photographing art

[elsa hoffmann]

A friend and I have been photographing art for an exhibition coming up in SA
Pierneef was a prolific painter and his art sells for millions. Several millions. Several...
The images here are called the station panels - and they are all in a museum/ gallery. We also photographed paintings and copper plates by the same artist, some which are in the National Gallery in Cape Town.
I am not sure who pressed the shutter when - as we worked together with set up and lights and the whole thing - as the panels were in a gallery and we had to move from one to the other setting up every time as we had to do the next panel. Problematic as we couldn't be consistent due to space constraints. some of the panels were in small corners - so getting the lights right was difficult - especially since its oil and very reflective. Overhead lights also gave off a nasty reflections on some panels. It was a challenge. What worked best with most of the panels, was to place the 2 lights facing one another, rather than face the panels. If you get the idea...
Does anyone have any better ideas about shooting art? I have done lots of art before - but this was challenging in a different way. (yes I am aware that one of the images are duplicated)
The other thing is - you use a color passport and try remember as best you can - but start editing and suddenly you just dont remember if the panels were that flat - or if you over saturated them! Panel sizes roughly 2m x 2 m give or take

Pierneef Panels by elsa hoffmann, on Flickr

[ColinM]

High Elsa, whilst I haven't tried shooting paintings (esp those behind glass) I have had a few attempts to "copy" a gloss photo print, which threw up similar issues.

Apart from reflections and colour/White balance, what were the main things you weren't happy with? I don know the original paintings shown here, but first impressions are that some seem slightly lower in contrast and muted (but maybe the originals were too).

Though I never tried this, would using a polariser help at all with reflections & saturation?
You didn't say whether these were taken hand-held, or if you could use a tripod, which would change things a lot.

[Airy]

Shooting at an angle with a shift lens is an option. W/o shift lens, have a D800 and straighten the perspective in PP, or do a stitch.A front pic for checking the proportions is of course more than useful.

[Bjørn J]

I have also used the trick with the two lights facing each other instead of facing the painting at an angle, it can sometimes give good results. I have photographed flat art for several years, I find it interesting and challenging. Especially when there is glass in front of the painting.
I always use macro lenses for such work, as they are generally well corrected and have little distortion. I have recently acquired a Nikon 85mm PC-E tilt/shift lens, and plan to use it for that kind of work.
Some weeks ago I photographed the whole collection of paintings in a gallery, and there was a beautiful light from the huge windows in the roof, the windows were angled, not directly overhead. The light meter showed totally even light even on huge paintings. I took all the photos twice, once with studio flash, and once with the window light. The latter gave the best results in most cases.

[Frank Fremerey]

I did a lot of reproductive jobs, some which I am really proud of. That is because I did not know how to do it when I started and in the end managed to get a near perfect result, like these:

http://www.ottaus.com/index.php/die-galerie1.html
http://www.ottaus.com/index.php/die-galerie2.html

Trouble was the format of 200cm x 25cm
Trouble was glass framed
Trouble was that in the frame collage elements of a certain depth were applicated

What I did is to build a housing made of Aluminium profiles, covered in Light box foil and using that box to diffuse the light with a direction that did not allow reflexes into the camera's sight.

I will not give you a full walkthrough but I was really happy with the result, the customer more than happy, he never thought is would be possible to pull this thing of.

Good luck, be inventive, visit a builders market for inspiration.

Frank

[pluton]

I have heard that polarized lights plus polarized camera are the hot ticket for reflection prone flatwork, but have not tried it myself.  Minus total polarization, experiment with light placement. Also,  I totally believe Bjorn J.'s story about the window light being better than the artificial lighting units.

[elsa hoffmann]

Thank you for the valuable comments.
We tried polarizer with little success (but I put that down to our stupidity more than anything else)
Some of the overhead lights in the museum could not be turned off and we had to use huge foam boards to block out to avoid specular highlights. They were awful. Light placement does come down to what is practical also.
The colours of the panels were very muted /washed out - and it was kind of instinct to try and make them more pretty (saturated) - which of course was not a good idea. We compared our photos to those used by the gallery in their brochure - theirs were absolutely horrible - dark, no details in the shadows, colours were way off etc.
We were shooting on a tripod to be as consistent as possible and get as little distortion as possible. Used a 24-70 as longer wasn't practical or do-able, but thanks for the comment on the macro - will use that on the next paintings - which are a lot smaller than the panels. T&S a possibility too.
Window light was not an option - no windows in the museum. We used natural light with some of the smaller paintings we did at a different venue.
Frank - your housing sounds very interesting - and if you at some point feel like sharing more info - I would be very interested. You did a great job with those paintings.
Pluton - what is a polarized camera??  Keep in mind shooting art happens once in a while - one can only invest so much financially.
in the picture attached -
the "me" is Eric
the "you" is Elsa
samples by elsa hoffmann, on Flickr

[Frank Fremerey]

look here. That is about the system I use for these purposes: http://www.alusteck.de/

The AFS 60mm Micro is great for such kind of work. If you allow I will show an example of a simple single frame. Task was to make a transportable version of a picture on very thick wood weighing about 15 Kilos but keeping the color...

I recommend not to use flash for lighting. The light source should have a colour reproduction quality of 92% to 98%.

Very good idea to switch of or cancel out all light you did not bring.

[elsa hoffmann]

Frank - I posted this thread for help and so we all learn - so please feel free to post anything you like - I would be most grateful

re the frame system - we have something similar available so that is do-able.

[Frank Fremerey]

In this case I pointed the angles of two lamps such that the reflections do not point into the direction of the camera. I do not care if there are reflections pointing anywhere else.

With flat surfaces this is always easy. Real trouble are rounded surfaces. This is why I have 27QM Black cloth in one piece for reflex managenent.

So a little game: can you see which one has glass in front and which one has not?

PS: In the print the gold looks like REAL GOLD!

PPS: I have some religious customers, sorry for any inconvenience...

[elsa hoffmann]

Excellent work Frank - goodness you really did a great job. I am sure the prints looked great - what size was it printed and what was the purpose of the shoot?
Glass - uhm... I am not that clever
How big were the paintings?
Thank goodness 99% of the art I have done to date has not had any glass. This specific shoot was just for brochure photos - so it is a tad forgiving.

[Bjørn J]

About polarized light: I have tried that, polarizer foil on the flashes and a pola filter on the camera.  I did not like the result - and it did not work well on oil paintings, as the oil paint reflects light in all directions. Sometimes the colours in the painting changed, depending on what type of paint the artist had used. If for example there is some gold paint on the art, it may turn totally black.

[Frank Fremerey]

I did try the polarizing way. Its good for film with linear pol filters not for digital with circular.

Both pictures are between 50cm and 70cm on the long side

[elsa hoffmann]

I have seen glass which is specifically made for art - when you look at the art - you cant see there is glass. It comes at a very high premium though, and I do not have any knowledge or experience in shooting such things.

[Bjørn J]

I have seen glass which is specifically made for art - when you look at the art - you cant see there is glass. It comes at a very high premium though, and I do not have any knowledge or experience in shooting such things.

Yes, the so-called museum quality glass is amazing. I have not tried shooting such glass. For photographing art behind normal glass I have found that best result is obtained when i shoot it in a absolutely totally dark room. Two flashes, and black cloth to cover the camera and tripod, only a small hole for the lens.