Photographing Paintings - Lighting and Lens

[Flyingavanti]

Hope you guys can give me some ideas. I have about 100 paintings which my mother painted many years ago. I want to catalog and store the paintings. I was going to post the pictures of the paintings on our family web site, then offer to share the paintings with relatives, if they desire. These do not have to be PERFECT photo, but as nice as possible.

I purchased a large piece of black velvet to use as a backdrop. I was thinking of using the 24-70mm lens at about 8 to 10 feet. I have no external flash, so I was going to use 2 halogen light bars placed at 45 degrees from the paintings and placed about 6 feet from the paintings. I will be using a tripod.

Am I headed in the correct direction, or do you have any suggestions.

The camera and lens are very new to me.

[maxyedor]

You want even, soft lighting, custom whitebalance and any lens longer than a 50mm, so use the 70mm end of the 24-70. Make sure the painting is parallel to the lens to avoid distortion, shoot at around f/8, again to avoid distortion and because it's the sharpest range for the lens, and fill the frame as much as possible to maximize resolution.

[davesrose]

I'd go for incandescent bulbs for safety sake. Halogen may or may not cycle different colors when you're exposing. If the paintings are acrylic, you shouldn't have much problems having a set position for the bulbs. If it's oil paintings, there might be uneven gloss from the varnish. You might have to move the lights around if you start getting glare.....just depends on the painting. Go for ISO 100 for the best quality.

[AJSJones]

I'd echo the custom white balance (especially if you do not plan to shoot raw - I'd suggest you shoot raw+L jpeg anyway) to make sure the colours are right. Use mirror lock up and a remore release if you have it - then the position of the lights can be adjusted to maximize uniformity so brightness can take a back seat. I've not heard of halogens changing color while cycling (the way fluorescents will) but low ISO as suggested will give good quality images and lengthen the exposure time (and minimize those colour fluctuations if there are any) What camera?

[staffer]

Lights at 45 degrees always if you want faithful reproduction.
Colour temperature of regular bulbs decreases over the life of the bulb. Halogens maintain colour temp and drop suddenly when they near their useful life.
If at all possible, use polarizing filters over the lights and lens. At the least, use a polarizer over the lens; you don't want any glare.
Broad, soft lights show less colour saturation than a specular source. Make sure light is identical in all four corners and middle.
Use a cable release and mirror lockup. Take one shot with a gray card (for reference)and another without for each painting.

[davesrose]

I've not heard of halogens changing color while cycling (the way fluorescents will) but low ISO as suggested will give good quality images and lengthen the exposure time (and minimize those colour fluctuations if there are any) What camera?

Actually....the easiest and most consistant way to photograph artwork is to do it outdoors.....in an area of sunlight that does not have any shadows. But if you want to do it indoors:

At least I've found that traditional incandescent is the most consistent for keeping the best color balance with photographing my fine art. I started shooting my own slides for entrance portfolios years ago, and I've never been let down by getting a tungsten flood light. Keeping a consistent color balance is the most important thing about photographing paintings, I think. Halogen has "some" cycling.....it's not as bad as florescent: but because its operating range is anywhere from 2800K to 3400K, it has more potential for swing then your less efficient bulbs.

The other thing is to examine the painting itself. It's impossible to say that light at 45 degree angles is the best.....it is a good guideline, but it really depends on the paint surface. Some paintings have a large amount of texture on them and you've got to be careful about shadows and glare. I personally don't believe in filters because of the color balance/ contrast/ softness issue.

[breal101]

Actually a polarizer over the lens will act as a ND filter and have minimal effect on glare from artificial lights. They work best on sunlight which is polarized light, or on artificial lights with polarizing filters. If you don't have any glare or specular highlights a polarizer is not really needed.

[JuSlaughter]

I read an article once that said if taking pictures of oil paintings with lots of texture, turn the picture upside down, something to do with the angle of the brush and how light reflects off the paint.

[Flyingavanti]

Thanks a lot guys ---- I have used many of your suggestions this morning and they are coming out MUCH better than expected.

I am a novice, so I am learning a lot --- and one thing that is totally surprising is if the painting is "slightly" angled to the camera, it is sensed by the auto-focus. If the painting is exactly squared with the camera/lens, all red dots light (if it is not squared exactly, it will focus on 3 to 5 of the red dots). It seems that a 1/4 inch makes a difference, and that is from 8 feet away!

Thanks again ---- what a GREAT crew here!!!!!

[staffer]

Just to needle a point. Quartz halogens do cycle, but it is the cycling that helps maintain consistent colour temperature.
If you move your lights to avoid/accentuate surface texture you could be introducing density differences and thus changing your reproduction from faithful to interpretive. Of course that may be what you were after.