Derin’s Workshop: Photographing Your Artwork

Derin’s workshop was a very technical deep dive into how to photograph artwork.  It was very interesting and useful in a number of ways.  Most of all, it got me thinking about how to offer a simple workflow to students that will allow them to create accurate and useful images documenting their work.  It seems to me that there are two purposes for students documenting their work, and we have experienced them both firsthand this summer in our classes.  The first purpose is for documenting what they are doing for the short term, especially if they are in a remote class.  The second is to create images for their portfolio.  Ideally, both purposes can be accomplished at the same time.

In the beginning of the exercise, I was using a DSLR with portable flashes.  Then I decided to try making a small set and using only tools that most students would have at their disposal: a smartphone camera, drawing paper to make a sweep and reflectors, and a flat panel LED.  As Derin said, a window would be a great thing to use in place of the LED panel if students didn’t have one, but I feel like that little $30 panel that Derin showed us should be a standard part of an art student’s kit these days for documenting their work.  Here is the progression of my little set, using my son’s Gojira.

The first image, with just an LED light panel.
I added a fill card on the right hand side to bounce some light into the shadows. I used one of the folded papers from Brianna’s workshop for this, and held it in place with a spring clamp. Scraps of matte board would be great for students to have too.
I still needed more light so I added in my desk lamp.  It is a different color temperature, which could be a problem in some images.  But in this case, I like the little kick of orange on the right, it adds a little depth to the image.  I think that’s one of the fun things about photographing 3d work as opposed to flat work: that you can sculpt the form and space with light instead of going for evenness.
I moved the LED panel forward to wrap the light more into the shadows on the front of the monster, and moved the paper reflector forward and closer too to get a more even light. There’s still good modeling with the shadows being a couple of stops darker on the righthand forms.
Here is a photo of the final setup with the three light sources, the LED is the main light, the bounce card is filling the shadows on the other side and the lamp is providing a nice general fill along the the kick of orange.
All that was left was to add the grey card.

For my second photo, I wanted to do something flat.  I selected one of Declan’s drawings that’s on the wall of my office.  He did it a couple of weeks ago when he was feeling sad because everyone was busy.  I think that the best and easiest way to photograph flatwork is to do it outside in the sunlight.  It’s full spectrum and there is no falloff.  Also, unless you have good strobes, you might have to deal with hot spots from the lamps.  I usually will angle the piece in order to avoid shadows and glare.  If it’s shiny, turning it at a 30-45 degree angle from the direct sun is good.  A polarizing filter can work wonders too.  In this picture, you can see the shadow of the phone that I didn’t manage.

I think Derin’s lesson would be super useful for High School Students, and it would be good to make it an introductory lesson so that students can be forming good habits and taking useful images of their work.  I think it could be useful to add development in Lightroom Mobile too, or with Lightroom.

damianhickey

  1. Hello Damian. Thank you for the detailed documentation including the stages of setup for Gojira. I love Declan’s drawing, can’t go wrong with googly eyes to add some emotional tumult.

    Added a slide about angling your work against natural light per your flat work reproduction. I also added links and codes of some acrylic paints for students to make their own reference cards.

    Good note on the outdoor shooting. Another possibility outdoor is to shoot through a large black foamcore to have the work in full shade. Easel works well also, best if you can get something dark behind you to cut reflections. Smaller objects work well if you shoot through a hole in black foamcore, basically makes it so that symmetrical light is coming from all sides.