

 

[KmH]

Get the inexpensive book:
Light: Science And Magic, An Introduction To Photographic Lighting by Hunter, Biver, and Faqua.

The book has a section specifically about how to light and photograph artwork.

The issue of "nothing comes out with the right color cast" is about selecting the correct white balance for the type (color temperature) of the lighting you use.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I am both a photographer and a painter. But guess what? When it comes to shooting my paintings for high end publication, someone else does it. And I am a published photog (both in art, commercial and journalism) with some 35 years of the craft in my background.

I am quite sure I could learn to do it and so could you but it is not that easy. Why else do photogs specializing in this get paid so well.

All I can say is try and try again and you will get it right if you spend the time. Personally I didn't find it to be worth my time.

Good luck though.

 

[TiCoyote]

I studied painting in college. This is the advice our prof gave us.

Put the painting in the most flattering light. Usually, outdoors, cloudy day, with the painting facing north, early in the day.

Put the painting on an easel.

Put the camera on a tripod.

Make sure the painting is parallel to the camera, or you will get trapezoidal distortion.

If you're shooting film, shoot slides.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I studied painting in college. This is the advice our prof gave us.

Put the painting in the most flattering light. Usually, outdoors, cloudy day, with the painting facing north, early in the day.

Put the painting on an easel.

Put the camera on a tripod.

Make sure the painting is parallel to the camera, or you will get trapezoidal distortion.

If you're shooting film, shoot slides.

All fairly good advice but, easier said than done.

Making sure the canvas is parallel to the camera is very hard unless you have a copy stand (which does not work with large canvases) and the canvas is mounted on its frame so as not to buckle in any way.

Slides were the choice of film because with them there wasn't supposed to be any guessing games as to what the colors were, etc but when they got into the hands of the printer, all bets were off. Once the color separations were done for the printing, it was basically up to the printer what the final reproduction would look like.

And that is why there are art oriented publishing houses and their books are extremely expensive.

To the OP, it is a very good business to get into for obvious reasons. 1/ not easy to learn and 2/ not easy to be good at. But if you can do both, you could have a nice career. There are a lot of potential customers out there and few photogs who can do it.

 

[epatsellis]

I do a fair amount of this work, take the advice you have been given and just have it done. DSLR's don't have the resolution really necessary, and even if they did, you still need to have a color managed workflow, which is a lot of work.

To give you an idea of what equipment is considered pretty much standard for this type of work:

Sinar P, X, or similar view camera
Several Lenses
Betterlight 6K or similar scan back
Fixtures to hold the artwork
HMI lighting
Zig Align jig to square the camera up, as well as to square to the artwork
Extremely rigid tripod or studio stand
Color Management device of your choosing


All told, far more of an expense in equipment, time and skill than most photographers are comfortable spending.

 

[skieur]

Copy stand, sometimes on a table with the painting on the floor if it is large along with colour balanced fluorescent lights.

skieur

 

[dylanstraub]

Thanks very much for all the info. The color cast is mostly fixed. I had it set to shade and changed it to inside (or something like that). It's not quite right but it's better and I can manage it. I'd like to shoot outside but when I actually have time for this it's usually at night. The flash and light dome seem to work fairly well and have produced fairly accurate results so instead of using the overhead light I'm going to try a low powered (40 watt) bulb mounted in a portable worklight (shoplight with a clamp) and focused on the painting. I hope this will allow me to turn the overhead way down and give me a cleaner light for the camera to focus on. I could be way off on this but it's worth a try. I have a basic cheapo easel that I have the paintings mounted on but I occasionally still have some issues with the trapezoidal shape. This is a labor of love and only being used to show his work to interested galleries so I'm not going to hire someone to do this for me. As it is I'll probably have to hire a rep to show his paintings if I can't find a gallery in the Philadelphia market. When I get a chance I'll post a shot or two. Thanks again for the insight and support.