Photographing works of art (paintings)
Chuck Ross
up to you, but would depend on the final use for the photos. I used
a digital (Nikon 950) with external flash.
I offer these words of advice:
1) NEVER point the flash directly at the painting! If you do, you'll
get a hideous highlight off the painting. I used bounce flash, and the
room had a 12-foot white ceiling. Most of the photos came out remarkably
well. I shot to include the frame and part of the backing wall, which was
white pegboard in all cases, and tried to be as perpendicularly level
to the painting as possible.
If possible, and this depends on the final color adjustment of the photos,
you should attempt to include a small piece of white card in the photo so'
you can easily color-balance the photo in software like Photoshop.
If you're not permitted to use a flash, you need to be careful about
the ambient lighting, which can be anything but white. A medium f-stop
is preferable for maximum sharpness, and film speed, probably something
like a 100 ISO for minimum grain.
Good luck! El Greco was terrific!
In article <380C0D48...@attglobal.net>, pla...@attglobal.net wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
> collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
> as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
>
> At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
> well as ASA 400 Kodak Gold and Royal Gold. I seriously doubt if I will
> be permitted to use a flash but should I try? If so, do I shoot (and/or
> aim the flash) directly at the pieces of art? What is the best
> composition for such pictures (with/without frame etc)? What f/stops are
> adviseable?
>
> Since this is a rare opportunity to assemble a nice set of photos
> of a very extensive collection by El Greco in one session, I would like
> to exploit this opportunity as much as possible and your feedback, as
> always, would be much appreciated.
>
> Anthony.
--
http://www.enteract.com/~ckross/
Digital and Film-based Photography
Ejkowalski
>
> I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
>collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
>as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
>
> At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
>well as ASA 400 Kodak Gold and Royal Gold. I seriously doubt if I will
>be permitted to use a flash but should I try? If so, do I shoot (and/or
>aim the flash) directly at the pieces of art? What is the best
>composition for such pictures (with/without frame etc)? What f/stops are
>adviseable?
>
> Since this is a rare opportunity to assemble a nice set of photos
>of a very extensive collection by El Greco in one session, I would like
>to exploit this opportunity as much as possible and your feedback, as
>always, would be much appreciated.
>
>Anthony.
>
I am a painter and a photographer of artwork. Here are a few thoughts:
--Make sure you bracket your exposures well! You never know untill after the
fact whether a particular painter's work will look best underexposed, right on,
or overexposed.
--Use a grey card to figure your exposures, not the subject itself. Otherwize a
dark painting will look too light, and a light painting will look too dark.
Brown corrugated cardboard is usually a half stop, sometimes a full stop,
lighter than 18% grey, and sometimes easier to work with than a small grey
card. Get a piece and test it.
--If useable in the interior space allowed, a 50mm lens will always give the
least geometric distortion.
--Presuming you have a rock-steady tripod and cable release, the slowest film
speed you can use will give you the highest resolutiuon of detail.
--Including the frames will ensure that you don't miss any of the painting
itself in the composition. You can always crop the results, to cut out areas of
the wall outside the frame. With El Greco, I wouldn't want to leave part of the
work out.
--You cannot aim the flash directly at the pieces of art. You will get terrible
reflections off the varnish and bright and dark spots.
If you do not rely on ambient light, you would need at least two light sources,
off to the sides and angled toward the work to avoid a reflection glare
directly back to the camera. If using two or more electronic flashes in such a
manner, and remotely triggered, figuring exposures may be a tricky matter. Is
there the possibility of using any type of "hot lights" or photo bulbs in
either clamp fixtures or mounted on stands, to the sides and angled in?
--You want an f/stop of f/8 or smaller preferably f/11 or so, to ensure enough
depth of field to have the entire surface of the painting in focus.
I hope this helps. Photographing paintings can involve a lot of details not
common to other types of photography.
Yours,
EJKowalski
Robert Krawitz
> --You cannot aim the flash directly at the pieces of art. You will
> get terrible reflections off the varnish and bright and dark spots.
> If you do not rely on ambient light, you would need at least two
> light sources, off to the sides and angled toward the work to avoid
> a reflection glare directly back to the camera. If using two or more
> electronic flashes in such a manner, and remotely triggered,
> figuring exposures may be a tricky matter. Is there the possibility
> of using any type of "hot lights" or photo bulbs in either clamp
> fixtures or mounted on stands, to the sides and angled in?
I would think that hot lights would cause more damage to paintings
than flash, due to the greater heat (that's a lot of power being
projected onto the painting for quite a long time). But it's not too
hard to do flash reasonably well, although it takes some effort and
equipment (which can be rented) to do it right. What the original
poster would want is a pair of flashes angled toward the paintings,
using soft boxes or other even diffusers to achieve a more even light
distribution. Then use a flash meter reading from a number of spots
(say, a 3x3 grid -- the corners, the edges, and the center) where the
paintings will hang to verify an even exposure, say within 1/10 of an
f/stop if possible, or otherwise as close as possible.
--
Robert Krawitz <r...@alum.mit.edu> http://www.tiac.net/users/rlk/
Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2
Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail l...@uunet.uu.net
"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton
Robert Krawitz
> At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
> well as ASA 400 Kodak Gold and Royal Gold. I seriously doubt if I will
> be permitted to use a flash but should I try? If so, do I shoot (and/or
> aim the flash) directly at the pieces of art? What is the best
> composition for such pictures (with/without frame etc)? What f/stops are
> adviseable?
First off, if you can rent medium format (or larger!) gear, do so!
You'll get much sharper and less grainy reproduction.
