Photographing 2D Art By Kit Aro With additional information from College for Creative Studies

Photographing Art A) SET UP LIGHTS, CAMERA, ART B) SHOOT w/ “CWB” for CORRECT COLOR C) EDIT with MICROSOFT EDITOR.

A) SET UP LIGHTS: Use only one type of light if possible (incandescent, natural, fluorescent, daylight, etc.) Use a minimum of two lights. One on either side of art work. Shooting with natural light: a north facing window with indirect lighting, no shadows is best. The windows in 119 are good for this. But try to get the light as evenly illuminating the image as possible (see next slide) and don’t let your own body cast a shadow either!

A) SET UP LIGHTS: Move lights to eliminate hot spots and reflections

A) SET UP LIGHTS: Set up easel with EVEN illumination. Do the pencil test: With lights on, hold a pencil vertically in the center of the artwork. Look for balanced shadows on either side of the pencil.

SET UP ART: Lift art out of easel gutter with cardboard Square up the art on the easel (or wall)

SET UP ART : Take your time to square up the easel and the tripod by looking through the viewfinder (with shutter speed over 1/60 of a second, you do not need a tripod, but you must square up the art to the viewfinder edges perfectly by moving your body and camera to the perfect angle— see next slides.)

SET UP CAMERA: As you look through the viewfinder, the negative space framing the image MUST BE EVEN! Is this even?

NO it is crooked! I will WARP the art when I crop later! See triangular slices that I am shaving off this piece? I am also skewing it in other ways... THIS IS BAD!!!!!!

Regarding your lens For most digital SLR camers, use a 35mm lens or lens setting (50mmEFL). Notice that this shot of the PC screen was cropped in MS Office Picture Manager: the white shape edges are straight lines and the corners are 90s A 17mm setting (35mmEFL), the crop shows the convex bowing of straight lines. Notice the swelling of the white shape sides and the pushed in corners. A 50mm setting (70mmEFL), may also cause distortions which are concave..

SET UP CAMERA SETTINGS: In your Camera Shooting Menu: Choose “Image Quality”: Fine Choose “Image Size”: L for large Choose “ISO sensitivity”:400 for studio, 100 for outdoors indirect sun

SET UP CAMERA SETTINGS: On top of camera: choose “A” for aperture priority Once you are in “aperture priority” mode, depress the shutter to activate the light meter display. THEN, scroll the aperture number to a medium aperture such as f5.6 or f8. You will see that the light meter picks a shutter speed, such as 1/8 of a second. If this is slower than 1/60, you need a tripod!

All digital SLR cameras have CWB options. Where? Look in your menu! How? Choose CWB not “auto” etc. Why not “AUTO”? Auto doesn’t always work very well! That is why you have CWB as an option! SET UP CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance

Cameras differ, but you must always take a picture of a gray card (Nikon) or white paper (Canon) to set CWB. Follow camera directions! Do not include anything but the gray itself! no moose! Gray card shot in custom white balance “CWB” Gray card shot in auto white balance! Not gray is it? SET UP CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance

In NIKON Shooting Menu: Choose “White Balance” Choose “custom” (aka “CWB” or “preset manual”) Choose “override existing data” and then SET UP NIKON CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance

1. In Canon on any setting, shoot a sheet of white paper filling camera screen under existing lighting (place card over art work on easel) 2. Press Menu button then scroll to “Custom White Balance” 3. Press “Set” button When you press the “set” button (right), your most recent image should appear with top left (scroll to the white paper shot if nec.) 4. When you see the white paper image with press set again and “OK” to “use WB data” SET UP CANON CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance

SET UP CANON CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance 5.After you press “OK” to “use WB data”, YOU DID IT! Then, Canon reminds you to “set WB to “ Press “OK” 6.Now you are ready to CHOOSE CWB by pressing the “WB” button before you actually shoot the art! After you press “WB” you will see how to choose 7.Check your display for the

After shooting the gray card correctly, you will finally have CORRECT COLOR ! SET UP CAMERA SETTINGS: Use “CWB” custom white balance

Now we are talking CORRECT COLOR! Notice the “white whites” and the gray background is now gray! All colors are accurate to the original!

