How to Photograph Artwork, Part 2: How to Set Up a Home Studio & Shoot Your Artwork

How to photograph your artwork at home to a professional standard using a 2 light set-up. A video in 3 parts. *Updates below*

Part 2:
How to set up your camera, including focus and exposure
How to set up a photography studio in your home using 2 lights
How to use cross polarisation to remove glare from oil paintings

Parts 1 and 3:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/56BIQUNzqEg
Part 3: https://youtu.be/KpWULdjLuNk

*UPDATE*

As per update in Part 1 - if you work really big, paint with heavy impasto or if your work is sculptural, you could consider getting some rectangular softboxes, as they will increase the size of your light source and soften the shadow. However if, like me, you work relatively small and flat, I don't think they're really necessary. I only work up 90cm, don't use modifiers, and haven't had any problems with uneven light distribution or hard shadow. Be aware though that softboxes will also reduce the power/candela of your lights and I'm not sure how well they will work in conjunction with cross polarisation filters.

You can use an iPad to monitor your shots - I use Canon Camera Connect. It’s not as good as using tethered capture on a monitor, because you’re viewing a jpeg, not a raw file, on an uncalibrated screen, but it’s good enough for monitoring.

Whilst you can adjust the colours in post when shooting raw, it’s still good practice to use lights with a good CRI rating and to correct your white balance at the start.

Move your lights as far back as you can, in order to light your piece as evenly as possible - light falloff reduces with distance.

Make sure to remove the reflector, if your light has one, otherwise it won’t light your piece evenly.

I was wrong to say that phone camera don't produce bokeh - they do, just not very much.

There are so many great resources for learning about the technical aspects of photography - never stop learning! Adorama TV is a good place to start, especially for lighting (link below),

Links:

The Exposure Triangle: https://photographylife.com/what-is-exposure-triangle
Adorama TV: https://www.youtube.com/user/adoramaTV

Видео How to Photograph Artwork, Part 2: How to Set Up a Home Studio & Shoot Your Artwork канала Will J Bailey