Photographing my paintings

Factual Questions
1

…and drawings, but for now, let’s take my oil paintings which are rich in color and have crisp edges, etc IRL but when I’ve photographed them they look kinda washed out and crummy. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that they look less skillfully conceived in photoform than IRL.

Here’s my latest:

http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/users/43f9fcf6zc88ca5a5/feb5re2/__tn_/8634re2.jpg?phQ8H9EBSIf22hxC

which if the link works, is a painting of my younger daughter catching her first fish with her uncle, my brother, about five years ago (actually about five years ago today).

This photo was made under the following daunting conditions:

  1. it was shot using my two-year-old cell-phone camera, which is not a high quality camera by any means.

  2. I used Adobe elements to change its format from a bitmap to a jpeg,

  3. which is the only format that Yahoo allows

  4. It was also shot using the light available where it’s hanging in my living room.

Now if this going to turn into a “Buy a real camera, dummy” thread, I’m open to suggestions. I’ve been meaning to buy a decent camera, but am concerned that quality cameras will turn into real bucks. which I’m a little short on. Has technology changed enough to make just buying a new cell-phone camera an option? if not, any recommendations for a cheap camera that will be an improvement on this?

If we’re not going to go in that direction, then what else could I do? Light it better? How?

Could the quality have gone down in all the format changes ,and Yahoo-hosting, etc?

I also took some pix of drawings I’ve made for a kids’ book, which came out rather dark:

http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/users/43f9fcf6zc88ca5a5/feb5re2/__sr_/b6f4re2.jpg?phgbI9EBWyws1OS_

and (the answer)

http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/users/43f9fcf6zc88ca5a5/feb5re2/__sr_/82a7re2.jpg?phgbI9EBrVqGNVjn

Any suggestions for lighting them better, either by actual lighting (which I’m likely to have at home) or by better photoshopping?

Thanks. Any and all comments welcome–I have no feelings to be hurt, as a photographer, as a painter, as a renderer, or as a human being. Fire away.

2

This started out in my mind as GQ, but I can see that it’s really more IMHO. Mods?

3

Actually, they don’t look bad for a cell phone camera, which really are not intended to reproduce colors or detail as faithfully as a true digital camera. You can get a good 5-6 megapixel camera for less than $300 that will yield much better results. As far as lighting goes, I use ordinary desk lamps (the gooseneck variety) with incandescent bulbs. Most cameras have an exposure setting for incandescent that will correct for any color changes. If you use 4 such lamps positioned at oblique angles, you can get very even, glare-free lighting on the cheap.

4

I was not able to view your pictures. I take pictures of my Mom’s paintings. I usually take pictures of them outside on an overcast day which also gives even lighting. Set the white balance to cloudy. I then adjust the levels in photoshop to use the full dynamic range. Auto levels can also work pretty good.

5

I’ve been photographing my wife’s pastel and olil paintings for years. Obviously, she is very fussy about accurate reproductioon of color, and with film, it was always difficult to get it right.

Since I got a good digital camera, we get much better results, and you can take several shots of each painting to be sure it comes out right.

I’d have to say you will be unlikely to get decent results from any cell phone camera. OTOH, you do not have to spend big bucks to get a multi-megapixel camera, as many fo the less expensive ones will suffice. I happen to have a Canon Sureshot, but there are a gazillion good digital cameras out there. Sorting them out is the hard part.

I’ve found my best results, to get faithful color reproduction, come from putting the painting out in the direct sunlight, between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM when the color temperature is such that the colors will be most accurate. Just be sure the artwork is as vertical as possible and will not fall over or be blown over by the wind.

I always put the camera on a tripod for several reasons. No danger of camera movement, accurate placement directly in front of the painting to prevent distortion, ability to compose perfectly on the LCD screen.

You do have to be careful not to get reflections if the paint is thickly applied, or if you have any paintings under glass.

Be sure and turn off the flash on the camera before shooting. Be sure the little focusing marks on the screen are directly in the middle of the painting, also best for automatic exposure.

Most cameras will permit you to set your own aperature and shutter speed, and this is very helpful if you know anything about photography. Then “bracket” several shots with half stops above and below the light meter reading to get the exposure you like best. If not, leave it on the automatic setting.

You can shoot the pictures inside, using either natural daylight from the windows, or artificial light from lamps. If you use lamps, place one on each side, 45 degrees away from the painting, and far enough away to get even illumination over the entire surface. Again use a tripod as it might be a longer shutter speed if the light is low. Set the camera for incadescent lighting balance.

All this is a lot of work, but if you want to prepare a portfolio to show people or galleries, it is vital to have good pictures. In the latter case, you will want to get at least 5x7s, and preferably 8x10s. Printing on a home inkjet printer is very expensive with cost of ink and paper, so usually you can get better prints made from an online vendor for less cost. I’ve had good luck with the Kodak site.

Good luck and have fun. :slight_smile:

6

Good ideas, or you could place the objects outside in the sunlight, or partial sunlight to avoid glare. Most cameras, even the cheap ones, do pretty good in natural sunlight conditions. Use a tripod. And an easel (sp?).

7

I wasn’t able to open your links, but, here is a photo I took of one of my paintings. I take the photos in natural light, no flash. The color isn’t perfect, but not too far off.

8

Hmm…I wonder why some people are able to open the links, and others not. You’d think a link is a link is a link, no?

Thanks for the advice. I’m taking some shots outdoors (it’s plenty overcast where I am) to see if any difference shows up.

Picunurse, is your painting not right-angled. or is the distortion I get okay with you? Is it for showing to gallery owners or for your own records or what? I’m trying to get the whole painting, but not the frame or the wall in the shot, and to get it at 90 degree-angles, but maybe I don’t need to.

9

It may be that you need to be logged in to a system to see the link. I can’t see the images linked, and the link changes to http://phvrf.yahoo.com/users/43f9fcf6zc88ca5a5/feb5re2/__sr_/b6f4re2.jpg when I click on it.

10

In addition to buying and using a decent digital camera, I suggest the following:

Take several pictures of each painting (use a tripod), varying the camera settings and record the details. In each image, (probably in a lower corner) place a small color wheel or solid color chart with a known color or colors. That will help you to optimize the image. Once the image is optimzed, merely crop out the color chart for your final .jpg image. Of course, keep your master and working images in case you want to duplicate the effort.

11

My photos are just for my records. They are all a bit crooked. I picked the one that was the least distracting. Here is the lot, as you can see, They are just snapshots.
Using a tripod, with the picture hanging straight would give you a better change of getting them square, then crop the photo, to remove any distractions.

12

Must be great to be able to paint like that. I can draw well (depending on the subject) but whenever I try to paint it ends up being more like “coloring”.

13

When I was a kid I had to do a report that included slides of images I found in magazines. My school had a gizmo that mounted a camera on a pole and it faced downward toward the table where my image was. I wonder if that’s an inexpensive thing or if you might be able to rent something like that from Wolf Camera or the like?