Tips To Photograph Your Art For Jury Submission
By Leah Boynton
I’d like to begin by reassuring you that you don’t need a fancy camera to get a great shot of your artwork. In fact using a phone camera has its own benefits and it’s convenient (more on that in a bit). Also, don’t be afraid to take more than one photo. It may take a little bit of time and patience to get a decent shot, but it’s totally achievable!
Photography Tips
Tip 1 : Photograph your artwork before it’s framed, or take it out of the frame. The glass from the frame can cause a lot of glare issues and be disruptive to viewing your art.
If you can’t avoid this and need to take a photo once your artwork is framed, try stepping a bit to the side of your photo and see if that reduces some of the glare. Don’t be afraid to move around! This may mean your photo isn’t as straight on, that’s okay. You can also try cropping it a bit afterwards if needed.
Tip 2 : Take a photo of your artwork in natural light. Using lamps and overhead lights will add glares and can make the colors of your artwork look “off” (by making the colors seem more yellow or more blue depending on your overhead light source).
Try taking photos in a room well lit by natural window light. Another option would be to take your artwork outside on an overcast day or in the early morning/evening when the sun isn’t too high in the sky. If you are taking your artwork outside, make sure it isn’t overly windy because you don’t want your art to blow around or have dirt/leaves end up on your artwork.
Tip 3 : When taking photos of your artwork (not applicable to 3d art), lay your artwork on a flat surface and take the photo from above. Try to match the corners of your artwork to the corners of the camera frame, eliminating as much excess background as possible.
This is also where having your phone camera can come in handy. A lot of phones (though not all) have a “leveler” in the camera settings when shooting from above. You may have to go into your settings to find this. But a small dot should appear in the center of screen and a circle that is near it (and moves when you move). When the camera is held leveled to the ground, the circle should fit around the dot near perfectly. This helps because if you need to crop it later, your lines are already straight and you shouldn’t have to worry about cropping out part of your canvas.
Tip 4 : Sometimes having a bit of background showing is inevitable, especially with 3d pieces. If you have a background showing, make sure it is solid white or solid black. Cardstock, black material (especially velvet because it absorbs light), or solid backdrops (something I’d suggest looking into for sculpture pieces) you can order on Amazon for fairly cheap are all great options. Make sure that your background is solid so it isn’t distracting (example- no paper towels, counter tops, fabric with patterns).
Tip 5 : While there are editing tools, aside from a slight crop, try to stay away from or limit editing your photo too much. By playing with exposure, saturation, contrast, etc, you run the risk of altering your artworks appearance too much from what it truly looks like. Instead try changing the location of the photoshoot or the angle from which you are taking the photo for better results.
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA
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Excellent tips!
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