Scan to Shoot

[MarMar]

I want to get my artwork onto my computer for a portfolio or just to paint it digitally. I have a scanner but the quality is never good and it's not always big enough. I'd like to switch to a digital camera, I've borrowed cameras before before but my pics with those didn't exactly come out great either. So I'd like to know if any one has some tips on taking pictures of art work?

But of course first I'd need a camera of my own, is there anything specific to look for when buying a digital camera mainly for art? Or are they all pretty much the same? I'd like small and not too expensive but nothing cheap either.

[Grief]

i'd just scan the work in several sections then piece it together in photoshop.

but if youre going to take pictures...

use a tripod or a copystand.
make sure the camera is perpendicular to the image and the same level (so its not skewed or angled). do not use flash.
set up the lights at 45 degree angles. this causes the light to not reflect back to the lens, so you wont get any glare (unless your work is heavily textured... or three dimensional, then the rules change)

you'll want the lights to be incandescent and not flourescent. this is because the color temperature emmited from incandescnt lights tend to be in the same color field as what your camera will pick up. flourescent lights will really make the color awkward.

i tend to shoot my work through a polarizing filter with halogen lights banked off a reflective surface (so they arent direct and too 'hot' on the art-work). halogen lights are incandescents, so they should depict color accurately.

focus your camera lens manually for the distance you want to shoot from (have the camera set up on the tripod)

meter your camera on a grey card (18% grey) once the lights are set up, make sure the light is hitting the surface of where your art will be equally (so some areas arent darker than others). i take the camera off the tripod (leaving the tripod stationary) and roam the camera around the area of where the art will be (without changing the focus on the lens, because the meter will give you an indicator of how long the exposure needs to be with the selected aperature based on the reflected light going through the lens. if the lens is automatically focusing on aspects of the area it'll change the meter reading to adjust to a new criteria to stablize the meter to a middle gray.)

it just occured to me that i'm really bad at explaining photography.

always bracket your exposures. meaning if your camera says "expose for 1 second at f/5.6" you should take the exposure at 1 second. then take the same image with 1/2 second, then 2 seconds. its always better to play it safe and take exposures both lighter and darker than you anticipate is 'correct'.

uhh i'll stop rambling now.
here's a picture of what a copystand looks like.
see it just holds the camera above the table surface for photographing small work. nifty eh? i think most print-shops and libraries might have one for use.*

*[edit] i just asked a friend, she said libraries don't have copystands. then she made fun of me.

[Chris Bennett]

it just occured to me that i'm really bad at explaining photography.


Not a bit of it! - you have explained the whole thing clearly, to the point, and in a nicely conversational way.

One other option is to take the work outside, lie it flat on the ground and take a picture of it from an angle that causes no glare. Square the image up with the distort tool in Photoshop and resize to the original dimension ratio (since you will have changed this in photographing and the operation in PS).