How to Take Photos of Artwork

Hello! Thank you so much for joining. Today I am presenting information on how to take photos of your artwork.
I will go over how to take photos for online presentation as well as taking photos for digital printing.

Lighting

1. Cloudy weather works great for subdued lighting
2. You can lose detail with too dark or too bright lighting
3. Watch out for shadows
4. Avoid warm light if you can for digital printing because it can affect the color of your image. - if you don’t have the capability to adjust the color of the image.
5. Make sure to balance the lighting so you don’t have a glare coming in from the side from a window or from an overhead light

Setting up

1. Select a piece and lay it flat on a light and solid background
2. Hang piece from wall
3. Try to get the picture straight on instead of at an angle
4. Take the photo as close as you can without cropping it
5. Avoiding glare
1. Take piece out of frame from behind glass.
1. Take to frame shop to get paper adhered again to back.
2. Take photo before adding varnish
6. Use a tripod or any item that could hold the phone in place instead of holding it if possible.
7. Foam board to create a box.
1. Use tape if you have room to store it, or buy velcro to collapse it and store it.

Device

1. Make sure to clean your lens
2. Do not use zoom
3. Android S22 seems to take higher quality photos than the iPhone 12 that I’ve seen.
4. Use the back camera instead of the front camera.

Images for Online Promotion/Gallery Submission

1. Market yourself. What would make you buy it.
2. Display pieces with themed items to create a mood
1. People need the bridge to connect them from the piece to the placement in their home.
2. Overhead shots
3. Put in frame and display with house decor
3. Close up shots for real details
4. Digital photos and real photos
1. People can visualize it better
2. Crop or photograph with other items for authenticity

Sending Files

1. Email and don’t submit through social media due to compression
2. Upload to google drive or dropbox
3. File format preference for printing

Reminder

1. Photographing can be easy for a quick and cheap image of the painting, but my scanning beats that with even higher detail capture

Go try it out.

1. High quality images can make a huge difference with the sales process. You can capture the detail that you worked so hard to achieve.
2. Take a high quality picture of each piece in case you sell it.
3. I’ll always check the file to make sure it looks right and let you know what it’ll print out like. 
4. Taking your own photo and doing pre-orders means no upfront cost to profiting off your artwork.
5. You don’t have to know anything about printing, I take care of all of that.