[Hidden-tech] How do you take photo's to make into glace prints ?

[Duane Dale]

Some tips for photographing art:

(Assume: Artwork hung on a wall.)

(1) Two lights, at 45 degrees to the subject (for even light and to minimize
glare).
    Various kinds of lights might do (studio lights; flash, preferably on
lightstands; tungsten, maybe a floor lamp with gooseneck and reflector
bowl).
    Play with distance from light to artwork, for even lighting.
    Artificial lights' color actually varies from tungsten (yellow-orange)
to "daylight" (blue-ish, at least by comparison).  Flash, without any
"gels", is roughly= to daylight.  With some post-processing, your camera can
work with almost any light source (well, not one that's trying to be red, or
blue, etc.), but you probably won't be happy color-wise if there's stray
light of a different color (such as some daylight if your artficial lights
are tungsten, or some tungsten if your intended light source is flash), so
block or turn off other nearby light sources.  And old-style fluorescent
tubes are almost always a problem.
(2) It will probably help whoever's doing the post-processing if you shoot a
photo of a white card (piece of very white paper or foamcore) or a neutral
grey card, in the same position and light that you'll shoot the artwork.
(3) Shoot in RAW for optimal post-processing adjustment of color.
(4) A dSLR camera on a tripod
(5) I think (not positive) that it's important to use a "medium" focal
length (in the range of 40-85) will probably be desirable. The real goal is
to have your camera far enough from the work so that distance to the middle
and distance to the edges are not hugely different (as you might get with a
wide-angle lens).

I'm not sure that light-softeners such as umbrellas are necessary for
copying art. (I watched a pro do it with unfiltered hot lights that he had
rented.) Umbrellas are for creating soft-edged shadows rather than harsh
shadow, but you're trying for even light with no shadows.

If glare/reflection turns out to be a problem, there's a neat trick that can
be done using polarizing filters on your light sources (easiest if they're
flash-heads) and a polarizing filter on your lens -- all in the same
alignment.  I'm not sure that just a polarizing filter helps without filters
on your source (unlike using a polarizing filter outdoors, with sunlight).

Duane Dale
Madison, NH
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20100924/83397252/attachment.html