What Studjo Lighting to Buy to Take Pictures of Art

Photographing prints and paintings tin can be intimidating. You lot want to accurately record the colors and texture of the slice so that your work is represented at its best, just the the scale, delicateness, and intricacy of the pieces often makes this catchy. In this tutorial, you'll learn ii ways to photograph paintings or prints using a tripod and a pair of lights to ensure the lighting is fifty-fifty and the colors accurate. Have no fear: with a little bit of methodology and some skilful light photographing paintings can be like shooting fish in a barrel, and even fun!

Things you will need

• Record measure
• Tripod
• Lights
• Camera
• Gray card

Photographing Unmounted Artwork

If the work is not mounted or framed, such as loose impress, information technology volition be more practical to photograph it lying flat on the flooring rather than trying to prop information technology upright. Yet, if your piece is too large and you tin't get your camera loftier enough above the work to fit information technology entirely into a frame without getting tripod legs in the manner, the setup used for the mounted work (described beneath) will piece of work better.

Gear up a Tripod

Set upwards a tripod around the piece on the floor. You may want to put the work on a piece of white foamcore or a self-healing cut mat. The advantage of the mat is that it has grid lines, which yous tin can utilize to ensure your newspaper is straight. Once your tripod is over the work expanse, suit your tripod so it can face the floor.

Some tripods let you to take the center cavalcade out and mountain it upside down and splay the legs out farther than their normal position. This configuration places the camera direct in a higher place your work expanse and allows you to photograph larger pieces without the tripod legs getting in the way.

Prepare and Position the Artwork

Prepare the artwork by making sure it is gratis of dust and checking to come across if it lies apartment.

I set up a self-healing cutting mat that has a filigree printed on information technology to assistance me line up the edges of my subject. This is not entirely necessary but having some tape marks at the very least will help you line upward each piece if you are photographing a number of items.

Place the artwork on the surface and line it up so that you tin can squarely position information technology in the camera'due south frame.

Set up Upward Camera to Squarely Frame Artwork

Position the camera on the tripod and line it upward and so that information technology is as squarely situated as y'all tin can get it. Ideally the dorsum of the camera will be parallel with the basis. A minor level laid on the back of the camera will assist. Aligning the photographic camera squarely will help eliminate unwanted lens distortion, which will save lots of mail-production time and make the end result wait much better.

We want to fill as much of the frame of the photographic camera with the subject equally possible. Even so, most artwork does not suit to the standard attribute ratio of a camera. If that is the example for your work, fill up the frame and leave only minimal areas to crop out later.

Position a Pair of Lights to Evenly Illuminate the Surface

Even lighting is key to making a well-exposed prototype that needs little postal service-product work. For this ready, we will use a pair of lights positioned at equal distances from the subject field. This kind of lighting is called "copy lighting," because we are lighting to brand as exact a re-create of the subject as possible.

First we volition get head and measure out equal distances with a tape measure:

The lights should exist positioned down at 45 degree angles toward the subject. Once I take them at that angle and equal distances, I will offset to check the surface for even illumination. I have an incident lite meter to help me take exposure readings. It records how much calorie-free is falling on the subject, unlike the meter in a camera which records the light reflected from the subject.

If you don't have an incident lite meter at your disposal, you tin can use a greyness card and tape exposure readings using your photographic camera. Only alter the metering mode of your camera to the spot meter and record the exposure value as you identify the gray card in dissimilar areas of the work expanse. Check the iv corners and center. If the reading are equal, the lite is perfectly even.

For more than information on this method, check out this informative tutorial about using a grey carte du jour to fix exposure and colour residuum.

Set up Exposure, Focus, and White Balance on the Photographic camera

Information technology is very of import for when photographing artwork to have your color balance set accurately. To prepare custom white balance, select that pick in your camera's menu and use a grayness carte to adapt the white residue.

To set exposure for the camera I will use the manual way (Grand) and my low-cal meter reading. If you don't have a light meter use a gray card and your camera's meter to get a reading.

Advisedly adjust the focus using manual focus and check with LCD screen on your camera until you can meet that the smallest particular is in focus. And so have a exam photo and zoom in to make sure that everything is in focus.

Take Your Photo

You lot are almost set up to have your photo! If you have a cable release, using it volition reduce vibration and create a sharper image. If you don't have a cable release, switch your camera to information technology's timer mode. This mode is chosen various things on dissimilar cameras, sometimes marked as a lilliputian stopwatch. It delays the shutter release, letting the camera come up to rest and the vibration caused by your finger pressing the shutter button.

Ok, now go ahead and printing the shutter release.

If the image looks good on review, great work. If non, bank check over the setting and repeat the previous steps. Once everything is dialed in, yous can photograph pieces of artwork all day long on the same settings.

Later yous have taken the photos it is time to edit. Find a walk-through after the setup for mounted work.

Photographing Mounted Artwork

If the work is mounted or framed, such as a stretched sheet or framed print it may be more practical to photo it hung on the wall, especially if it is a very big piece.

