Fine Art Photography for the Artists' Portfolio

How to Take Photographs of Artwork for Presentations in Art Schools

Oct 22, 2009

Fine Art Photography for Art Schools, Rachel Shirley, Abbey Road in the Sky

An immaculate and well-presented art portfolio can be crucial for art students presenting their work to fine art schools in interviews, presentations and assessments.

Art students would be well advised to keep a visual record of their artwork in case any of their paintings, pieces of sculpture, jewellery or fashion designs go missing or are in an exhibition.

Fine Art Photography

Blurry or distorted photographs will do little justice to the student’s hard work and effort in producing artwork, and no corrective measures can be taken to put it right. For this reason, professional quality photographs are vital when presenting art portfolios for art schools.

Studio Photography and Photographic Equipment

Some students may be tempted to commission a professional photographer, but this can be costly when on a grant. Similarly, lots of equipment such as flashbulbs, lenses and filters are not necessary when trying to produce good quality photographs of artwork. In fact, by following a few simple measures, excellent photos can be produced at little cost. But firstly the following points are crucial.

Cheap instant cameras with a fixed lens and shutter speeds should be avoided.
A good digital camera with high resolution settings will serve well.
Effective use of a manual SLR camera will yield excellent results. A recommended camera film such a Fujifilm is best. Take care that it is not out of date or the colours might be affected. Again, high resolution of at least 100 ASA is best.
A tripod will ensure against camera shake but failing this, the camera can be mounted onto any firm surface such as a pile of books or on a chair.

Tips on Photography for Artwork & Paintings

A few essentials take precedence when taking photos of fine art work:

Natural, diffuse daylight on a bright cloudy day, offers the best lighting conditions for art photography.
Using a flash will make the artwork look flat and bleached out and should be avoided.
Taking several photos of the work using various shutter speeds and light settings will offer a choice of photos.
Be aware of reflections, particularly on a varnished painting.
Bright lights behind the artwork could bleach out part of the photo. Draping a dark cloth behind the artwork will prevent light from leaking over the edges.
The artwork will look distorted if the picture is taken too close up. Similarly a wide lens setting will have a fish eye effect. Standing back and using an ordinary lens setting or a telephoto lens will minimise distortions. Beware that some digital cameras have a zoom function that merely crops the view to make it look close up. The resultant photograph will have poor definition.
Allow some of the background to show around the artwork so that the image can be cropped to suit.
Using a narrow aperture setting on an SLR will increase depth of field, increasing the chances of obtaining a focussed image.
It is vital to squeeze the shutter release gently in order to avoid camera shake.
Using photographic software may enhance the photograph further.

Photography for Portfolio Presentation

Poor photographs will do little justice to student’s artwork when presenting a portfolio. For this reason, it is vital to take care when photographing fine art in order to have a visual record should the work be lost or unobtainable. Issues such as distortions, overexposure and graininess can be avoided with a few simple measures.

The copyright of the article Fine Art Photography for the Artists' Portfolio in Visual Arts Education is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish Fine Art Photography for the Artists' Portfolio in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.