Taking photographs in daylight for a more natural lighting look
Photographs should be sent in their original size and not edited at all. In other words a file straight from the camera. This will generally be quite a large file, several megabytes in fact. But it is much easier to straighten or crop a large image and not lose the image quality.
Many times a photo with a file size of about 30k - 50k is submitted (great for a quick download) but being far too small to make a decent image. It also does not allow for distortion correction by me, a process which whittles the file size further.
Any images that are seriously fuzzy or out of focus should not be sent.
Take 3 or 4 photos of exactly the same piece of artwork. That way there’s a chance one of them may be a really good one.
Taking a photograph of your painting or other artwork: After the paint is completely dry, take your painting outside on a sunny day (actually a diffused light dull day works well and doesn’t wash out lighter colours). The natural outdoor light is much better than anything indoors.
Find a wall, or any place really, where you can prop up your painting so that it stands at an angle to suit your tripod height. The painting should be at 90 degrees to the line of your camera lens (see line drawn in picture below).
I’d suggest using a tripod (or a box) with your digital camera to make sure that you’re taking perfectly steady shots. Tip: use the timer setting in the camera so that at the time the photograph is taken you are not touching the camera, tripod or box.
When you take the photo, remember to tilt the camera slightly down (and if needed tilt the painting) to match the angle of the camera. You may also need to lower the tripod. This will help to minimise distortion of the original image. Never have the light behind you unless it is high, as this will produce a shadow on the painting.
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