Photographing art work

[hmf]

I have been asked to photograph a single painting, and could use some help on film selection and metering. I am a B&W landscape guy, so have no experience with artificial light or color film, and usually do zone system metering with a 1 degree spot. The requirement is for 4X5 transparency film, either Fuichrome or Ektachrome. I will have an incident meter and, lacking artificial light, plan on photographing in open shade.

Any suggestions on film type and metering method (incident or reflective)?

Thanks for your help.

[Leigh]

Open shade is going to throw your color temperature WAY off, very much bluer than it should be.
If you expect to get the colors right you really need a good color temperature meter.
I would suggest a large white diffuser in direct sunlight, with the painting at a 45° angle to the incident light.

Use an incident reading and bracket unless you're really sure of your conditions. Take multiple exposures at each setting.

I do two identical shots in a film holder. Unload one side for processing and save the other in case there's a problem.
If you want to keep archive copies, consider doing four or more identical shots since they're chromes.

Also, be very careful to eliminate geometric distortion. Your film must be absolutely parallel to the painting, and the lens axis
must be perpendicular to the film. Hasselblad has a mirror unit to assure this alignment with their cameras.

I'll let others recommend film. I prefer the more saturated look of Velvia, but that's probably not appropriate for this gig.

Do you use Dodge Chrome? They do excellent work. Located in Silver Spring outside the beltway, east of Rt. 29 and north of Randolph Rd.

- Leigh

[Bill Burk]

Can you scrounge up four photoflood bulbs and get some cheap clip lights? It'd be much easier to control artificial light than daylight.

[archphotofisher]

make sure your camera is in the center of the art work and the camera/art work are level in both horz and vert this is very important. As the other post 45 dg angle is very important with the lights. a good check is to place a mirror at the center of the art work go back to the camera ground glass and look at the mirror for any sign of your lights, no lights showing in the mirror your final image will have not have any major glare. add a color and bw scale to each image along the edge for helping in future printing and scanning.
good luck
my two bits.

[Lenny Eiger]

There is no more tungsten-based film. They discontinued all of it. If you don't have strobes and are already familiar with their use, I would probably get some inexpensive ballasts and light things up with full spectrum lighting. These cost about $5 per 4 foot bulb, and are made by a few manufacturers. Some are even rated as to how close they reproduce color....

Make sure the light is even all the way across the image using your light meter. The 1 degree spot and a gray card works fine, so will the incident meter. Move the lights around until you get it right.

Here's hoping it's a watercolor. Don't try and shoot thru glass, try not to shoot a heavily gloss-coated painting if you can void it. You'll need cross polarizers and everything else.

My preference for watercolor is chrome, while my preference for other types of paintings, especially casein or craypas or other extended color spectrum is negative.

I think color temperature meters are about $900-$1000, so as much as its a useful device, I'm not sure its cost effective for a single painting... The same could also be said for a Zig-align tool.

Of course, there are lots of people that will disagree with me. I go nuts about matching every color and adjust plenty in photoshop. A good scanner helps, especially one with a PMT. They are very sensitive to color subtleties. Lots of people do this well, with all sorts of different techniques to start out with. I think the main thing is the commitment to get it right on the print...

Lenny

[photobymike]

mmmm tough... well color temp was already mentioned... distortion mentioned ... make sure you use a "flat field" lens ... I think the 120 Nikon is good for this....keep your film plane parallel with the art work... use the sharpest aperture which is f 11 or 16 on the 120mm AM Nikon.... The bigest problem you are going to have is color temperature balance ... Shade is really cool.. can be as hi as 8 or 9 thou ... you could use a digital camera to help find the correct color correction filter.... make sure your digital camera has a color correction manual setting.... You could correct this on the computer... If you get it right on the transparency you dont have to worry about your monitor being tuned right. Oh and shoot a gray card.... scan in Photoshop use the analyzer to check for equal values on the gray card photo ... Then no matter what your monitor is telling you ....you have a balance.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...-AM-120mm-F5-6

[Leigh]

How large is the painting?

Does the medium have a texture, like oil paint, or is it flat like watercolor?

The Nikkor AM 120/5.6 could be a very good choice, depending on the actual reproduction ratio.
It's a macro lens, designed for close-up work. Its image circle is too small to cover 4x5 at infinity.

What's the intended use? Is it commercial (advertising or similar), or just something the cust can display on his desk?

What's the time frame... When does this have to be shot? How much schedule flexibility?

Do you have access to a studio where it could be shot with strobes?


- Leigh

[Leigh]

You could correct this on the computer... If you get it right on the transparency you dont have to worry about your monitor being tuned right. Oh and shoot a gray card.... scan in Photoshop use the analyzer to check for equal values on the gray card photo ...

The deliverable is a transparency.

No monitor, no computer, no photoshop.

- Leigh

[hmf]

How large is the painting?

Does the medium have a texture, like oil paint, or is it flat like watercolor?

The Nikkor AM 120/5.6 could be a very good choice, depending on the actual reproduction ratio.
It's a macro lens, designed for close-up work. Its image circle is too small to cover 4x5 at infinity.

What's the intended use? Is it commercial (advertising or similar), or just something the cust can display on his desk?

What's the time frame... When does this have to be shot? How much schedule flexibility?

Do you have access to a studio where it could be shot with strobes?


- Leigh

This is a photograph of an Alexander Calder oil painting owned by family friends in Connecticut. The intended use is to make a 4X5 transparency for some sort of Calder registry. I was asked this morning to do this job on Sunday, when I am in town for another occasion.

Based on the helpful comments thus far, I can enumerate how many ways I am unprepared to do this:
1. Never used color film or true working knowledge of color balance.
2. No flat field lens.
3. No means to accurately align film and object plane.
4. No artificial light source or true working knowledge of their use.

It sounds like I will be wasting all of our time, and their film. I think I will decline the 'job'. Thanks all, for your input.

[photobymike]

mm old school.... well a transmission densitometer is needed for critical work on the gray card test transparency .If you have a calibrated scanner you can use it like a densitometer .. My V750 is calibrated, but an old Macbeth densitometer would be the most accurate if properly used .. i have done this many years ago ... Also make sure when taking the test image and the final image ... make sure film is of the same batch .. Also make sure the processing is consistant .... I can tell you from my experience that most transparency film stock is cooler than the what the specifications say.... and it changes slightly with storage conditions.