Prepare and Position the Artwork

Set up the artwork past hanging it on a wall. Hang the piece at a comfy working meridian and brand sure it is level because that volition help y'all line everything up squarely.

Set Up a Tripod

Fix a tripod then that information technology faces toward the painting and adjust the tripod head to exist level using a level. Many tripods have built-in spirit levels to aid. Once again, this will help us line everything up squarely.

Set Upward Camera to Squarely Frame the Artwork

Position the camera on the tripod and line information technology up so that it is as squarely situated equally possible to the artwork. Ideally the back of the camera will exist parallel with plane of the artwork, though this is sometimes trickier to do with large wall-mounted pieces. If you take the option, moving your camera back and using a longer lens tin can brand positioning your camera easier: the further away from the artwork y'all are, the shallower an aligning you have to brand to get your camera perpendicular to the artwork. Don't back up as well far, thought, yous desire to keep the piece every bit large as you can in the frame.

Position a pair of lights to evenly illuminate the surface

Even lighting is key to making a well-exposed paradigm that needs little postal service-production piece of work. For this set up, we will use a pair of lights positioned at equal distances from the field of study. So get-go I volition become head and measure out equal distances with a tape measure out. A rule of thumb is that the larger the piece you lot are photographing, the further away the lights need to be positioned.

Again the lights should be positioned at 45 degree angles toward the subject. One time you lot take them at that angle and equal distances, check the surface for even illumination.

If you don't have an incident light meter at your disposal, you can again utilise a gray card and record exposure readings using your camera. Just alter the metering mode of your camera to the spot meter and record the exposure value as you identify the gray bill of fare in different areas of the work area. Check the four corners and eye. If the reading are equal, the light is perfectly even.

Set Exposure, Focus, and White Balance on the Photographic camera

It is of import to have your color balance set accurately. Again use the camera's custom white balance. To set custom white balance, select that option in my camera'southward menu and use a gray menu to adjust the white balance.

Sentinel out for uneven colour casts. If 1 of the walls in the area you are photographing is a strong color, and it catches some of the light from your setup, that color may "bleed" into your artwork. If you do have this problem, a neutral-colored coating or a piece card stock tin can assist to cake to offending light.

To set exposure for the photographic camera, again apply the manual mode (M) and light meter reading. If you lot don't have a light meter, use a gray card and your camera's meter to get a reading.

Carefully arrange the focus using manual focus and checking with LCD screen on your  camera until you tin see that the smallest detail is in focus. Take a test photo and zoom in to make certain that everything is in focus.

Take the Photograph!

Yous are gear up to have your photo. And so go ahead and printing the shutter release. If the image looks good on review, great job. If not, cheque over the setting and repeat the previous steps. In one case everything is dialed in, you can photograph pieces of artwork all twenty-four hour period long.

Image Processing: Crop, Levels, and Sharpness

Once you accept the photo on your estimator, we can perform a few edits to enhance the quality of the image. I volition demonstrate the most essential edits in Adobe Photoshop.

While we were working with the photographic camera, we tried to get as shut to the edges of the impress as possible. However, since the aspect ratio was unlike, nosotros need to cut out anything that is not the image expanse on the print. And then the first pace is to crop the prototype. For this job, I want to use the Perspective Crop tool which is found in the flyout menu nether the normal Ingather tool.

Using the Perspective Crop tool, I will move the corners of the ingather rectangle to the corners of the artwork. I like to zoom in and make certain that the corners are as closely lined upward as I can go them while keeping out unwanted areas. So, printing OK to crop. The software will cut out the area you lot told it to and re-calculate the image to be a rectangle.

The first aligning nosotros volition make is to the Levels. To observe the Adjustments panel and click on the Levels button. This volition adjust the tones in the image to look more like the original item. The levels adjustment shows a histogram that has iii sliders nether it.

We will begin by adjusting the slider for the light areas of the image. It is found on the right side. Have that slider and slide it to the left until it meets the histogram graph. This will brighten the light areas of the image. You want match the brightness of the original artwork.

Side by side, take the slider constitute on the left side and slide information technology to the right until it meets the histogram graph. This volition darken the darker areas of the prototype try friction match the nighttime tone to the original artwork.

The third slider lies under the center of the histogram and adjusts the overall brightness of the paradigm. If your image looks too light or dark, endeavour adjusting the centre slider slightly left or right. You want match the overall advent of the original artwork

The second adjustment we will make is to sharpen the epitome using the Smart Sharpen filter. Zoom in to 100% on the image. And so, go upwards the Filter menu in Photoshop and discover the Sharpen option. Select the Smart Sharpen selection in the sub-menu.

I will prepare the overall corporeality to somewhere effectually 120%, or to where I see the brush strokes or other surface detail becoming clearer. I will keep the radius at 1 pixel to keep the aligning minimal and not over enhance the texture. The goal with with this adjustment is to enhance some of the detail such every bit the brush strokes in this painting.

And that'south it! Hither'south a expect a the terminal images:

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Source: https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-photograph-paintings-and-prints-with-copy-lighting--cms-22925

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