How to Photograph Your Art

Photos of your work will be used for several purposes:

•To show your work to prospective galleries

•To display on your website

•To use on your business cards and other promotional materials

•To serve as a record of what you have created

Back in the day, manual SLR cameras were the norm for taking high-quality photographs of artwork. These days it’s possible to take good photographs of your art using consumer-quality point-and-shoot digital cameras – the kind you use for everyday purposes. If you plan to print any of the photos of your art, keep in mind that the higher the pixels, the larger you’ll be able to print while maintaining a sharp clarity. You can choose to shoot your artwork indoors or outdoors.

If you photograph your work indoors, drape a black velvet cloth on the wall and hang your artwork in front of it, at level with the camera, which should be placed on a tripod for ultimate stability.

Place two tungsten light bulbs inside two clamp lights and space them at equal points on either side of the camera, pointing towards the art at an approximate 45 degree angle. Then point and shoot!

These days it’s not necessary to create an indoor photo set-up to get decent pictures of your art. Many artists take photos of their artwork outside, because it is far easier than setting up a photo area indoors. By using a digital camera and a photo-editing program, you can almost always get good photos of your art even if outdoor conditions aren’t 100% perfect.

It’s best to take photos of your art on a sunny day, to bring out the best in your artwork’s colors, but be careful to position your artwork either at an angle to the sun or place your artwork in the shade so that the direct sunlight does not cause a glare.

It may take some experimentation to get it just right, but the great thing about digital cameras is that you can take all the photos you want without worrying about wasting film. After you’ve taken the photos and uploaded them to your computer, choose the best ones and edit them in a program like Photoshop or GIMP. In these photo-editing programs, you can adjust the image’s brightness and contrast, hues and saturation, as well as crop the image. Thanks to digital photography and photo-editing programs, taking accurate photos of your artwork is easier than ever!