Photographing original art

[frighten]

I'm having a hell of a time photographing my collages. The colors are just way off, and they come out blurry. When I scan them, they just look too harsh. I think I will try to take them outside in the daylight tomorrow. I'm also thinking of buying a light box to photograph them. Does anyone have any experience using a light box to photograph artwork? Thank you!

[justgivemepeace]

frighten...does your camera have a macro setting? I ran into the same problem forever until I figured out that little flower symbol was the macro setting:) And I love natural light, early mornings or afternoons...haven't done a lightbox yet, but fortunately I'm in the sunshine state so we get a lot of rays:)

[frighten]

Yes, it does have a macro option. I will give that a try. The ironic thing is that I'm a photographer, but photographing art is definitely not my forte. Thank you!

[justgivemepeace]

PS... I love your collages! And the three little bears is priceless:)

[JudyStalus]

Put the camera on a tripod, you can get a much crisper focused photograph of your art work.

[frighten]

Thanks, Judy. I have tried with a tripod. I think it's the light in here that is the main problem.

[Former_Member]

For harsh - try taking down the saturation a notch. I know that does wonders for some of mine that just seem too bold in a scan or photograph.

I had a brilllllllliant tip this week on Twitter! If you are using a dSLR (I have a Canon) then get a f1.8 50mm lens. A "nifty fifty" or sometimes called a portrait lens. If you're a photogrphaer you probably know how it works. :) I really wish someone had told me this years ago!!!

And strange as it sounds this works well even for my smaller work (20") at that distance, instead of a macro photo.

I got mine on eBay for about £60. Since I usually would pay £50 per painting for a prof photographer I'm very pleased needless to say.

And yes, definitely get a good solid tripod (not lightweight one) and if you can a shutter release cable so you're not actually pushing the camera button.

[Former_Member]

I've used a local photography studio for my large scale paintings- particularly for work that was going to my publishers...

But, for regular pics, I lay the painting on the floor, and stand above it. It stops there being any angle issues, and keeps the light even.

I try to take my photos in the morning, on a sunny day- so there's plenty of natural light, but no glare.

Obviously I don't use a flash, and I edit the photos to tone down, or up, the temperature & exposure.

I don't use a dSLR- I can't figure them out... but, I use my macro settings on smaller work, and adjust the other settings according to the situation.

[frighten]

It's a bright and sunny day today, so I took the work outside and photographed it. It was so bright, I didn't need a tripod, and the pictures came out much better. Still have to tweak the color a bit to make it true to the artwork, but the clarity is much better. I took your advice of using the macro setting, justgivemepeace, and also shot them from above, linda, and it worked pretty great. Thanks guys!

Here's one. Much better than the other photo I had of it.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/66859665/wrong-number-original-collage