One essential element is to use a planar lens, not a zoom lens. It is of the uttmost importance to keep straight lines straight andto avoid oil-canning. I also use a carpenter’s square and a tape measures to align the centerline of the lens with the artwork.

This process also works well preparing old photographs for restoration.

I think it is something that our friends and neighbors cannot do easily — and that it is an area in which we can differentiate ourselves.

Once I had my system set, I could have run through 40 framed pieces in very little time.

This is one of those tasks where lighting is the critical variable. Since most people are schooled in direct lighting, the use of indirect, which works best for this task, will make our work better and our job easier.

Great article. This has helped me quite a lot.

I shot some original paintings several years ago for a client, who did not want to send the pictures to NY for an appraisal. Neither did he want to remove the pictures from their resting place on the wall, for some reason.

I managed to get the shots without any glare, after much trial and error and movement of my lights.

I would have loved to have read your article before I shot those pictures. It would have made the process much easier.

Keep the articles coming. They are very beneficial to folks like me.

Dave

Thanks for the excellent article. You just can’t beat the expertise of John Woodward. I took a class from him years ago at Florida School, “Mastering the Light”. All of his principles still hold true.

I want to try this lighting on my own artwork and then see if I can get into that niche market in my area.

Thanks for the comment. For most folks, it is very difficult to control the light during the hours in which you are shooting. In one of the posted newsletters and in an upcoming post I’ll talk about using diffusion to control and even out sunlight.

However, I think it’s a lot easier to do indoors. You don’t necessarily need strobes and soft boxes. You might be able to replicate the same indirect concept with some home made boxes and a tungsten bulb. Take a look at the newsletter dedicated to Dean Collins; in it I have a cite to Tinker Tubes — his plans for home made studio equipment.

I’d love to know more about “The same profiling method can be used with SLR’s and larger format digitals as well …”.

When you have time, can you tell us how you would do it with, say, a DSLR?

sjh