Also note that I'm not a pro, and this is based on reading and
experimentation; hopefully people who have really done this can offer
more.
As for film, if you really want to stick with inexpensive film, try
Fuji Reala (100). If you're prepared to spend more (which I think you
should be for this kind of opportunity), try Kodak Portra 160VC or NC
(the VC is more vivid in color -- I'm not familiar with El Greco's
style, but my instinct would be to go with the VC for art work).
Portra 160 is almost grainless, and Reala also shows very little grain
and is very sharp. Slide film is another option; you'll be able to
get Ilfochrome (or "Cibachrome") prints, which are more expensive but
much, much better (and much more longer-lasting!) than ordinary
C-prints from negatives. I don't have a good feel for slide film;
I've shot Velvia and the amateur version of E100VS, but they're
probably too saturated for this. A lot of people like Provia; Kodak
also makes good 100 speed slide films.
Composition's not the name of the game here. This is documentary, not
artistic (the art here is El Greco's), and the goal is the best
possible reproduction, which means the smoothest and most even
lighting and the most accurate exposure and focus. Just center the
picture in the (viewfinder) frame (with the lens axis dead center
through the center of the painting, and the film plane perfectly
parallel to the picture) and fill as much of the frame as you can, for
maximum sharpness (you might want to leave out the very corners, since
the corners of the frame will be less sharp due to lens issues).
For the lens -- a 50 mm macro would be my choice (again, I'd go out
and rent one for this kind of session). Why a macro? Because macro
lenses (real macro lenses, not zoom lenses with close focus) are
designed to have a flat field of focus and extreme sharpness, usually
at the expense of maximum aperture, minimum cost, and possibly
infinity focus quality. Even though you won't be doing true macro
work, the extremely flat field of focus and inherent sharpness will
give you excellent reproduction of the whole painting, not just the
center. You'll probably be shooting at f/11 or some such, so the fact
that a 50 mm macro will have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 rather than
f/1.8 doesn't matter. As for why a 50 mm macro -- you don't need (or
want) the extra working distance a 100 mm macro will give you. If you
do go medium format, the ideal lens would be longer, depending upon
the actual format.
For lighting, you want two lights shining on the painting from about
30-45 degrees away from the camera (the angle between each light, the
picture, and the lens should be 30-45 degrees). You want to avoid any
direct reflections from the painting shining into the lens.
Photographing a photograph is relatively straightforward, since the
subject is flat, but the painting isn't -- it has texture, and you
don't want harsh reflections from that texture. You want two lights
(at least) partly to even the lighting, and partly so that
microshadows from one light are filled in by the other (again,
remember the texture). If you have access to an incident light meter,
you can use that to measure the light at various points on the
painting, and adjust the lights to equalize it.
> Since this is a rare opportunity to assemble a nice set of photos
> of a very extensive collection by El Greco in one session, I would like
> to exploit this opportunity as much as possible and your feedback, as
> always, would be much appreciated.
Sounds like a really neat opportunity -- you should really try to make
the most of it.
Anthony Ayiomamitis
I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
well as ASA 400 Kodak Gold and Royal Gold. I seriously doubt if I will
be permitted to use a flash but should I try? If so, do I shoot (and/or
aim the flash) directly at the pieces of art? What is the best
composition for such pictures (with/without frame etc)? What f/stops are
adviseable?
Since this is a rare opportunity to assemble a nice set of photos
of a very extensive collection by El Greco in one session, I would like
to exploit this opportunity as much as possible and your feedback, as
always, would be much appreciated.
Anthony.
Anthony Ayiomamitis
> Folks,
>
> I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
> collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
> as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
I forgot to inquire about lenses ... I have at my disposal the Canon
FD 24 mm, 50 mm and 100 mm. I have purposely left out other lenses (300 mm,
100-300 mm etc as I doubt they are of use in this instance). Suggestions for
a lens (or lenses) would also be appreciated.
Anthony.
Anthony Ayiomamitis
Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
> collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
> as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
>
> At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
Fuji ASA 400 film is Superia ...
Zaphi
some yourself..
And even if you are going to shoot them in a gallery the lighting won't be
right for that kind of work..
Get a El Greco book!!
-Zaphi
Anthony Ayiomamitis skrev i meddelandet <380C0D48...@attglobal.net>...
>Folks,
>
> I have an opportunity to photograph one of the most complete
>collections by El Greco (72 of his works) and would appreciate feedback
>as to what type of film to use, f-stops, lighting, angles etc.
>
> At my disposal I have ASA 100, 200 and 400 Fuji Super HQ film as
Yeti Man
seriously.
Camera Support. At least a good tripod, if not a more elaborate,
adjustable commercial support.
Make CERTAIN that your lens is not at an angle from the painting. Use a
level on camera and subject. Choose the lens at your disposal that has
the least distortion/best sharpness, and is a fitting focal length for
the working distance and size of the piece. Try to stay within 35-85mm
so as to not distort perspective too much.
Think macro rules - low distortion, max sharpness, small aperture.
f8 - f11. Test or check reviews of the lenses in question to find the
point with lowest distortion/max sharpness.
Flash: the real key to success
Use a flash meter and grey card if at all possible, and still bracket.
Use 2 flashes at 45 degrees from the piece and lens (90 degrees from
each other).
Use polarizer filter (sheeting) on flashes, and on lens (remember to
account for light loss if using flash meter).
If polarizing flash is too elaborate, at least use soft boxes or
defusers, and a polarizer on the lens.
Quantum Mechanics.... The dreams stuff is made of.