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01/17/2005 11:22:40 AM · #1 |
Hi everybody!
My brother the artist is looking to get a digital camera. Its main use will be to photograph his paintings for his portfolio, website, emailing, burning to cd, etc. We used my Dimage Z1 to photograph his latest series and the pictures came out horribly - the colors were all wrong. We played with every setting, including white balance, trying to get the colors right, but nothing worked. We adjusted the lighting from artificial to natural, etc., still bad.
He isn't worried about how much the camera costs, but I don't think he's interested in a whole DSLR package (even though I tried to push the Rebel on him)... All he wants is something that will take good pictures, with good color recognition. SOmething better than my Dimage ahaha.
Any one have any recommendations? His work is abstract, so the line between shape/color is very "blended", and the camera must be able to pick up such intricacies...
And if anyone has any pointers or tricks for photographing artwork, please let me know!
Thanks in advance for the help!
Katy |
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01/17/2005 11:31:47 AM · #2 |
I don't have any tips for the kind of camera to use - I've used everything from a 35mm instacam with slide film, to a Sony Cybershot. The camera is not so much the issue as the lighting. You want to have good ligting, obviously, and it needs to be white light. No florescent, no tungsten. If possible, have a white screen to the left or right or both of the painting to bounce light off of, if you're going to use a flash. You don't want direct light hitting the canvas because it will reflect the light back at the camera, kind of like a mirror does, and leave white spots on the picture.
Hope this helps.
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01/17/2005 11:36:34 AM · #3 |
| Put the artwork on a flat surface like a wall. Make sure the camera is perpendicular to the surface so you're not introducing perspective distortions. Use a middle amount of zoom so you're not introducing pincushion or barrel distortion. Use two or more lights set at 45° to the surface of the painting. Use a white piece of paper to set the white balance. Use a grey card to set exposure. |
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01/17/2005 11:36:59 AM · #4 |
| For the camera I would get one that can produce raw files, most point and shoot cameras produce images that are over saturated, this may look good for green grass and a blue sky but not so good for getting the colors to match a painting. Most cameras will allow you to adjust the saturation setting, mine calls it real mode for the not do saturated mode. But if I really care about the color I shoot raw, this avoids the in camera processing, which I have found can mess things up do much it is almost impossible to get it back to looking right. |
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01/17/2005 11:40:58 AM · #5 |
He might do very well with one of the prosumer cameras like the Sony F series. He can even get an older F707 for very cheap these days, and the color comes out great. I suspect that the Nikon or Canon cameras of similar ilk would be good, too. They all use good glass.
However, unfamiliar as I am with the DiMage series, I still suspect that your/his main problem is probably lighting, as atsxus suggests. I have found the best light for such purposes is the sun. Get the paintings into a very bright area, but keep it in full shade. It would be best to have a dark or black background behind the painting so the camera only picks up black and then the painting. You can use cards, as atsxus suggests again, to direct more light onto the painting, but I suspect that you will want the sunlit BEHIND the photographer to avoid any directional light from the side.
For many/most of my so called studio shots, I use my front porch or the opening to my garage, which do not get direct sun, but are south facing (here in North America) and so are quite bright.
Good luck!
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01/17/2005 11:41:35 AM · #6 |
Find a good flat vertical surface to hang your painting on. Set your camera up to be perpendicular to the surface and in the center of where the painting will be. The best way to do this use a mirror - you can judge if it's perpendicular by looking at the barrel of the lens or better said when you can't see the barrel just the face of the lens. Set up two tungsten clamp lamps, one on either side of the artwork at 45 degrees to the surface. Experiment to find the best focal length, somwhere in the middle of the zoom range. Use aperature priority somewhere in the mid range also(either end of f-stop range tends to be less sharp), and low ISO. Also try and get as much of the art in the frame as possible but do leave a bit of leeway for cropping and rotating. If you're concerned about glare or reflection at all use a circular polarizer. Custom white ballance. And if possible shoot raw.
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01/17/2005 11:46:07 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
I don't have any tips for the kind of camera to use - I've used everything from a 35mm instacam with slide film, to a Sony Cybershot. The camera is not so much the issue as the lighting. You want to have good ligting, obviously, and it needs to be white light. No florescent, no tungsten. If possible, have a white screen to the left or right or both of the painting to bounce light off of, if you're going to use a flash. You don't want direct light hitting the canvas because it will reflect the light back at the camera, kind of like a mirror does, and leave white spots on the picture.
Hope this helps. |
Tungsten light is just as "white" as any other light source. It's about the white balance.
I would definitely avoid flourescents tho, mostly because their output is not full spectrum.
You will definitely want to use a UV filter since some pigments will flouresce and change the color. A polarizer can help with reflections if you have something textured that has wird reflections
I used to shoot 4x5s of all kinds of 2d artwork for a little extra cash when I was in school. I used 2 lights each angled at approximately 45 degrees and aimed at the opposite edge of the piece. I used a handheld meter to make sure that the illumination was even all over the piece. Setting the WB manually would be a good idea too.
You should also make sure you are viewing the shots on a calibrated system. You could do some tests with a color reference card as well.
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01/17/2005 11:48:19 AM · #8 |
| I am no expert but I photographed some artwork recently and the colors came out exactly like they were on the painting. Abstract stuff too. So my camera works. I took them outside for lighting. |
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01/17/2005 11:52:03 AM · #9 |
I've tried shooting artwork before, and like everyone is saying, it's all about the lighting.
Even cheap point and shoot cameras have the ability to turn the flash off. Turn if off and shoot the painting outdoors or by a well lit window if possible. |
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01/17/2005 11:55:07 AM · #10 |
Wow, thank you all! This place is so great for instant gratification ;)
I've learned a lot already. Lighting is definitely a weakness for me, so I'll continue to try things out with his paintings... I will pass all this info on to my brother, too, when he's hangin' out at B&H playing with cameras :)
Thanks again!
