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Oil Painters of America

Creating Better Digital Images of your Paintings. How to Ensure your Masterpiece is Best Represented Online and in Print

Oil Painters of America · Nov 11, 2012 · 19 Comments

Review of 2012 OPA National Exhibition Session with Susan Abma and Jerry Goroski, by contributing OPA artist Julia Bright

Most of us have had the experience of taking a photo of our painting, only to find out that it’s a distorted, too light/too dark, too blue, too red (insert your own adjective here) version of our beautiful painting. Then we go to Photoshop ( if we even know what kind of “animal” that is) to try and manipulate the image to make it look like the original. At the end of the session, we end up with an even worse image than we started with! How frustrating!
Well, Susan Abma and Jerry Goroski have some great tips on how to make the process of photographing your paintings (almost) painless!
 
Artists these days must do so many things – take photos of their work, post to Facebook , update their website, blog, etc. the list goes on and on…. all these activities leave limited time to actually create art. So how do we make sure we spend time painting, instead of manipulating technology? One way is to take better photos of our paintings. Here are some guidelines:

A good camera is an absolute must

What is a good camera? One with a glass lens. With cameras, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. A cheap camera has a plastic lens, which distorts the image. A camera with a glass lens will give you a detailed, sharp, intense image. Buy the best camera you can afford. As a general guideline, a camera costing at least $300-$400 will have a glass lens.

Never use an IPad or Iphone image for print

The resolution is not high enough, and you will get a grainy, distorted image every time

Lens Tips

A longer lens, further back takes a sharper image than a 15mm lens close up. Get a zoom lens – at least a 15-85mm.

Lighting and setting up paintings

Using photo lamps indoors can change the colors of your painting dramatically. Susan and Jerry recommend taking your painting outdoors on an overcast day or in shade (but not deep shadow). Put an easel in a perfectly straight vertical position (measure to make sure it’s perfectly vertical). Put your camera on a tripod. Use of gray card (if one can be found) is recommended to calibrate the color. Another way to calibrate color is to place a piece of white foam core in front of the camera on a tripod exactly square to your image, and take a photo of that. Your camera will now have a guideline for white, and will adjust all the other colors accordingly.
Always take your painting out of the frame to avoid cast shadows. It does not matter what color you choose to put behind the easel. Again, make sure your painting on the easel is in a perfectly vertical position, you want to limit having to crop the image. Try to keep your camera at the same angle (vertically) as your painting. This will help in eliminating glare.
Back up your camera!. Shoot your photo from farther away, with a longer lens. That’s it!.
If your image quality is not where it should be, retake the photo, rather than trying to manipulate the image in Photoshop. Take as many shots as you can, so you have lots to choose from later on.

Manipulating images in Photoshop

If your image quality is bad, there is not much a printer can actually do with your image. Try to avoid extensive Photoshop manipulation at all costs, unless you are a Photoshop super-user (expert). All computer monitors are different, so the color you see on one, will not necessarily match the color on another monitor. If you have several computers, check the image on all of them. Manipulate the image in Photoshop by very small percentages, because small % changes alter the image dramatically. Overly manipulated shots usually come out very dark and muddy off the press.
When manipulating images in Photoshop, DO:

  • Darken images
  • Lighten images
  • Sharpen images

DON’T:

  • Manipulate color, unless you are a Photoshop expert. Just try to take a better photo!
  • Adjust light/dark curves more than 2% either way. Adjusting by a higher percent will result in grainy images coming from the printing press.
  • Adjust color in curves. If you need to adjust color, or light/dark by a large percentage, take another photo!

Photoshop is a very expensive program to buy. If you do not have Photoshop on your computer, a cheaper program will do just fine for the above manipulation of images. No need to invest in Photoshop. Save your money for a better camera!

Jpegs vs. TIFs

Most printing facilities require images in TIF format, rather than Jpegs. You can save your image as a TIF file in your computer, but the image needs to be a higher resolution – aim for a resolution of 300. When you change the resolution of your image in Photoshop, if resolution is increased 4 times, the other dimensions need to decrease 4 times. That is the way to obtain a crisp image. Normally, the image from your camera will be in a resolution of 72. Keep your original (unchanged) image file, because when you manipulate a file, it completely changes the image. Save the manipulated files under another name.

Closing thoughts

Final words of advice from Susan and Jerry – If you can at all afford to have your work professionally photographed, do it. Otherwise, spend more time learning how to take good photos, than learning how to manipulate Photoshop!
 

Upcoming Events

Oil Painters of America · May 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment

The OPA Blog is taking a brief break from it’s normal schedule of thought provoking articles from our gifted Guest Bloggers to bring you an update on the exciting upcoming events and deadlines you won’t want to miss!
 
 
2012 National Show - Evergreen Colorado

2012 National Juried Exhibition

We encourage you to join us during the opening weekend festivities of this year’s 21st National Juried Exhibition in beautiful Evergreen, Colorado, June 20 – June 24, 2012, including an opportunity to paint and sell your work!   OPA members who take part in one or both of the plein air painting events will be eligible to participate in a tent sale taking place June 23 & June 24, right outside Evergreen Fine Art Gallery.    Click here for a complete list of all events and more information regarding this year’s tent sale.
 
 
OPA Online Showcase Banner

2012 Spring OPA Online Showcase

Calling all Associate members!  The first of 3 Associate On-line Showcase’s this year is in full swing.  Your last opportunity to enter and be eligible for a total of $5,000 in prize money is Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Click here to register now!
 
 
2012 Eastern Regional - Bennington, Vermont

2012 Eastern Regional Exhibition

This year’s Eastern Regional Exhibition will be held at the impressive Bennington Center for the Arts, in Bennington, Vermont.  The Juror of Awards will be Kenn Backhaus OPAM.   The deadline for entering on-line is July 6.  Maximum canvas size: 1200 sq. inches.
 
 
2012 Western Regional - Denver, Colorado

2012 Western Regional Exhibition

This year’s Western Regional Exhibition will be held at the trendy Gallery 1261, owned by OPA Master Signature artist Quang Ho.  The Juror of Awards will be Jeff Legg OPAM.  The deadline for entering on-line is July 13.  Maximum canvas size: 1200 sq. inches.
 

Deadlines

Signature Membership Deadline
October 15, 2012 – Application deadline to apply for Signature membership
Master Signature Membership Deadline
September 1, 2012 – Application deadline to apply for Master Signature membership.
Shirl Smithson Scholarship Deadline
December 1, 2012 – Application deadline to be selected to receive one of four Shirl Smithson Scholarships.  No charge to apply and open to all Associate members.
 

Next Week on the OPA Blog

Patsy Ledbetter OPA will be sharing about her approach toward art. Here is a brief preview:

It has been said that art is subjective to the viewer. I certainly agree with that statement. I can look at a work of art and be astounded by the way it speaks to me. Someone else may just glance at the same piece of work and not be affected at all. I have decided to not worry about what others think of my work or the subject matter I choose to paint, but paint only to please myself…

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