bshure Loc: San Diego

friends:

my wife is at artist and my task is to take pictures of her art so she can enter contests and start a website.

my first problem is how to line up the camera and tripod so that the pictures look square. i believe that the center of the camera needs to be aimed at the center of the picture. any tips would be appreciated.

my next challenge is reducing the glare off framed art that is behind glass. i've been using natural light and the tripod shows up in the pictures.

i saw a diagram that showed two flashes at 45 degrees on each side of the camera. as before, tips will be appreciated!

thanks,

bert

stretch86025 Loc: Holbrook Az

I had to do pictures of paintings that a historical society used for prints these I did, did not have glass but for glare from glass below I used magazines to stop glare and to shoot I did is take a picture of the whole thing including the frame and through processing afterwards I cropped out the picture frame, straightened it and so forth until they were happy with it

Griff Loc: Warwick U.K.

The secret is to have the camera NOT at right angles to the picture - the angle must be sufficient to loose any reflections, and then to correct the inevitable distortion by means of the perspective correction function in your photo editor.
Natural light is best. If the pictures are movable then hang them outdoors facing North, around mid-day.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

The easy way to do this is to place a small mirror at the center of the piece and aim the camera so that it is looking directly at the reflection of the center of the lens.


To avoid a reflection of the tripod, make sure that the light on the subject is overwhelmingly stronger than the light on the camera and tripod. Insure that the light from the flashes does not spill over onto the camera and tripod. You may need to drape a dark cloth over the camera and tripod and be sure that it and whatever is behind you remains as much in the dark as possible. Wear something dark yourself.

In either case, two flashes at 45 degrees as suggested elsewhere are the right way to light the subject.

salvofoto Loc: Los Angeles

Bshure,
Add to the two good suggestions here, using available northern light and 45 degree light source, a polarizing filter....just in case you have a shiny and reflective painting.....good luck.
The good thing is you are now shooting with a digital camera unlike us who did it with film and polaroid. lol.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

If this is going to be an on going situation, it is best to invest the time and money to facilitate doing it right and repeatedly. Two strobes with light boxes, some kind of color checker chart (gretamacbeth, xrite, etc.).

Then a large piece of black cloth, or wood, or cardboard. This has to be large enough to hide behind and should be free standing. Cut a hole in this just large enough to accommodate the lens you'll use.

Place the strobes at 45 degrees to the subject and aligned vertically with the subject painting's center. However, do a photo of the color checker and make sure you have the process to match the colors dialed into your PP software. Since the setup will be the same for every painting, this calibration only has to be done once.

I think you can imagine the setup with the strobes a black "wall" to hide behind and shoot through. I'd prefer a telephoto lens for this. It allows you to be further from the painting, making any reflection of the lens smaller. However, if you photograph with the strobes being the only source of light in the "studio" at the time of the photo, the reflection of the lens in the painting will be virtually invisible.
--Bob

lovesphotos Loc: Colorado and Arizona

Good suggestions above. I have been involved with artwork all my life. Also did a lot of tabletop copy work. The essentials are: The work to be photographed needs to be perfectly plumb. (Or perfectly flat if on table top.) Camera to work to be a perfect 90 degree angle. Without lights, a Northern exposure. With lights 45 degree angle to the subject from little behind the camera. It would be desirable to have a black matte background behind the subject that is larger than the subject. A good tripod and a cable or wireless shutter release. If painting has glossy finish, it would be nice to make sure nothing from outside is reflecting from it.
As for the ones under the glass, the only way to ensure that there is no hint of a reflection is to remove the glass.
Take the picture with the frame showing, if there is one, and crop the frame out later or leave it if preferred that way.
And good luck.

Griff Loc: Warwick U.K.

All excellent advice, except when faced with a problem like this
You and your assistants could unscrew the picture from the wall and start moving furniture about, but, though my method aint 'pure' and it isn't pretty, it does take advantage of digital technology, and it does work for all but the very highest requirements of photo-reproduction.
Furthermore, this 'cheat' also deals with heavily impasto shiny oil paint which sometimes defeats the 45 degree strobe method.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nicely done, Griff.
--Bob

Griff Loc: Warwick U.K.

rmalarz
Thank you, Bob.
I do think that pictures of artworks are sometimes the trickiest assignments.
Griff.

A.J.R. Loc: Devon, UK

The best way is to photograph the paintings from above. This is ideally done on a vertical copy stand. It would mean that you could set up the camera and art work with the aid of a spirit level. I do realize however that the paintings might be too large for this, but if you intend to copy a lot of artwork it might be an idea to make something up (fixed to a wall) that allows you to place the camera so that the lens is immediately above the centre of the painting. Again ideally you would want to be able to move the camera up and down in a similar way that you would an enlarger, but you might be able to adjust the height of the painting, or use slight variations in the zoom, it is however best to set the zoom at about the equivalent of a standard lens. (i.e. the approximate diagonal of the sensor). On wide-angle setting it could distort. You are right, a light either side of the artwork at 45 degrees, and far enough away to create even lighting should be used for work behind glass. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, so no reflected light should hit the lens. Take on the good advice of others regarding blacking out the camera etc.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Griff,
You're welcome.

I've assisted a friend of mine who does this for a living. That was the methods he used. Most of the time, he had the originals right from the artist, unframed. There was a part of the studio set up specifically for this. That is, the floor was marked for strobe placement, painting stand placement, etc. The stand holding the painting had screw adjustments to assure the painting was vertical.

For framed work, he'd simply use the black screen in front of the camera. It was all pretty cut and dried as for set up and exposure. There was a lot of planning and work that went into the initial setup prior to any paintings being photographed. After that it was pretty easy.
--Bob

Johanna Loc: Albuquerque, NM

Golly, gee whiz!

All of the replies are missing the VERY BEST way. Yes, set the camera perpendicular to the painting, use flash or other types of lights at 45 degrees & on same level as camera. Match color temperature of lights & camera. Also a darkened room or black draping’s to hide reflections of camera & operators. Ambient room light needs to be very weak compared to the painting light source. NOW the real trick is to use linear polarizing filters on the light sources AND camera, both aligned in same direction. This practically eliminates all the specular reflections from the paintings surface. The color depth and intensity of the painting is enhanced. This works for all types of art work.

Now, where do you get this “magic” stuff?

Google “polarizing film material”. One of the sources is http://www.polarization.com/polarshop/

Good luck with your new found copy system.

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

You say are taking pictures of paintings behind glass, bert. I can assume then that these are watercolors? If these are oils or acrylic they should not be under glass. Since these are done by you wife, you should take your photos before they are framed, and if they are oil or acrylic, take the photos before they are varnished, since you have access to them from the beginning. I have owned and managed fine art galleries for over 40 years, and taking photos under glass never works to be 100%

Shutter Bugger

I used natural Light and a B & W polarizer for
this work.

Beware of shadow cast by the frame.