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'June Meadow' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis
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I have had some questions about how I photograph my paintings for my blog. I'd like to share this post from the archives:
It has to be low tech and low maintenance. I want quality photos of my paintings for my blog but I don't want to spend a lot of time taking them. I need to point, shoot, upload and not have to do much editing. I have worked out a system that works for me. It is simple and takes little effort.
All I use is a point and shoot digital camera and take a photo of the painting while it is still up on the easel. Nothing fancy. I just point and shoot and keep the flash on.
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| My easel and current painting. When I am finished painting I take the photo |
Keep in mind this is the set up I use to take low resolution photos for blogging and for email. I also use them to print small photos and for my business cards. If I need higher resolution photos I will increase the quality setting on my camera to high (about 10 megapixels)
- I use a Panasonic Lumix digital camera set on a medium quality setting.
- I always keep the flash on.
- I don't use a tripod but I do have steady hands.
- I stand about 4-5 feet from the painting and zoom into the painting. I don't crop it in the camera but leave a bit of the foamcore showing.(I will crop it when I upload the photo to my computer)
- I have two fluorescent light fixtures over my easel area. I keep a warm and cool bulb in each.
- This balance of light along with the camera flash results in color that is very true to my paintings.
- I upload the photos to my computer. I have an iMac and use iPhoto. I crop the photo in iPhoto. Occasionally I need to adjust brightness, contrast or saturation which is easily done in iPhoto. 95% of the time I don't have to make adjustments.
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| My fancy lighting! |
This system works well for me. Since we all have different lighting situations it will take some experimentation to find the correct balance of light to get the truest colors. If your photos come out too warm or yellow....try turning on the flash and stand back about 5 feet.
3 comments:
That's a great system. Very effective the two different fluorescents to get true color. Glad you've got steady hands. I don't and need to get something that has anti-shake built in.
Can you provide the exact model of the Lumix point and shot camera you use? A google search revealed many models and varying price ranges. Love your work and your demos great learning tools. .
It is an older model Panasonic DMC-ZS1
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