Photographing oil paintings
Richard Knight
This can be made from something as simple as a white bed sheet. It will help
to diffuse (soften) the lighting. Are you using a hand held meter or the one
in your camera? I suspect that the "glare" on the edges is actually due to
overexposure of those areas because the lights are closer to the vertical
edges than the center. BTW, keep the scrims far enough away from the lights
so that they don't get scorched from the heat.
Richard
--
Email at the above address or theblind...@hotmail.com .
It has taken me a lifetime to recognize when I should NOT feel obligated to
make a photograph (Ansel Adams).
bob berg <suga...@usa.com> wrote in message
news:392c50fe....@news1.usenetserver.com...
> As a photographer amateur I was mainly doing outdoor photography.
> Almost no experience with use of studio lights. Since a friend asked
> me to 'digitize' his paintings I've been thinking how to do it. In mid
> February I saw in this newsgroup a post by poster AldenPhoto. In his
> post he perfectly explains how to shoot oil paintings with tungsten
> light. Here you have the post:
>
> "I wouldnt rely on available light. There are too many color
> variables, and you
> will not get a very accurate painting color. Use tungsten film, and
> two
> tungsten lights, rated at 3200 Kelvin ( the lights and the film are
> matched at
> 3200) Wait until dark to shoot to avoid daylight blue spilling in. The
> standard
> non glare copy lighting is acheived by placing each light at a 45
> degree angle
> from the painting, one on your right, one on your left. Camera is dead
> center.
> Make sure the lights do not spill into your lens, use a shade of any
> kind, and
> adjust the angle of the lights visually to reduce any glare. Take a
> meter
> reading to make sure the lights are coming in at basically the same
> power, and
> have them pulled back far enough to cover the painting evenly,
> avoiding spot
> light falloff. That should put you in good shape. Hopefully you have a
> tripod,
> because the exposures will be slow. And remember a lenses sharpest
> aperature is
> usually two stops down from the widest opening. Also if you ever do
> this for a
> living you might want to switch to strobe so you can shoot during the
> day. Good
> Luck."
>
> After reading his post I have decided to go with tungsten lights. In a
> local photo shop i ordered theTota-light with two sets of bulbs, 500W
> and 750W. At the same, they advised me to use a polarizing filter on
> the camera lens and on the light as well to achieve the standard non
> glare copy lighting. To get lights at a 45 degree angle i would
> measure, for instance, 128" from the center of the painting and then
> from that point 64" on my left and 64" on my right. On that points I
> would put the lights. Camera is always at the center. Unfortunately I
> can not get the non glare photo. By turning polarizer on the camera
> lens I would get almost the non glare shoot. But there is still some
> glare. It stays on the vertical edges of paintings. I've been trying
> to repositioning lights but if I even see through the lenses that
> there is no glare when i see slides it's still present on the very
> oily spots.
> I assume that problem comes from wrong, or not perfect lights
> positioning. Is there any formula or other practical method how to
> properly position lights.
> I would very much appreciate any help on this matter because I can not
> move on.
> Thanks in advance
>
> Bob Berg
>
>