These two just sold to friends. Whenever I sell a painting, I photograph it before it walks out the door. Until recently, I was photographing them outside in the sun with inconsistent results. For some of my older paintings that sold, I'm stuck with a photo that isn't so great.
With help from this YouTube video, I've figured out how to photograph my paintings indoors and get accurate results. It's like turning a wall into a giant vertical scanner.
I hang the painting in a frame without the glass. That keeps it flat. The camera is on a tripod, lined up perfectly with the frame.
I'm trying out two different kinds of lights. That's a softbox light on the left and two LED lights on the right. They all generate a lot of light, but the softbox may be better for casting light consistently over a large area. It also plugs into the wall. The LEDs are dependent on rechargeable batteries.
I bought the cheapest light meter on Amazon to check that the light is consistent in all four corners of the painting. I don't know how to read a light meter, but it doesn't matter. As long as it reads the same number in all four corners, it's all set.
Camera auto settings are not to be trusted. I wasn't getting accurate results until I switched the white balance, focus, and ISO to manual. Setting the white balance with a white card in front of the art ensures accurate color. Focusing manually ensures all the little bumps in the paint are in sharp focus.
ISO increases the sensitivity of the camera sensor in low lighting situations. It adds noise to the photo and isn't necessary in this case. It should be set to 100, it's lowest setting. Shutter speed doesn't appear to be relevant due to the tripod, but I've had it set around 1/10 sec.
Setting the self timer to a 2-second delay prevents shaking the camera when the button is pressed. Taking photos in RAW format allows for more manual adjusting in Photoshop, including a way to fix how the curve of the lens slightly warps what should be a flat painting.
With all of that set up, I'm getting results that look like this:
That's as close as I've ever gotten to matching the actual, in-person painting. It's really close and it's good enough.
