Shooting art-work

[GJim]

A friend has asked me to produce some high-quality images of some of her art-work. The images will be used to 'pre-enter' art shows. The first item will be a pencil sketch. She says it is fairly light, but she is going to 're-work' it to make it darker. The sketch is approx. 11x14 inches (28x35.5 cm).

Anyone have experience with this?

Here's my idea, so far. I'll use photo-corners to temporarily mount the art-work to some foam-core, the foam-core will be temporarily mounted to a wall. I'll use my 100mm Macro with my 7D, will ensure that camera is perfectly level with center of art-work, perfectly square with the art-work also. 7D will be on a tripod at a distance that will allow art-work to fill view-finder to approx. 80% (to minimize diffraction at the edges). I currently have 2 shoot-through umbrellas and 1 soft-box (will have 3 soft-boxes by the time of the shoot). I also have silver/black, gold/black, white/black reflective umbrellas (2 each). Will probably try the soft-boxes first, close to the art-work, one on each side, angled at 45 degrees (ala lighting a background); each soft-box will have a YN-468 (manual mode) that will be wireless-triggered remotely from the 7D.

Will likely have to do some PP to make the image 'pop'.

Any further ideas greatly appreciated.

[suecassidy]

sounds to me that you have a pretty good handle on it. Will the end product all end up being the same size/aspect ratio in its final form?

[GJim]

Thanks, Sue, for the comment. I presume that, in all cases, the finished product will have same aspect ratio as the original.

[RLPhoto]

A friend of mine asked me to do this for her.... she had a bunch of lights at her place... so i didnt even use any flash. just took a bunch of shots at different shutter speeds.... used a tripod and a 50mm 1.8 lens. i actually filled the frame in the viewfinder.... came out well and she was happy.

whatever works for you

[klr.b]

Is she reworking it because she's not happy with it, or just so you can photograph it? Have you considered just scanning it?

[RPCrowe]

I suggest that you shoot a white or gray reference card for each lighting setup. That way, you have a benchmark which will allow you to get accurate color using Camera Raw...

[JimArneson]

I've done this a few times for artist friends and have developed a method that (I think) works pretty good.

First I shoot the artwork laying on the floor using a couple of widely spaced flashes (could use anything). I worry more about having the image "squared up" than having the frame filled (you'll have plenty of pixels to work with). Be especially careful about getting reflections..a high ceiling works best.



Get the image into Photoshop where you can easily manipulate it into "shape".

First crop around the outside of the artwork...





Then "warp" the image by grabbing the corners (one at a time) with the move tool while holding the control key (windows) and "bend" it into a nice "square" image (Dragging guides into the image can help...a lot).





Finally adjust the image to "taste" and you're done.



A few points to consider...

• The closer you have the artwork perfectly fill and fit the captured image the better...but I have found you can "warp" an image quite a bit and no one will notice much.
• The better you nail the exposure in the capture the less post processing you need...but once again I think it is easier and faster to get close in the capture and then "nail" the exposure and color in a "quiet" moment in front of your computer later.
• Using the lens adjusting filter before cropping makes this method work even better.
• I do this in Adobe Photoshop CS5...I'm sure other programs will work just as well (Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, etc.)

[anlenke]

Originally Posted by RPCrowe

I suggest that you shoot a white or gray reference card for each lighting setup. That way, you have a benchmark which will allow you to get accurate color using Camera Raw...

I agree here. Do you know what size file you'll need to produce? I'm sure 80% of 18MP should be just fine, but it's a good thing to know. Good lens for the job, good lighting approach. I would think a curves adjustment or levels would pretty easily do what she wants, and may save her a lot of time...might suggest it?

[anlenke]

It doesn't sound like it's framed, so I don't think the warping/shooting off-axis will be necessary...could be wrong, but if the OP is talking about putting the work in photo corners, that's my impression.

[JimArneson]

Here's an example of a painting captured using the method I described earlier. I started out trying to do it pretty much the way GJim described...counting on near perfection in the capture. After banging up against all the things that inevitably get in the way of perfection at the "photo shoot" I decided to try the "warping" approach. I find it to be much faster and easier and I think it produces really nice results.

I agree that a simple "curves" and "levels" adjustment (maybe even the dreaded "auto" button) will get you really close in just a couple minutes.

For this piece of art we decided to include the frame. Most of the time we capture just inside it (a simple crop takes it away). The saved (jpeg) image is 2672 x 3600 pixels (300 ppi) and just under 4 MB (we started with a RAW capture).

[GJim]

Originally Posted by klr.b

Is she reworking it because she's not happy with it, or just so you can photograph it? Have you considered just scanning it?

Primarily the former, I believe.

I don't have a scanner that can handle 11x14 - biggest I can handle is 8-1/2x11. I can ask if she has access to a larger scanner.

[GJim]

Originally Posted by RPCrowe

I suggest that you shoot a white or gray reference card for each lighting setup. That way, you have a benchmark which will allow you to get accurate color using Camera Raw...

Great suggestion, thanks!

[GJim]

Thanks to all for the suggestions, especially Jim Arneson.

[JimArneson]

I accidentally posted an early version of the artwork (above)...before I removed the reflections of the lights in the suspended ceiling (using the "clone" brush). It turned out to be a good lesson about looking for reflections carefully as you take the photos...



Here is a good example of how far you can go "warping" an image. The first shot shows a nearly 5 foot long piece of art on the floor...



And the finished image after "warping" and enhancing in Photoshop. As you can see the image is actually warped quite a bit...but even the artist did not seem to notice (maybe he was just being nice )

[Jim60D]

While it seems the artwork you are photographing is not covered by glass, if you should sometime have to photograph artwork behind glass, see the recent thread Reflection problem. paintings behind glass.

In addition to a tripod either use self-timer or a remote shutter release (although if using a flash, that effectively minimizes motion). Focus using LiveView with 10X window which you can move around to check focus on edges vs center. Autobracket since it is so easy to do, say +/- 1/2 stop (less convenient when using a flash).