How to photograph your artwork
Kerri Dixon 
I share my tips for photographing my art for both social media and print quality
HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR ART
We’ve finally finished drawing our masterpiece that we are so proud of and want to share on social media, but it’s impossible to get a good photo of our work that shows our colours properly.
Does this sound familiar, I know how hard it is to get a good photo of my art, especially for print re-productions. We need them to be high quality and true to life.
I’ve found over the years a few things that can help you get the best possible photo but you will still need to do some editing in something like photoshop, if you want print reproduction quality, or a free phone app like canva or photoshop express editor if your wanting to post to social media and your own records.
I’ve listed my tips below.
I find the easiest and quickest way of taking photos of my artwork is outside using my phone. No need for specialty lighting or cameras. Nowadays the cameras on our mobile phones are amazing and for recording photos of our work for personal use or uploading to social media, this is more than enough quality.
Getting the lighting right is always the trickiest, so ideally taking your photo outside on a cloudy day would be perfect, because the clouds act like a huge light diffuser. But it’s not always cloudy when we want to take our photos so I take my photos on a sunny day outside, but not in direct sunlight, I set up on my veranda. So I am in the shade but have sun all around me.
You can see the photo on the left is taken in direct sunlight and the photo on the right is taken in the shade.
You may think they look very similar, but the one on the left that was taken in the shade is more true to life with the darks. Direct sunlight can wash the colours out a bit.
If you don’t have a veranda, then laying your work flat on the ground in front of a large window is another way to get the light you need. However you still don’t want it in direct sunlight and watch out for any shadows that may be thrown by the window frames.
Also make sure you are taking the photo from directly above the image, this is more accurate if you have a tripod, but you can also line up around the edges with the edge of your phone screen. You can see in the photo on the right, I haven’t got it exactly square, you can see the line on the left is not exactly parallel.
Another tip is to make sure to take your photo with about an inch or so all around, this helps in the editing stage. It’s easier to crop if you have room to play with.
This is essentially my set up when taking photos with my iphone. I have recently purchased an iphone 13 which takes exceptional photos and it is easy to position and move around using a tripod.
I just have a couple of stools positioned with my artwork balanced in between and then the phone on the ipod shooting directly down. Make sure what you are using to sit your artwork on is flat and level.
You can see that I am just set up just in the shade, not far from where the sun is coming in to optimise the light.
Luckily with pastel and charcoal work they are very matt finishes so I don’t need to worry about getting rid of any glare or shine caused by having a clear coat over the top like you would for oils or acrylics.
Now the phone is perfect for quick social media photos and for my own records, but if you are wanting to get prints made of your work then you will need something that is a higher megapixel than what the phone will give you. A 12 megapixel camera at a minimum.
This is where the DSLR cameras come in to play. You could set up exactly the same as with the iphone outside or I have an inside setup with 2 large diffused lights that I place either side and facing my artwork, which is placed on an easel. I then have my DSLR camera on a tripod in the middle parallel to my artwork. Ideally having your art hung flat on a wall would be perfect but if your using an easel, make sure your camera is on the same angle as the artwork to avoid any distortion to the image.
If you have a remote or can set a timer on your camera, this is even better because it avoids any shake as you push the button when taking the photo.
With a DSLR you can change the settings a lot to get optimal photos, like the shutter speed, white balance, focus etc. You should also shoot in RAW if your camera allows it as this captures much more information and can help in the editing stages.
Because setting up to take your photos takes time, it is a good idea to batch photograph all your work and make sure to take a few photos of each piece and re-focus your camera
between each photo you take.
Now it’s very rare to get the perfect photo straight away, I usually need to do some editing to make my photo perfect for printing.
I use my DSLR for any artwork i plan to print, although it’s a good idea to take print worthy photos of all your finished pieces just in case you decide you want to run prints later on.
I use photoshop for all my editing and I just do a few simple adjustments before I send it off to the printer. First of all I check the size. So if I am wanting this printed to a standard A3, then I will crop to A3 but making sure my pixel size is high enough for a great quality reproduction.
I use codeice.com.au printers and they require my images to be between 180 and 300dpi and around 20 megapixels in size.
Then I check my RGB levels and adjust them accordingly. Compare your contrast, vibrancy, and brightness to accurately represent the original painting, and then It’s always a good idea to send of for a small test print before selling your work to customers.
So again I’ll run over these tips for photographing your artwork.
- Make sure to photograph an inch outside the canvas/painting. This will give you a little room to crop your image just in case there was an error.
- Photograph your artwork in batches! plan ahead, and have lots of painting ready to go.
- Turn off in camera flash.
- Take lots of extra shots of each piece and remember to refocus the lens! This will ensure that you have backup pictures to use just in case your main shots don’t work out.
- You don’t need the best lights for photographing your artwork. Sunlight is the best light source you can.
- Shoot in RAW if using a DSLR.
If you follow some of these tips then I’m sure you’ll get some great photos that are true to colour of your artwork.
Kerri xx
ps. If you want a free tutorial then make sure you sign up to my online art membership waitlist.
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Categories: : art, educational
