lighting solution for lowkey improving my art photography
May 16, 2021 12:31 PM Subscribe
I want to get better photos of my artwork when I'm documenting it. Doesn't need to be stunning, just better and more consistent, and I think that's probably mostly a lighting question. What's my best bang for buck on this, for both literal bucks and simplicity of solution?
What I am currently working with:
- photographing a mix of ink works on glossy and matte paper, large-ish oil paintings, stained glass objects (flat and 3D)
- an older but totally functional Canon 5D and a couple decent, reasonably fast lenses in the 50mm to (zoom) 135mm range
- a reasonable amount of room to work with; I can't and don't want to dedicate a room to photography but I could dedicate a corner so it doesn't have to be a setup and teardown thing every time
My priority is consistent good photographs of the smaller paper works; oils and stained glass stuff comes along less frequently so a setup that handles paper stuff well and takes more tweaking for the other stuff is a good place to start.
Is it going to be a sufficient game changer to get a couple of good lights and diffusers and fill a small space well with those for shooting? If so, what's a good place to look for putting that together? If not, what other things should I consider? Any basic questions I don't know I should be asking?
What I am currently working with:
- photographing a mix of ink works on glossy and matte paper, large-ish oil paintings, stained glass objects (flat and 3D)
- an older but totally functional Canon 5D and a couple decent, reasonably fast lenses in the 50mm to (zoom) 135mm range
- a reasonable amount of room to work with; I can't and don't want to dedicate a room to photography but I could dedicate a corner so it doesn't have to be a setup and teardown thing every time
My priority is consistent good photographs of the smaller paper works; oils and stained glass stuff comes along less frequently so a setup that handles paper stuff well and takes more tweaking for the other stuff is a good place to start.
Is it going to be a sufficient game changer to get a couple of good lights and diffusers and fill a small space well with those for shooting? If so, what's a good place to look for putting that together? If not, what other things should I consider? Any basic questions I don't know I should be asking?
Since you are photographing your own work, you can work on your own schedule. This means you can use the best artwork lighting possible: an overcast, shadowless day. Set up an easel outside on a cloudy day, use a grey card to get a white balance, and shoot away.
The only time this isn't the perfect solution is when you intentionally want to show heavy texture or gloss effects, in which case you add an off-camera strobe with a diffuser set quite low to finish the trick -- you want relief shadows to appear but not hide detail, and specular highlights to show up, but not to blow out.
(Spending a lot of money on lighting solutions for artwork is only necessary for professional photographers who have to do it on a schedule or on location or with artwork that can't be moved.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:41 PM on May 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
The only time this isn't the perfect solution is when you intentionally want to show heavy texture or gloss effects, in which case you add an off-camera strobe with a diffuser set quite low to finish the trick -- you want relief shadows to appear but not hide detail, and specular highlights to show up, but not to blow out.
(Spending a lot of money on lighting solutions for artwork is only necessary for professional photographers who have to do it on a schedule or on location or with artwork that can't be moved.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:41 PM on May 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
B&H is definitely the place for photographic stuff. And yes buying a couple lights and stands is worthwhile. Phliar is correct. Assuming you have a tripod for the camera too. I find it easier to shoot works on paper vertically - I put a few screws in the wall and use magnets to hold unframed work up. Set up a consistent arrangement where you can shoot without a lot of resetting is far more efficient. Diffusers make a big difference when shooting shiny stuff.
posted by leslies at 6:00 PM on May 16, 2021
posted by leslies at 6:00 PM on May 16, 2021
OK I'm just going to chime in one more time saying that yes, I'm serious about using a cloudy sky because a) most LED lights throw off a sketchy spectrum that can make some pigments/inks appear incorrect and you'll never fix it with white balance, and b) you will never get an even throw of light across a piece of art that's bigger than about 1/10 the distance between your lights and the easel unless you spend a long, long time doing minute adjustments of diffusers, barn doors, angles, and distance, with a light meter.
A cloudy day solves both problems. I did artwork reproduction professionally for ten years. If you want a justification to spend money on photography toys, ok, sure, buy lights. If you just want to take good pictures of your own art, take it outside on an overcast day.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:40 AM on May 17, 2021
A cloudy day solves both problems. I did artwork reproduction professionally for ten years. If you want a justification to spend money on photography toys, ok, sure, buy lights. If you just want to take good pictures of your own art, take it outside on an overcast day.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:40 AM on May 17, 2021
Response by poster: I do like natural daylight and use it when I can! Unfortunately with clouds in Portland often comes rain and drizzle and wet surfaces, and it's often pretty windy in my part of town, so the perfect mix of still, dry, and overcast isn't a reliable resource, and I tend to want to turn around documentation of work pretty quickly in general.
Having done some poking around based on thoughts here, I've ordered a lighting rig along the lines of what gregr pointed to: I think for my purposes that'll work well and is something I can set up in the basement for ready use. Finally picked up a new tripod while I was at it so I can remove the inconsistent handholding element too. Stoked to give it a shot (and to have more flexibility for things like live streaming while I'm at it).
posted by cortex at 7:08 PM on May 17, 2021
Having done some poking around based on thoughts here, I've ordered a lighting rig along the lines of what gregr pointed to: I think for my purposes that'll work well and is something I can set up in the basement for ready use. Finally picked up a new tripod while I was at it so I can remove the inconsistent handholding element too. Stoked to give it a shot (and to have more flexibility for things like live streaming while I'm at it).
posted by cortex at 7:08 PM on May 17, 2021
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When I took pictures of friends' paintings I used two lights with umbrellas, and I blocked off all windows. Larger works may need more lights -- take a picture of a blank white piece of canvas or something so you can see how even the light is. (The hardest one was the entire wall in a small room -- I had to take multiple images and stitch them together -- took a very long time!)
I have no experience with stained glass works.
posted by phliar at 12:58 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]