Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/06/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I do a lot of this kind of work. What are you shooting with? A full frame digital camera? I?d use at least a 50mm lens. Anything between 50 and 100mm is fine. If you have one, use a macro lens, even if the art is large. Macros have better flatness of field than most other lenses, and give a lot better sharpness, especially in corners, when photographing flat art like a painting. Zooms don?t work well, even within the focal length range I recommend. If you don?t have a macro, a standard 50mm is probably best. Lighting is the hard part. It must be PERFECTLY even. Measure it with an incident light meter with a flat diffuser. Place the meter in all four corners and in the center. All 5 reading must match exactly. Even a 1/3 stop difference will show. Remove the work from frames if possible, frames will cast shadows on the edges of the work if its oil or acrylics framed without mats, where the frame touches the edges of the painting. Another lighting issue is the color of the light. Photograph in a windowless room where no daylight can get in, or shoot at night. Daylight won?t be the same color as the lights you use to light the paintings, and will mess up color balance. Also turn off any lights in the room and adjoining rooms in the house for the same reason. I was once messed up by using two soft boxes from different manufacturers in the same shoot. The color of the interiors of them were not exactly the same and it showed in the photos! So be sure to use the same brand of strobes and the same accessories on each strobe. -- Chris Crawford Fine Art Photography Fort Wayne, Indiana 260-437-8990 http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 Become a fan on Facebook On 6/4/16, 12:14 AM, "LUG on behalf of Adam Bridge" <lug-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com at leica-users.org on behalf of abridge683 at fastmail.com> wrote: >I?ve been asked by a local artist to help her photograph and make prints >of her paintings. > >I was wondering if any of you who might have done this before can give >some suggestions about best focal-length lens to use for this? I was >thinking that, longer is better? I?ll be shooting work that?s lit with >camera and art on tripod and easel, using remote shutter release etc. > >Any thoughts on technique would be greatly appreciated. > >Adam Bridge > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information