How to Take Pictures of Artwork for Your Art Portfolio: 32 Tips Read this article to learn lighting, positioning, and camera set-up, as well as what to do during after taking pictures, to get good shots for your artwork. Karen Kesteloot
When making your art portfolio to be sent to art and design schools for review, you will have to take pictures of your artworks and turn into a 35mm slide or a digital file (for art portfolios in CD format). Doing this is fairly simple, but there are factors that you need to consider to capture the best image of your artwork into an image. Below are tips on how to take pictures of artwork that will be included in your art portfolio.
Lighting
1. 2. If the sun is too bright, find shade to dial down the intensity of the artwork as it appears on your camera.
3. If you wish to shoot your artwork indoors, use powerful lights to avoid certain parts of your artworks from being darker. The higher the wattage of the light, the more evenly the light will be distributed to your artwork. 4. Set up your lights so that it is approximately four meters away from the artwork and 45 degrees from where you will be taking the picture. 5. For paintings, set up your lights on one corner (still 45 degrees from the artwork and you) to cast shadows on the strokes and reveal texture. 6. Having two lights, setting them up on both sides of the artworks minimizes texture and can remove wrinkles on the artwork’s surface. 7. Turn off the room lights when shooting indoors.
Positioning your artwork
1. 2. Place your artwork on a wall so that it stands upright. 3. Make sure that the wall is white or plain so that the focus is on the artwork. Images created using Quozio and Pixlr. Click here to view where article was first published.