Help:Photo. art work

[Len Kaminsky]

I've been asked to photograph someone's art work. This is a relatively
new are for me and might be a lucrative client. So any helpful hints
would be approeiated...
I have several canon flashes, two white lightenings and assorted
umbrellas and diffusers. Plus tons of natural light.
An additional problem is that the client said many of the paintings have

a "glossy" finish!!!!

Suggestions for best slide film also appreciated.

Also, how much to charge that wouuld be reasonable.

Thanks,
len

PS...please also reply by e-mail.

[pat jerina]

    The way I go about photographing art work is by putting up a very large piece of black felt or black velvet.  The velvet works better in that it can take virtually any type of tape.  I like to keep the piece quite a bit bigger than what the art work is.  The felt or velvet will provide a nice deep black border without nay textures around the art work.  So when the piece is projected, the viewer will only see the art work and nothing else.
    Place your white lighting at a 45 degree angle from the working area and use umbrellas or soft boxes.  You will save your self a bit if time and frustration if you use the white lightning.  If glare is a big factor, than use polarizing filters on each head and polarizing filter on your lens.  Use a nickel on the surface and turn the polarizing filter on the lens until the coin turns dark.  You will not have a chance for glare at all.
    Meter in a five point pattern around the area; each of the four corners and the center and make sure they are in a tenth of stop from each other.  Also make sure that you camera is level to the surface you are shooting.  Any variance  will show up in the final slide.
    As for what film to use, don't use any cheap slide film.  by cheap I mean scotch and that lot.  I tend to use the professional films for my work.  I tend to use E100sw as my general slide film.  Before you shoot the work though, run a test of the film you are using against a color checker chart or a gray card and determine what you film rating and correction will be.  When you do shoot, bracket a little towards the under end to give the pieces a little bit more saturation.  I have handed a correctly exposed slide and and a slightly under exposed slide to many artists and they prefer the under exposed one because of deeper colors.

I hope this helps out.

pat
 

-- Pat Jerina Photography
(972)320-5143 voice mail - pager
www.flash.net/~pjerina 

[Peter]

pat jerina wrote:
  I tend to use E100sw as my general slide film.

Pat is right-on with his technique, but I wouldn't use the E100sw film
because the "sw" stands for saturated, and warm. When you photograph
paintings, the artist will want the colors to be as natural, and as
close to his paintings as possible and there's no sense in using a film
that is specifically biased. The EPP or EPN is my film of choice for
that purpose. The EPN is very neutral and Kodak specs. recommend it for
copy work. Also it would be a good idea to use a UV filter. Polarizing
filters are a definite must.
--
P.M.

[Jeffrey Novick]

I also agree with Pat's reply. I shoot artwork regularly, and, for
painting, this is probably the best setup.

I don't agree with his choice of film. These matters tend to be little
personal, but, Fuji's Astia film is phenomenal. I'd invest in a roll and
compare it to the E100SW. I think you want to avoid an oversaturation of
color and contrast in shooting paintings. Correct color representation is
essential.

Jeff