Can you tell me how to successfully take photographs of my paintings? I have tried indoors, outdoors with flash and without, to no avail. How can I possibly apply for competitions with dud photos? Please help!

David Bellamy replies: Without seeing the results, it is hard to answer in a few words! A single lens reflex camera is ideal (I.e. what you see through the viewfinder is what will be seen in the photograph) plus a tripod to avoid camera shake. The simplest answer is to use daylight. Keep the camera square with the artwork and bracket the exposure by taking a shot with the exposure reading as shown on the camera, then closing it down one stop for the next shot and opening it up one stop for the third. This should ensure the exposure is okay, but does assume that you have manual control over the speed or aperture.

Hi, I have a 'bridge' camera where I have tried using a variety of settings but still get a blue cast or a very washed out look. I also have a similar problem with the washed out look when I scan smaller paintings in (Epson Stylus RX 420).

Do most people 'adjust' their results when they have them on the computer?

Experiment with different lighting conditions for the best results.Mid-morning til mid-afternoon is the best time to achieve the most accurate color rendition.Diffused daylight with bright, overcast skies is best for photographing art outdoors.Sunlight is great for good color renditions, but may create problems with too much brightness, cast shadows, reflected light and glare.The flash function also has an amazing talent for leveling tones, evening out contrasts and wiping away shadows. While this may prove a blessing in select pictures from family reunions, it is not one bit helpful in faithfully representing your work of art.

Hawaiian Paintings | Hawaii Art

Many thanks

I use a dSLR.

1. make sure the camera is flat and in a perpendicular plane to the painting - central, not tilted etc
2. Use cross lighting - large softish light source to the left and right, 45 degrees to painting (Umbrella or softbox). Use a lightmeter/flashmeter to check for even illumination
3. Use a lens hood, especially if you use umbrellas
4. I generally shoot paintings at f5 (ish) this avoids diffraction from the lens apeture, and avoids softness at the wide open end of the lens. Different lenses have different sweet points
5. I use a x-rite colour passport to profile the colour. You can then import the colour passport image and create a profile in Photoshop, Apeture ot Lightroom
6. I correct for lens distortions in Lightroom/photoshop. I shoot a grid / large sheet of graph paper first, then the painting second. in this way, I can clock the settings needed to correctt he grid, and apply the same settings to the painting phootgraph
7. Watch out for the colour profiles. If the output is for web, use sRgb as the output profile