Advice on photographing paintings

[ColinM]

I'd like your suggestions and advice on this

I've been asked to photograph an artists work for use in an exhibition.
I will use a D500 & tripod

• When I've tried this before, i just used natural light and tried to set the colour balance using camera menus & a standard grey card.
  Natural light is going to be limited in the UK over Dec-Feb
• This time I'm happy to buy some illumination if recommended.
  I was wondering whether devices used by V-loggers might be suitable?
• I wasn't considering getting a "normal" camera flashgun, but will be guided by you
• The resulting files will be printed by a commercial company
  Any advice on colour space, plus other info they might require would be appreciated
• Finally, I assume a camera would be a better solution than a flat bed scanner.
  But if image size wasn't a constraint, would that actually be a better solution?

In addition to the above, are there any other factors you think I should consider?

Thanks in advance

[Ann]

The classic set-up for photographing paintings is to use TWO matched lighting units set at 45° (on each side) and at equal distances from the painting.
If the paintings are very large, you could use four lighting units.

Flash units would allow you to keep exposures short so that no other lights cause reflections

If you don't have lighting units, you might consider renting them for a week because you could probably complete the photography in that time.

Provide the files to the printing company in Adobe RGB format.

Hope tht helps!

[Ian Watson]

Do not be shy about talking to the printing company. They know their business and should be happy to help you to be happy with the results.

The company that I like in Toronto has been very patient and helpful while I master output sharpening and producing photo albums.

Make some test prints to be sure that everything is to your liking. Crops will be fine; you just want to see that the results are what you want.

[David H. Hartman]

I used large polarizing screens (maybe 30") in front of the lamps and a crossed polarizing filter over the lens. It might be attractive to show some texture in oil painting so you might want to experiment is not removing all the texture. Cross polarization causes a strong filter factor or several stops in light loss. I used a Nikon or Hoya filter case to adjust the polarizer over the camera lens. The angles in the plastic filter case made adjusting the polarizer of the lens very fast and accurate.

Hot lights would have destroyed the filters I used between the lights and the subject. I used a Norman P2000X power pack and two lamp heads with maybe 10" standard reflectors. A pair of matched speedlights with diffusion might work. The speedlights might not have the power need to make the exposure with one flash. If multiple flashes are needed you'll need to darken the room and open the lens on T.

In theory one should used four lights and over-light the corners of the copy subject slightly to counter lens vignetting. I had such a setup for a copy stand I made out of a Beseler 45 mx2 enlarger.

I've never done copy work with a digital camera. This information is from years ago and memory. It's probably rough.

I hope something here is helpful.

Dave

 

[ColinM]

Thank you Ann, Ian & Dave

The scope has become simpler
- the client just wants images for inclusion in his university paper.
- the paintings are 50 x 70 cm
- oil paintimgs, so Dave thoughts on texture might be applicable

So far, the lighting you've mentioned seems to be full on studio stuff
What about LED panels that get used for small scale stuff, zoom calls etc?

Hiring or borrowing is definitely an option (thank you Ann).
The client won't be ready to shoot till Feb
I used to have a good single Nikon flash unit, plus their complete macro "ring" flash solution & the Commander. Sold them some time ago and don't currently had the need for them nowadays.

[ColinM]

The background to the commission is interesting.

Professional guy who suffered cancer & other health issues a few years ago.
He became interested in the process & journey of his recovery and is now painting images from various patients' MRI scans.....
(I've yet to see any)

After he's exhibited them, some will go on display in the hospital he was treated in (Worcester, UK)
I've also suggested using our files to get some posters & publicity done, so Ian's recommendation to talk to printers may yet be relevant.

[Thomas Stellwag]

my experience with oil paintings is, that there are a lot of reflections caused either by brushstroke or by varish. Thus I recomment constant light, no flash.
My propsal therefore is, using 4 lamps with reflectors/LED boards and put the in position in an angle below 45 degrees to he surface of the picture.
Then the main reflection should bypass the lens. Only small reflections caused by surface structure, especially in dark areas will be see.
Try around this value by experimenting. In your case, I see the problem of metering light.
For the metering I propose to use a "grey card" in the size of the painings and align the lamps, by measuring onto several spots of the card to get even light over the total surface.
Then do not move the lamps and put the picture into place.
I expect at those pictures a very strong contrast, which might it make difficult to arrange the lamps by metering onto the painting only.

[golunvolo]

I have had the best results with two strobes, 45 dedrees on either side, both with diffusers. Only once the best option was shooting the light on the ceiling -white- as it resolved some oil reflections.
  Still, the main point for me was to keep the plane of the sensor as parallel as possible to the plane of the painting to avoid perspective corrections later. Also, better to give yourself some error margin in the framing as some correction may occur.
  The las one I did was not a painting but a big banner from the 18th century that possed some of the same problems. In this case, I took photos of sections -again, mindful of the alignment subjet-sensor- to do a composite later on. That worked out pretty well.

  Have fun with the project!

[Bruno Schroder]

I’ve successfully used 2 flashes at 45 degrees through polarized filters. Paintings were of various types:  acrylic on paper, oil on canvas and panel and pigmented earth on panel.

[David H. Hartman]

Also, better to give yourself some error margin in the framing as some correction may occur.

This is a very good point.

Dave

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I don't know if I made this easy to understand: anyway with cross polarization you can remove all highlight reflections caused by the texture reflectiveness. Slight adjustment of the polarizer on lens can allow just a little of the reflections back in.

I think the lamp for my Norman system are LH2000 lamps. They have quarts halogen modeling lamps and cooling fans. An air gap between the strobe lamps and the polarizing filter help keep the polarizing filters from over heating.

Best,

Dave