I've been asked if I will photograph a friends paintings (possibly for a bit of cash - yay!).
He wants the photos so he can put them up on his website and hopefully get more galleries to display his work, and so people will buy them.
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the best way to do this? I want to make sure I do his work justice. I know I need to think about lighting etc but not entirely sure what the best approach is. I also know a lot of his work has interesting textures and subtleties, and wondered if there are any tips for capturing/emphasising these aspects? I obviously don't want to add anything to his work which isn't already there, I just want to know how best to shoot them so that they speak for themselves :)
@strachs thanks for posing this question.......i am in a similar situation with a friend........and i am not sure if there are any "tricks" to capturing the work in its best light or not..?
@emsabh Is something going wrong with your comments? I've had about four notifications that you've posted and it just seems that your comment keeps disappearing or only being half there! Appreciate the help so far though haha, and it's really adding to the suspense :p
- Don't use any wide angle settings on your lens. 50mm or greater will reduce the problem of parallax distortion, where the edges seem to converge toward the top or bottom.
- Use an easel to line up the artwork straight up and down, and a tripod to mount your camera straight up and down. This too will reduce parallax.
- I use indirect natural light to evenly illuminate the artwork. Flash is really harsh.
@strachs sorry about that. I think there must've been a bug in the text I was writing, causing a hiccup. I deleted all of the gobbly goop. Hopefully these tips help!!
If you can, try working some art into a vingette. Maybe a piece above a chair, with a large floor plant next to it. Envision it in someone's living room. Sometimes you need to give people the vision, that the work of art would be a perfect fit in their home. Think outside the box when setting up your shots. Everyone can photo a piece of art on their website, but try to give your friend a totally different experience. I am not an expert in lighting, but I do displays for a living.
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- Don't use any wide angle settings on your lens. 50mm or greater will reduce the problem of parallax distortion, where the edges seem to converge toward the top or bottom.
- Use an easel to line up the artwork straight up and down, and a tripod to mount your camera straight up and down. This too will reduce parallax.
- I use indirect natural light to evenly illuminate the artwork. Flash is really harsh.