Any career in the arts requires the ability to properly document your work. Artists today must submit their work digitally for a variety of reasons, including exhibitions, awards, and competitions. The first impressions of your job and professionalism are influenced by the quality of your paperwork.
Understanding the fundamentals of good photography can make all the difference in getting your work accepted for an exhibition or getting seen online by potential customers.
We'll briefly go through how to take pictures of your artwork with a digital camera or a smartphone.
Photography advice for digital cameras:
1. Hang your creations from the wall. Find a wall that is neutral in color, like white or gray, and hang your art there so that the centre of it is parallel to the direction your camera is facing. You may do this by using a tripod or by placing your work on a hard surface like a shelf or table.
2. Make your job visible. When photographing inside, choose a space with lots of windows and natural light. Avoid letting the sun shine directly on your artwork because this could cause glare and alter the colors of your photo. With lamps, you can illuminate your task. Two lights are all that are required for 2D tasks. (Ideally with daylight lamps.) For this, clamp lights are excellent. The lights should be positioned midway between the camera and your wall-mounted artwork at a 45-degree angle (this angle will help eliminate any glare you might get from the lights).
3. Check your camera once more. Check again that the camera is placed so that the lens lines up with the center of the painting, with little to no background showing, once your art has been mounted on the wall and lit by lamps. In your photograph, the artwork should occupy the bulk of the frame. In order to capture photographs of your artwork that are clear, crisp, and brilliant, your camera's ISO and aperture are crucial. Film speed was formerly measured using ISO. The number indicated how sensitive to light the film was, and the greater the number, the coarser the image. In this instance, a low ISO is preferred since we desire extremely sharp photos.
4. Take the picture!