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Message
Posted
Norrette… it’s easy when you know how!
Take your work preferably outside on a reasonably clear day, not directly in sunshine.
This is what I do… I position my painting at an angle leaning against a wall.
Stand well back with your camera/iPhone and zoom in on your image.
This prevents any illusion of distortion, it’s important not to stand too close!
Move or swivel the camera so that the sides of the canvas appears square in the camera frame - that means no distortions and is vital.
Crop the image as close as possible, making sure that none of the outside areas outside of the canvas are showing.
Colour correct as required.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Thanks Alan & Tessa. I think I stand too close. And then I get bad distortion and get frustrated going one way and then the other. There doesn't seem to be an auto squaring up on my android phone/tablet. I shall persevere!
Perhaps I'll try with my digital camera, but of course then I have to transfer the image onto the pc/tablet.
Posted
You should have some software on your computer or phone Sandra.
It will only be a basic programme , but if you take your photos in a decent light, you shouldn’t really need it.
Contrast is often a big problem that needs adjusting slightly,
I’ve got Photoshop which is the professional programme and used worldwide.
But this is helpful to me when I’m fine tuning my images for the magazine, you don’t need anything like this of course.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Alan, how do you colour correct? Great to have the instructions for photographing, I always have to edit to get rid of outside the edges, but also have a problem with distortion. I think from reading your instructions that I stand too close.I find putting something white next to the canvas when taking a photo can help the camera autocorrect colour a bit but it also then gives you a reference to use in photo editing software of what should be the white point. I then crop it out in the final image.
Posted
Not wishing to push a particular programme but when I used to photograph my art work, I would take several photographs at different apertures and choose the one that was closest to the actual painting. Then I'd load it into GIMP, where you can achieve much by altering brightness and contrast (simply pressing up and down arrows). Failing that (which wasn't very often) there is a tool called colour curves where you simply drag a curve to get what you want. The difficulty, sometimes, was producing a photo that was an accurate representation of the original rather than a representation of what you would have liked the original to be!
Posted
That makes sense Tony, I’ve now settled on what appears to be the best settings on my Nikon DSLR, but after much trial and error!
So in fairness, I leave well alone…
It’s so important to get your image looking as close as possible to the original, particularly if you’re entering an art competition, which I do.
Not too critical if you’re simply displaying your work on the gallery etc…
The white paper background suggestion by Gary is a good idea!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Thank-you very much Gary, I'll try it. Thank-you too to Tony and Alan, however I think that you are far more advanced with photo editing than I'll ever be. At least I don't enter competitions.Alan, how do you colour correct? Great to have the instructions for photographing, I always have to edit to get rid of outside the edges, but also have a problem with distortion. I think from reading your instructions that I stand too close.I find putting something white next to the canvas when taking a photo can help the camera autocorrect colour a bit but it also then gives you a reference to use in photo editing software of what should be the white point. I then crop it out in the final image.