Digitizing Paintings

[Rodger]

Hello,


I have an oddball question. I've received a few recent inquiries about digitizing artwork such as paintings. I'm guessing a scanner would be the best way to do that, but I have a camera, not a huge scanner. Is there a certain way to go about this so that the photos will look spot on as to what the original painting looks like? I downloaded a huge PDF but the information in that document is wayyy over my head.


I've done something like this once already for a friend for free with good results. For that, I lit the pieces with two strobes and umbrellas. Now that I've got an opportunity to do this for some cash, I'm wondering if there is a better way. Some results from the first time are shown below.


Thanks for ay suggestions/help!


All artwork is copyright of Rachel Fitzgerald.

[Rodger]

Obviously, a better crop and straight on angle for the third one would have helped. Oops. :/

[Keith B]

I recently shot paintings by children for a health care firm here. I did it with two 580EXII in two Eclipse 60" umbrellas. I positioned them even distances on the left and right. I took a couple test shots and moved the lights accordingly so that there was not glare. I shot it with 5DmkII ISO 100 with my 35 1.4 @ 5.6. I think the strobes were either at 1/8 of 1/4. I didn't use a polarizer but that would probably be a good idea too.


Definitely use your sharpest lens and something near normal perspective and as large of light sources you can.

[Rodger]

Good deal, Thanks Keith!

[Keith B]

Good deal, Thanks Keith!

No problem. Forgot to mention your shots look good. You may not have to do anything different if they look like the originals.

[Rodger]

No problem. Forgot to mention your shots look good. You may not have to do anything different if they look like the originals

Yours look(ed?) great! haha did I imagine that it was there 25 minutes ago? Or is my internet bad? Or have I finally lost it?? Or, all three...

[Keith B]

Thanks! I took it down after I thought about it. It was shot for a big and important (to me) client that I would never ever want to upset. Since it is the artwork of child with a terminal parent, I started to feel wrong about posting it.

[Rodger]

Ahh I see. That's very legit.