Quick Tips on Photographing Your Works of Art - How to Photograph Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures
Left: A graphite pencil drawing photographed with and without a flash. Note the white shine of the flash on the heavily shaded area. Photo © H South, Licensed to About.com, Inc.
I get to see a lot of wonderful artwork here on the drawing/sketching site, and there's nothing more frustrating than a poor photograph that doesn't do the picture justice.
Whether you are just sharing your enjoyment of your latest work, or asking for advice, you really want to show what your artwork is really like, so that the full tonal range is captured and the viewer isn't having to use their imagination to fill in the gaps! Flash and direct light can really wash out the tones of a pencil drawing, and light can bounce off shiny graphite or burnished colored pencil, creating a nasty white shine where there should be rich tone.
My Art Historian colleague, Shelley Esaak, shares the same frustrations, when readers send in photographs of their treasured artworks, so she's put together these great Quick Tips on Photographing Your Works of Art You can also read her blog entry entitled How to Shoot Your Works of Art. For a moment there I thought it was going to be a fusion of Abstract Expressionism and Paintball.....
More on art photography:
Photograph Your Pet for Drawing
Observing and Photographing Flowers
Comments
Thanks very much for the nod, Helen. I’m glad it wasn’t just me feeling frustrated with reader images. I *do* want to see them in the best possible light so as to compare apples with apples and possibly be of some real help.
(P.S. Also? It felt absolutely splendid to sneak in the fact that this “art historian” can, in fact, make art in addition to blathering on about such. And in case you were wondering, yes, it was an Ebony pencil there on the shoe. You really have got to try them at some point.
you’re most welcome, Shelley – a good photo does make such a difference.
I was just thinking that I must add a comment on your drawing – it really is very good indeed. You really are a woman of many talents! I’m in the process of sorting out my art materials, and I think I might have an ebony pencil in there somewhere…
im glad you can show someting about photographing portraits to see in good detail i was looking for something like this for a long time now. im drawing the agony in the garden its coming out beautively and your picturing technique will no doubt make this one worth seeing thank you verry much