Step #916: Photograph Your Art
Sat, June 26, 2010 at 02:17AM "Conversation is food for the soul."
~Mexican Proverb
Everyone has a different process for capturing their work. I can share what I do. I like to photograph art outside in the early to mid-morning or early evening. In Texas there is lovely sun year-round, so I photograph outdoors in natural light.
I love my Nikon D90 so I play around alot with aperture, angle, etc. [Getting the whites of off-white papers right drives me up a wall.]
The images of artwork that you see on Daisy Yellow are usually photos rather than scane. I think the texture is better captured in the photos. Depending where you are on the planet and the time of year, try photographing early to mid-morning or late afternoon when the sun is at at a bit of an angle and not directly overhead when the light is harsh.
I take my photos directly over the artwork, sometimes I stand on a step and put the artwork below. If you hover directy over the artwork, with the camera parallel to the ground, you can get a squared photo - meaning you won't have those wacky angles. For large art, you can lean it slightly against a wall receiving evening or morning sun from an angle. Then stand so that your camera lens is parallel to the face of the artwork and you'll get a decent shot. It's harder to photograph art like that, but sometimes there's no option. I feel for quilters trying to get a good shot of their larger quilts!
I scan work that fits in the scanner, batching and doing a bunch in one session. Those are mostly for documentation of the work, and I use the scans if I sell a print, as it is most accurate and detailed. I take photos of each work, including in-process shots. I guess I see the photographs of the art as a type of art in itself. I'm funny that way.
Enjoying Teesha's new art journal pages at Teesha's Circus.
I joined Art Journal on NING.
Here's more in the step-by-step art journaling series.
Reader Comments (3)
aha! so i move to texas and get an expensive camera.... got it.... ;)
I definitely think photographing art IS art! Especially the way you do it.
*Monica, Growing up in PA, the skies were often cloudy; in TX it's usually sunny (and unbearably hot) so I really notice it.
*Dawn, Thank you for your sweet words!
The early morning and late evenings are my fav times to take photos, with a cool angle of light.
Tammy