photographing an artwork with 620

[art500]

hi guys

just bought a powershot 620 and like most newbies i am trying to understand the features of this camera.

what would be the best settings to get good sharp quick loading photos of artworks like paintings.

should i use the flash or take the photos outside in naturaul light?

i would like to use the photos for my website (under construction).

I tried taking a photo with the flash but got too much flash kickback on the artwork.

thanks guys

[art500]

i also have a tripod too.

if that helps

thanks guys

[art500]

looking at the response, this one must be a difficult one.

[waussie]

Well I will admit I don't know.
You could try reducing the flash.
Putting a thin cloth in front of the flash.
Using a bit of card of shiny foil, to deflect the flash to the ceiling.
Try outdoors.
Please let people know if you find an answer.

[monst]

hiya

tripod, no flash and diffused/shaded daylight is the way to go. also test your camera lens to find out where there is no barrel or pincushion distortion for the best results. make sure everything is flat on to the lens too.

cheers

monst

[frs]

Hi
Welcome to the forum.
I think you might need subdued lighting,
so try outdoors under overcast sky - and no sun-breaks - with even cloud cover.

A tripod is convenient, shoot straight on, so theres no angle, aim and focus at the center of the painting.
Make sure the painting is flat against the wall, and that your tripod is also level.

Hope this helps.

[art500]

thanks for your help guys

if i am outside to shoot what settings would you use (i would be about 6ft from the artwork)

Cheers tony

[Stefan A]

Like others have said, outside, tripod, no flash. Zoom in so the artwork takes as much of the frame as possible. Experiment with the 3 metering choices and see if there is any difference with the look. You need to use the tripod because you may need a longer shutter time depending on the available light. Use the 2 second timer to eliminate any camera shake. I don't know if aperture size will matter. Just try AV mode and set it for the widest. You could experiment with different size aperture to see if that changes anything, but I doubt it. Shoot straight on - not from an angle. Make sure ISO is at it's lowest. Probably just auto white balance, but again, you can experiment. Make sure resolution and compression is set for optimal quality.

Stefan

[waussie]

Just try AV mode and set it for the widest. You could experiment with different size aperture to see if that changes anything, but I doubt it.
Stefan
Most lenses are not at their best at their widest, I have read that the S2 is best at f4 or f5.6.
Getting an even light out of doors could be a problem unless it's a cloudless day, I think I would try indoors first where the setup can more easily replicated.

[Poco]

Since you have such a static subject I would highly recommend you use manual white balance to get the most accurate reproduction of your art as possible without a lot of manual photoshop tweaking.

The simplest thing without a grey card is to put a white piece of paper where your art will be and set the camera to manual white balance mode. I'm not sure how the 620 does the manual white balance (Whether you select a photo or press a button to take the reference image). If possible you should try to get it to underexpose the reference image.

[Moppie]

I would shoot indoors, with a single hot light.
Something simple, like a hologen light, or low wattage reading light.
Just as long as it provides a full, even light cover of the whole painting.
Use custom white balance to avoid any colour cast in the final image, use a THICK piece of WHITE card against the painting your going to shoot.
Make sure you keep all the lighting the same after setting it.
Use a tripod of course, with the self timer, you might be in for some long shutter speeds.
ISO as low as possible, 50 or 100
Shoot in manual.
Zoom as far as possible, let the auto focus do its thing, check it, then lock it.
Use a small apature, F7.1 is pretty sharp on my A80, and helps limit barrrel distortion.
Set shutter speed useing cameras meter, but take some test shots in 1/3 stop increments, useing the histogram to check exposure.
Then check them on the PC, it here you will see any problems.

You will need to make sure the painting and camera are lined up properly, at perpendicular angles to each other, with the centre of the lens pointing at the centre of the painting.
Depending on the light you use, you might get glare, hot spots etc. This is also dependant on any coatings over the paint, and the sort of paint used.
You can only try repositioning the light, or defusign it with a light sheet etc, to remove these (don't put anything to close to the bulb though, don't want to burn the house down).
But don't be afraid to use a more intense light closer up, with a faster shutter speed either.


Generaly this sort of work is done in special rigs with strong lights, or flash units, or its done with product studio set up. All enviroments that are beyond what an A series can control, so you will have to improvise and be prepared for a lot of trail and error.

[Jon]

Moppie's points are all well taken. There's at least one other issue to consider - If you're photographing an oil (or acrylic) painting or other textured object and want to show the brushwork/texture too, you'll need an oblique (soft) light source (with a secondary fill light from the other side) so there are some shadows. And realize you're going to have to downsize them to around 800 pixels at the largest dimension for web use, so be prepared to zoom in on any details you want to call attention to.

[seabiscuit]

On 3rd digital camera and photograping my 200th plus painting. Have made almost all of the mistakes but tomorrow's.

Have found the following to work somewhat well on acrylic paintings: position piece as parallel to your camera as possible; tripod a necessity; shoot outdoors (optimum when slightly overcast).

Press, click and when you ck out the final image...take into Photoshop and skew till it's squared.

Good luck!