How to proper
photograph
your artwork

Choosing equipment

A good photograph of an artwork should correctly reproduce all its colors and shades, as well as its appearance. The tricky part of photographing art is that you need to be very careful about lighting and getting the right colors.

For a clearer image of the details and texture of the artwork, it is recommended to photograph with a tripod (any photo or video tripod will do).

To avoid glare, never use flash when photographing paintings. It is best to photograph artworks in daylight. The light should fall on the painting from the side. If your work is large in format, then there is a high probability of its uneven lighting. This can be corrected by placing a white sheet of paper at the unlit edge of the painting. Avoid falling shadows from foreign objects on the painting.

If an artwork has texture (for example, it has raised brush strokes or traces of other tools with which it was created), lighting should emphasize that texture so that the object in the photo does not differ from the original. A good photo should look exactly like the original painting!

Preparing the painting and equipment for photoshoot

If the painting is in a frame that you do not want to photograph, just remove the frame. Since shooting through glass is challenging due to glare and reflections, removing glass or other protective material is never superfluous.

Mount the painting to a wall or easel and place a tripod directly in front of it. Set the camera at a sufficient distance. This distance depends on the size of the artwork you want to photograph. Aim the camera lens at the center of the painting. The plane of the camera lens must be parallel to the plane of the painting.

Place two light sources: the painting should be evenly lit and not contain either too bright or dark places.

If you do not have the necessary skills to adjust the shutter speed and aperture of your digital camera, set the settings to auto detection and disable the flash.

If your skills allow you to fine-tune the camera, use the white balance setting. Select the most suitable white balance according to the characteristics of the light sources you are using. Almost all digital cameras have an option to set the white balance that matches the sunlight. If your camera is capable of measuring white balance for specific lighting conditions, this function will often give you the best results.

Shooting

If you have positioned the camera correctly and have taken some test photos, make adjustments if necessary, and then take two or three final shots.

For other pictures, simply move the camera closer or further away from the canvases if their sizes differ from each other. To avoid additional vibration when shooting, use a wireless remote control for the camera. беспроводной пульт дистанционного управления для фотоаппарата.

How to photograph a sculpture correctly?

Sculpture is a 3D image and the photographer must emphasize this, with lighting playing a key role and adding depth. Side front lighting generally works best as it casts scenic shadows. If you do not have the opportunity to choose lighting, then think of an attractive angle. A simple and uniform background is best for sculpture photography. If you have problems with this, try using a shallow depth of field; the background will be out of focus so that its impact will be greatly reduced.

Before posting photographs of your works on Artcenter.by, make sure that the image file meets our requirements for uploading, i.e.:

• 1. Format - JPEG, PNG;
• No less than 1200 pixels x 1500 pixels;
• No more than 15 Mb.