How to Photograph Artwork

There are many reasons an artist needs to photograph their artwork; maybe they want to sell prints of it, or maybe they need to include images of their work with an application to a show or event. Maybe they want to share it online, or just want to document the work for their own inventory. Regardless of the reason, I've got some tips for effectively photographing your artwork!

Oh, this hurts to see.

Use a high resolution.
I would not recommend a resolution - or ppi (pixels per inch) - below 150 ppi. Ideally, you should use 300 ppi for any images used for printing, but 150 ppi will still appear sharp when printed. The standard ppi for images online (websites, social media, etc) is 72 ppi. This makes the image file size smaller for faster loading and viewing, but you cannot print images at this resolution without them getting blurry or pixelated. 

For my book illustrations that I know are going to be resized, I scan them at 600 ppi - but the final print file is set to 300 ppi. Remember, you can always scale your images down, but you can't make a crisp, high resolution image from a low-resolution one, so it's best to just start with a higher resolution file. You can change the resolution in your camera's settings or in your image editing program.

Not only is there a flash, but also my hallway and bathroom lights, too!

Use good lighting. 
Different kinds of lighting will alter the appearance of your artwork - changing the colors and tones (like making whites look yellow or orange.) Our end goal when photographing our art is to have an accurate digital image of our work. Interestingly enough, sunlight is actually the best lighting for more accurate coloring. But not bright direct sunlight, which can cause harsh, unintentional shadows, but rather sunlight on a cloudy, more overcast day.

Unfortunately, we don't always have softly diffused sunlight at our disposure, so we need to work with what we have. You may need to move your art to different rooms or walls, or even set up a lamp or other lighting to get a good photograph. Try not to use your flash, especially if the piece is shiny or under glass, as the flash will create harsh, dark shadows and bright white spots of light.

You actually wanted a picture of this gray bar, right? ...Right?

Make sure it's in focus.
I don't want to sound condescending here - a few months ago we went to a wedding for some friends of mine. They asked me to take photos for them, and I did, but when I took pictures of my own family with the bride and groom... Well, they looked great in the 2"x2" camera screen at the time, but when I got home and loaded them onto my laptop, every photo I took of my own family was blurry! 🤷‍♀️ So take a few seconds to zoom in on your photos right after you take them to ensure you have a sharp, properly focused image. 

If you can't get a crisp image when holding the camera by hand, use a tripod to keep it still. It might not be a problem with unsteady hands, but could be a lighting/shutter speed problem (anything slower than 1/60th of a second is likely to have some motion blur when hand held - but I'm not going to get that deep into camera mechanics in this post!)

Take it out of the frame/remove the glass.
This won't apply to every piece, but if your art is framed under glass, remove it if you can. Glass can create reflections that we don't want, which leads me to the next tip...

Oh, hey guys!

Mind the reflections.
If you can't take it out of the frame, it's not the end of the world, but you do want to take notice of any reflections on the glass (or any other shiny surface on it.) Anybody else remember the eBay picture of the shiny metal teapot that showed the photographer's reflection - and clearly showed him in just a pair of underwear? Well, that's exactly what we want to avoid! Oh, and don't forget to clean your piece beforehand to make sure your shiny surface is clean and free of smudges or fingerprints. 

Use a scanner (if possible.)
This, too, won't work for all pieces - especially 3D or impasto paintings. But if your artwork is smaller and flat, you may want to use a scanner to get a high-resolution image for making prints. I recommend scanning the artwork prior to framing, just so you don't have to remove the frame again later on.

Crop it.
Don't be afraid to crop your image! You can crop out the frame, wall, or anything else in the background. We don't want a distracting background to take away from our artwork. We also don't want our prints later on to have weird edges showing on them. If you can't crop it out...

It's slightly less chaotic when I don't have a 6' statue in the middle of it, I swear!

Make sure the background isn't distracting. 
If your studio is a hot mess like mine, it's probably not the best place for photographing pieces that will have a background in the image. Find a blank, neutral, or complimentary/contrasting wall or background to use. If the piece is dark, maybe it needs a light wall - or vice versa.

* An additional note under this tip - If your artwork is unframed or on canvas, make sure you can't see the stand/support through the piece. Some years ago I saw some photos of paintings on easels, and while the lighting and focus was perfect, you could see the wooden easel through the middle of the canvas.

Don't be afraid to edit!
Cropping, adjusting brightness and tone, even tweaking the perspective - all of that is fine to do! As a reminder, our goal with the final image is to have an accurate digital representation of our artwork.

I promise you don't have to be a professional photographer in order to capture great photos of your art. You don't even need a digital camera, because many newer mobile phones have cameras that can take higher resolution photos than even my Nikon. Keep these tips in mind and your photos of your art will turn out great!