Subject: stupid questions deserve stupid answers – here’s my question 🙂
From: Maigen T.
Date: Fri, October 8, 2004 10:51 am
To: ask@leahpeah.com
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This is crazy – but I’m also an artist (who reads dooce – we have so much in common *insert girly squeal*)…and I try to show some of my paintings on my blog – but I have a fairly crappy digital camera. Basically, I always get a bright spot or fuzzyness. Your pictures of your paintings turned out beautifully (not to mention the paintings themselves!). I just wanted to know how you photographed them, as well as the lighting you used.
Maigen T.
Hey there Maigen,
When I shoot my paintings, it’s important to have the lighting just right.
When you talk about a “bright spot, ” most likely it’s because you have an automatic flash on your camera. It’s going off and creating a super bright spot reflecting off the paint and canvas. And, the fuzziness makes me think you might be getting closer to your paintings than your camera can handle. Most economic cameras have a 5 foot rule. You can’t get closer than that. It’s sad, eh?
I use a Sony Cybershot DSC-F717. It has an automatic flash but I turn it off for shooting my art work. And I only shoot my paintings in enough natural light that I don’t need a flash. But, back in the good ol’days, I had the same equipment you have now.
So, the scenario was this: I shot on bright, happy days, which we have much of in San Diego, and I had the camera on a tripod (imperative for a good, clean shot) with the canvas set on the wall about 5 feet away. This way, the canvas is square to the cam with no light bouncing off at angles making spots and far enough away not to mess with the clarity. And, usually it was outside.
I’m not sure where you live and really, things are much easier now that I have an indoor space to shoot things, but in a pinch I still go for the same scenario as stated above.
If you find you keep having trouble, it might be worth finding someone to take photos of your work for you. This would matter most if you were trying to put a portfolio together or something. Otherwise, you can scan the photo into Photoshop and try to either get close-ups by cropping or to mask over the problem using some other tool.
Best of luck!
leahpeah