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01/17/2005 12:47:17 PM · #11 |
I used to photograph exhibitions in large format for museums, and I have done digital photography for artists here on the cape.
Aside from lighting, your biggest problem is going to be barrel distortion in the lens. As far as I can tell, all the prosumer cameras have some barrel distorion; my nikon certainly does, and so did my fuji before that. Your best bet is to get a DSLR with high quality, mid-range glass, assuming you have sufficient space to get back far enough from the largest piece of art you will photograph. 85mm lens would be about ideal, if so.
The lighting can be tungsten, that's not a problem. You can do a setup and find the light balance of your particular lights, then use custom white balance to set this and store it. Every time you do this sort of shot, load that custom white balance; it's a one-time thing.
I'd stay away from shooting RAW unless you are very proficient at photoshop; RAW doesn't use white balance, and it invariably comes out muddy before its been tweaked. I never have had a problem with color rendition using tungsten lights, custom white balance, and TIFF files.
The real problem with color rendition is getting the monitor to display properly. It's always a good idea to use a color chart in the bottom of each photo (leave a little cropping room) and check that these colors are rendering properly on the monitor; if they look right, the image will look right, ON THE MONITOR. Then you need to do a printout including the color card, and see that it renders properly in the print. If the monitor doesn't match the print you get, that's a problem that has to be addressed.
If the art is any significant size (say, bigger than 30x40 inches) you'll need 4 lights in 2 banks: high and low, right and left, set at 45 degrees off axis on each side. You really want an "incident light meter", the one with a white, hemispherical dome that reads the light falling on an object. Set camera to manual mode and give the exposure the meter calls for. You program it to the iso you are using, of course. Reflected light readings off paintings are notoriously unrelaible. You also use this meter and hover it just above the art and move it across the entire surface, checking that your lighting is perfectly even.
The art needs to be aligned both vertically and horizontally level. Ideally there will be expnading squares poermanently painted on the wall to allow easy centering and leveling of the art. The tripod needs to be leveled so the center post is truly vertical. The panhead needs to be leveled and locked so that the camera, once attached, is in true horizontal and vertical alignment. The only tripod adjustment is to raise/lower the center post so the lens is on axis with the exact center of the image. It is best to have a camera which attaches to the tripod directly under the centerline of the lens.
Once the setup is is established, assuming you are shooting multiple objects and will need to adjust camera position for each, you want to drop a plumb bob from the center of the art to the floor and mark. Then drop from the center of the tripod post and mark. Make a tapeline between these points on the floor. Attach the plumb bob to the center post so it barely clears the floor. When you have to move the tripod in or out, use the plumb bob to restablish your centering on the tapeline.
Alternatively you can set the tripod up on a flat dolly with 4 wheels, all fixed in a single plane, so it can only roll forwards and backwards. Square the dolly up, and then you can roll the camera nearer or further from the work of art. You need brakes on the dolly too, that will lock firmly.
Once you've established your parameters and created your repeatable setup, the actual shooting goes very fast.
Stay away from daylight, it's unreliable in color and intensity both through an extended time of shooting. "North Light" from a window is pretty reliable color-wise, but there's significant light falloff as you move away from the window.
If the art is at all reflective, create a light-stand-supported black matte cloth with a hole for the camera lens, to block all potential reflections from the surface of the art.
That more or less covers it LOL.
Robt.
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01/17/2005 12:56:53 PM · #12 |
| Great description! Did you use a copy stand for books or small pieces of art? |
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01/17/2005 01:00:16 PM · #13 |
Yes. I do books all the time now, we sell 'em. We're rare book dealers. I built a setup lit as described here, hung on the wall, with a moveable shelf. The setup was created around a copystand set vertically on the wall, and the camera attaches to the angled copystand post, which is now relatively horizontal. Saves the pain of bending over repeatedly, a definite plus at my age....
The background is chromakey, and the shelf is covered in chromakey. I shoot the book, then drop the surround in photoshop and paste in a background from a library of them I have. Works like a charm.
Robt.
Message edited by author 2005-01-17 13:06:21.
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01/17/2005 01:05:14 PM · #14 |
Oh my golly! :)
I am so printing this out ahahah. Thank you for taking the time to educate, very appreciated!
Cheers,
Katy |
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01/17/2005 01:54:56 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Tungsten light is just as "white" as any other light source. It's about the white balance. |
I thought Tungsten was Orange toned and used for B/W tungsten film.
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01/17/2005 02:33:36 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by atsxus:
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Tungsten light is just as "white" as any other light source. It's about the white balance. |
I thought Tungsten was Orange toned and used for B/W tungsten film. |
Try setting your WB to tungsten and shooting outside. Sunlight and strobes will be blue. It's about where you place the reference i.e setting the WB.
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01/17/2005 03:54:51 PM · #17 |
ALL light sources have a distinctive color. Our eyes have "auto white balance" and adapt to varying sources. Try stepping outside at twilight from a lamplit room and see how blue it looks. Stay there a few minutes, go back inside, see how warm it looks. In the film days, we really had only two options; tungsten or daylight film, Any further color correction was accomplished by stacking filters in front of the lens.
Digital cameras allow customizing the sensors to different "temperatures" of light, so in theory we can get true color results from any sort of illumination. Some light sources are not "full-spectrum", however, so we cannot always do it. No amount of white balance correction can compensate for a color cast deriving from photographing under the light from, say, a green lightbulb. Flourescent lights are a special problem, because they do not emit light across the entire spectrum, so some colors react very strangely to flourescent illumination.
Robt.
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