Help Yourself Grow

Presentation is everything; especially on the internet where the only impression you can make is what is seen. A poor presentation can make the difference between getting a sale and being accepted into an on-line show. For the judges to get an accurate idea of your art, the image you send must match the colors in the art and be sharp and clear. For many of us, taking a good photograph of our art is hard. Before you send off the photo of your art you should 1) make sure that the size of the photo agrees with the directions given by the prospectus, 2) make sure the image is sharp, clear and not distorted, 3) check the colors in the photo against the actual art to make sure they are correct. I am not a professional photographer, but I do manage to take credible photos of my work without paying a pro to do it for me. Here are a few tips that might help those of us who are “photo challenged”:

LIGHTING:

·         Make sure you are taking the photo in an area that doesn’t cast shadows on the work. Personally, I prefer to take my photos outside on a clear day. I use the front of my garage and I do it between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon. I don’t use an elaborate set up; I have simply put a nail into the wood at the appropriate height for the camera and then I rest the painting’s stretcher bars on the nails. If you are using paper or canvas, sheets you can put the sticky stuff teachers use to hang students artwork on the wall to the back of the art (after making sure your art is level).

·         Make sure the sun isn’t glaring on the work so there are no shinny surfaces to reflect back at the camera. If you are working with watercolor or pastel then take the photo before you frame it because glass will reflect back at the camera also. I also take the photo before I varnish acrylics to cut down on the glare caused by the varnish.

CAMERAS

·         You don’t need an expensive camera to take photos of your art. Canon makes an excellent quality digital camera for under $300 and it is very user friendly. As a plus, the newer models also take video so you can use the video setting to record art shows and then upload to Facebook, U-tube and other social network sites.

CAMERA SETTINGS

·         When taking the initial (raw) photo of your work, be sure to set your camera to take fine or large files and take at least 3 exposures of each artwork.

EDITING YOUR PHOTOS FOR THE WEB

·         The least expensive and easy to use photo editing program is Photoshop Elements. It has tutorials and is fairly easy to learn. Once the initial photo of the work has been loaded, you can then make additional copies at different resolutions.

YOU SHOULD HAVE THREE TYPES OF IMAGES

·         A large resolution image (between 1 and 2 MB) to use if you decide to make prints of your work

·         A medium/low resolution image to put on your website (between 1 – 2 KB). This size is usually too small to encourage attempts to pirate your image because it probably won’t make prints any larger than a 5 x 7 without blurring, but you can add digital watermarking with Elements.

·         A small image (between 200 and 125 pixels) for thumbnail images and record keeping.

Gail

Presentation is everything; especially on the internet where the only impression you can make is what is seen. A poor presentation can make the difference between getting a sale and being accepted into an on-line show. For the judges to get an accurate idea of your art, the image you send must match the colors in the art and be sharp and clear. For many of us, taking a good photograph of our art is hard. Before you send off the photo of your art you should 1) make sure that the size of the photo agrees with the directions given by the prospectus, 2) make sure the image is sharp, clear and not distorted, 3) check the colors in the photo against the actual art to make sure they are correct. I am not a professional photographer, but I do manage to take credible photos of my work without paying a pro to do it for me. Here are a few tips that might help those of us who are “photo challenged”:

LIGHTING:

·         Make sure you are taking the photo in an area that doesn’t cast shadows on the work. Personally, I prefer to take my photos outside on a clear day. I use the front of my garage and I do it between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon. I don’t use an elaborate set up; I have simply put a nail into the wood at the appropriate height for the camera and then I rest the painting’s stretcher bars on the nails. If you are using paper or canvas, sheets you can put the sticky stuff teachers use to hang students artwork on the wall to the back of the art (after making sure your art is level).

·         Make sure the sun isn’t glaring on the work so there are no shinny surfaces to reflect back at the camera. If you are working with watercolor or pastel then take the photo before you frame it because glass will reflect back at the camera also. I also take the photo before I varnish acrylics to cut down on the glare caused by the varnish.

CAMERAS

·         You don’t need an expensive camera to take photos of your art. Canon makes an excellent quality digital camera for under $300 and it is very user friendly. As a plus, the newer models also take video so you can use the video setting to record art shows and then upload to Facebook, U-tube and other social network sites.

CAMERA SETTINGS

·         When taking the initial (raw) photo of your work, be sure to set your camera to take fine or large files and take at least 3 exposures of each artwork.

EDITING YOUR PHOTOS FOR THE WEB

·         The least expensive and easy to use photo editing program is Photoshop Elements. It has tutorials and is fairly easy to learn. Once the initial photo of the work has been loaded, you can then make additional copies at different resolutions.

YOU SHOULD HAVE THREE TYPES OF IMAGES

·         A large resolution image (between 1 and 2 MB) to use if you decide to make prints of your work

·         A medium/low resolution image to put on your website (between 1 – 2 KB). This size is usually too small to encourage attempts to pirate your image because it probably won’t make prints any larger than a 5 x 7 without blurring, but you can add digital watermarking with Elements.

·         A small image (between 200 and 125 pixels) for thumbnail images and record keeping.

Gail