B) SHOOT all your work! You should use the same settings for all shots, but for each art work DO... – MOVE the tripod closer or further as needed (don’t use zoom, which may distort the image. Keep lens at 35mm setting) – FOCUS each time (On lens is A vs M, choose A for Autofocus! It is faster than manual) – SQUARE it up with equal borders around the art so you don’t end up warping your art by cropping off slender triangles.

C) EDIT: CROP in Microsoft Office Picture Manager Select “edit” Select “crop” Pull corners to cut off easel and other excess imagery.

C) EDIT: EXPOSURE, if needed in Microsoft Office Picture Manager Select “auto correct” and decide if the image is better. Look for white whites and correct color! If it was better before, then “UNDO”!!!!

Select “EDIT” again, then “resize.” View “size setting summary” C) EDIT: RESIZE in Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Under “resize,” view “size setting summary” HOW MANY PIXELS FOR YOUR PRINT OR UPLOAD? Assuming you want an 8”x10” print: 8” x 200 ppi (pixels per inch) = ”x 200 ppi (“ “ ) = 2000 You want 1600 x 2000 for a decent resolution 8”x10” image This says 720 x 530!!! That is too small for an 8x10 print with good image quality. SHOOT with LARGEST image size in camera SHOOT with image as large as possible in view finder.

For very large prints, and quality digital uploads, you need around 3000 x 4000 ppi, or 12,000,000 pixels, or 12MP WHY? Assuming you want an 16”x20” print: 16” x 200 ppi (pixels per inch) = ”x 200 ppi (“ “ ) = 4000 You want 3200 x 4000 for a decent resolution 16”x20” image. 300 ppi will be an even better quality print, meaning an even larger pixel count!

CCS TIPS: The Camera settings... Set camera to it’s highest quality JPG. Use the lowest ISO that you can get away with. - Caution – slow shutter speeds below 1/50 th of a second may require a tri-pod. Use an f-stop that is in the middle of the range. Set camera to Auto White Balance (AWB) Learn to use the Histogram to determine a good exposure. - The little screen on the back of the camera is only good for composition, it will lie to you about the exposure. General 2-D info... “Hang” art in the center of a neutral background Center the camera with the artwork. Artwork should fill about 90% of the frame. NO CROPPING. 2-D Set-up outdoors... Avoid direct sunlight. Open shade found on the north side of any building is best. Cloudy days are OK. Mount a neutral background on the north wall. - Light grey or dark grey is preferred. Shoot the art on this background. Avoid anything too bright behind the camera. Don’t point the canvas at the sky, it should be perpendicular to the ground. 2-D Set-up indoors... Mount artwork on wall covered with the neutral background 2 lights should be placed on either side of the artwork (If the artwork is very large, 4 lights might be necessary). - Centered horizontally. - 45º between the wall & the camera. - At least 10 feet from the artwork. - Use the pencil test to check the shadows. Both lights should be the same wattage & use the same reflectors. - Photo floods are best if available (camera stores) - 2 brand new bulbs are preferred.

General 3-D info... Neutral background & plain table. Several angles, turning the piece not the camera. Light source should be 3-5 times larger than the artwork - a 2 foot statue should have a 6 foot light source. 3-D Set-up outdoors... Very similar to above 2-D. Absolutely the easiest and most foolproof way to shoot 3-D art. Mount a neutral background on an outside wall & place a table in front of it. Place the art on the table & shoot away. Use reflectors (Sheets of white foam core) to control the shadows if necessary Cloudy days are OK. Open shade is best. Never use direct sunlight. 3-D Set-up indoors with artificial light... One light should be the “main” light. Additional or secondary lights should not be as bright - if you are using the two matched lights from the 2-D work, move the secondary light further away to reduce it’s intensity. White foam core reflectors are used to control the shadows Sometimes the main light can be “bounced” off a white card to give a softer light, or shined through a white translucent material (e.g., rip-stop nylon). 3-D Set-up indoors with natural light... Must have large windows with north light. Set the artwork on a table in such a way that you are shooting perpendicular to the window. The light will strike the object from either the left or the right. Place a neutral background behind the artwork. - Light grey or dark grey are best. Use reflectors (Sheets of white foam core) to control the shadows if necessary