| Getting a good digital image of artwork is very | | | | floor. The art must be parallel to the camera lens, |
| important if you want people to get the full | | | | the center of the lens pointing at the center of |
| impact of your artwork. You need to have good | | | | the art. Use a bubble level to be sure camera and |
| quality digital images of your artwork for Online | | | | art are level. Tape a gray/color scale next to the |
| Galleries, PR materials, exhibitions and galleries. | | | | art so that you will have a reference for adjusting |
| Your digital images are your artwork online, so | | | | the color of your digital image. |
| they need to look as close to the original artwork | | | | 3. Lamps should be 4-5 feet away from the art, |
| as possible. You want to make a good first | | | | position the lights at a 30 degree angle to the |
| impression, don't you? If you have a great piece | | | | surface of the artwork and point each of the |
| of artwork and it looks dull, dark and gray on the | | | | four lights to a separate corner of the artwork so |
| computer screen, it will automatically disengage | | | | that the light will evenly illuminate the entire |
| the viewer and viewers will not want to look at it, | | | | surface of the artwork. Check to be sure there |
| it will not interest viewers. | | | | are no hot spots, shadows or shine reflecting off |
| Equipment - | | | | the art. The room should be completely dark |
| 1. Camera - I use an Olympus 4.0 Megapixel digital | | | | when you shoot. Cover the windows and turn out |
| camera which is a decent camera, but any good | | | | the lights. For textured work like collage try raking |
| quality digital camera will work. Read your camera | | | | the light, using just one light from the side and |
| instruction guide to find all the options for taking | | | | adjusting the exposure accordingly. |
| good quality pictures. Always take high resolution | | | | 4. Fill the viewfinder or LCD (digital) with the |
| .tiff pictures because you can always decrease | | | | IMAGE ONLY, centered and absolutely square to |
| the image quality and file size of a digital picture, | | | | the sides, top and bottom. Move the camera or |
| but you can't start from a low resolution image | | | | zoom lens, not the art. Focus carefully in the |
| and make it high resolution. | | | | center of the art. |
| 2. Lighting - You do not have to have an | | | | 5. The best combination is a slow speed setting (1 |
| expensive photo lighting system or a really | | | | 8, 1/15, 1/30 sec.) with a high f/stop (f11 or f16) |
| expensive camera, what I use is those clamp on | | | | for color saturation and sharp image. If you don't |
| metal reflectors that you can buy from the | | | | have a tripod, you will need to use at least 1/60 |
| hardware store and I use 500 watt photo light | | | | shutter speed. The best setting for balancing the |
| bulbs from the camera store in the clamp on | | | | light is "tungsten" (which is the type of light bulb |
| metal reflectors. I use four of these at one time. | | | | you will be using). Tungsten is under "white |
| 3. Tripod - A tripod is also very helpful, but you | | | | balance" in the camera settings. Change your |
| can do without it if you have to. Use a sturdy | | | | white balance setting to tungsten, if your camera |
| tripod with tilt and rotation. If you don't have a | | | | has that option. |
| tripod, make sure your shutter speed is at least 1 | | | | 6. Always take the highest resolution .tiff image |
| 60 and hold the camera steady and squeeze the | | | | possible (for print applications), you can always |
| trigger gently. | | | | save that as a .jpg or .gif or .png for use on the |
| 4. Photo Editing Software - The final component is | | | | web. For the web, a .gif file at 72 pixels per inch |
| the computer software to adjust the images on | | | | resolution is good for most web applications |
| the computer, I use Adobe Photoshop software | | | | because it has a small file size and loads quickly. |
| which is awesome. There are many other Photo | | | | 7. Edit your digital image, in your photo editing |
| Editing software programs available, and basically | | | | software, so that it matches the look and feel of |
| you just need to be able to crop the image and | | | | your artwork. |
| adjust the colors and the lightness and darkness | | | | 8. Organize you digital artwork files on your |
| of your digital images. | | | | computer in folders so that you can easily browse |
| Procedures - | | | | to them for upload to online galleries. |
| 1. Shoot indoors with at least two 500-watt photo | | | | Miscellaneous - |
| flood lamps (3200K) mounted in reflectors. If your | | | | Group your artwork by size and shoot the same |
| artwork is 22" x 30" or larger you should probably | | | | sizes in sequence, so you don't have to adjust |
| use four lights. | | | | the camera or easel so much. If your pieces are |
| 2. Put the artwork on a piece of black matte | | | | a standard size, place tape on the floor to mark |
| board for a background. Fasten art to the black | | | | the position of the camera, lights and easel or art |
| board with double-stick tape, tacks or use a black | | | | stand and also the placement of the art. It will |
| mat. Place on the wall or on an easel or on the | | | | save you time when you shoot again. |