[LRFlex] Re: Technique of photographing paintings?
- From: "Neil Gould" <neil@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2004 10:06:11 -0500
Hello Xavier,
Recently, you wrote:
> From: "Bille Xavier F." <hot_billexf@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hello to all.
>
> One of my colleague is a sunday painter, she did it for fun in the
> past 20 years, it's mostly surrealism, Dali Type of painting.
>
> And of course she showed me some of the photos she made with a
> disposable camera, moaning the colors and exposure were bad.
>
> I'd like to help her create a press book of her paintings, I though a
> Leica R would be perfect for the job.
>
> Her paintings are approx 1.3m by 0.9m, jind of big. A job for the 35
> summicron or 50mm?
>
> Now, the paintings have a vernish and she uses some materials to give
> a 3D surface.
>
> What iis your input, what kind of light would be best?
>
It's been a while since I've documented artwork, mainly because the pain
wasn't worth the money... artists can be pretty picky and at the same time
poor, which makes the work a real challenge! However, as this is a friend,
you're stuck. 8-)
Here are a few ideas.
Color balance:
The choice of film will have the greatest impact on your color. Choose a
film with a color tendency that compliments the colors in the painting(s).
Keep in mind that the color gamut of paint is much broader than that of
film, so you may need to compromise on the accuracy of some colors in the
painting to compliment the main theme. Talk it over with your artist if
you think this will become an issue. Another factor that will affect your
color balance is the lighting, but I'll get to that later.
The choice of lens is also important. I know it's blasphemous to say so on
this list, but for this work, my Leica gear would not be my first choice.
The MTF curves of Leica lenses are very well suited for artistic
expression in photos, but that quality makes them less well suited to
technical applications such as this. I'd suggest that you use a
normal-range lens (50-60mm) that you are very familiar with, and use the
aperture that yields the flattest portion of its MTF performance. The rest
of the exposure you'll have to adjust with light and or shutter speed.
Lighting:
Since the work has a 3D surface, and, as it is varnished, the challenge
will be to show the texture while avoiding harsh reflections. I would
suggest a single, large, diffuse light source, and a large reflector to
control the contrast ratio. The actual angles to set the light and
reflector will depend on the glare from the varnish and the depth of the
3D surface. The general idea is to use the light source and reflector on
opposite angles from the artwork.
Your lighting will also affect the color balance, as mentioned earlier. If
you have the option, natural light would be ideal, as that is more than
likely how the painting was created and viewed, and its color balance is
difficult to emulate with strobes. The down-side is that natural light can
change pretty quickly, so working time can be a problem.
If you decide to use a strobe, you'll need to decide whether to use a
neutral or "warm" diffuser color. This should take into consideration your
choice of film and the colors in the paintings. But, use a neutral (e.g.
white) reflector color in either case.
Hope some of this is useful to you!
Best regards,
Neil Gould
--------------------------------------
Terra Tu AV - www.terratu.com
Technical Graphics & Media
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