Images > Critique

photographing art

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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...

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