How to Photograph Artwork, Part 1: What Equipment You Need - Options & Advice
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- 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 One:
What equipment you need.
Camera-buying tips.
Lenses, lighting, tripods, monitors, colour and grey cards, filters, software and calibration.
What you need for cross polarisation photography to remove glare from oil paintings.
Next Parts:
Part 2; • How to Photograph Artw...
Part 3: • How to Photograph Artw...
UPDATE
High-end phone cameras have really improved in the last few years. If you're just photographing your work for social media and your website, shooting raw with lights and a tripod, you may find the quality acceptable, . For printing, a proper camera is essential.
One thing I missed out in this video is that some lights are better for colour accuracy than others, and this is expressed using a CRI rating. A higher rating, particularly above 85-90, will give you more accurate colours out of the box. You can, of course, correct your colours in post production, but starting off as accurately as possible is good practice. Your should be able to find the CRI rating of a light in the retailer's product description.
Another thing I should have talked about is light modifiers. Softboxes make a light source bigger and more diffused, creating softer shadow. For shooting flat art reproduction, I don't think they're really necessary. However if your work is sculptural and involves shadows, you should consider them. Also, theoretically they could help with light falloff between the centre and the top of a piece if you shoot very large work in a small space, but I haven't found this necessary personally - just move the lights back. Softboxes are great for shooting framed work and other product shots though, and a great addition to your kit. I have two budget ones, a Selens 65cm and a Godox 120cm. I use the Selens one in particular all the time, and not just for photography and video work - it's great for lighting my work as I paint.
A bit more on lighting: studio strobes are what professionals generally use, but are relatively expensive and complicated to use. Speedlights are very useful for general photography - I use mine mainly for macro, but are also quite complicated to use, and may be slightly underpowered to use at optimum aperture with polarising filters (with strobes, you can’t extend the shutter speed to compensate for lower light levels). For most artists I would recommend continuous lights like my awesome Godox SL60Ws - they're very simple to use, and you can also use them to light your work as you paint, and for video too.
In the video I suggest a full frame camera is a necessity for printing work, but that's not quite right. Full frame may give you better results, particularly for larger scale prints, but a good quality APSC camera will print just fine at smaller sizes.
Macro lenses are often great for art reproduction, because they're designed to be sharp. However some other non-macro prime lenses are also designed to be sharp and will also give you great results. For excellent lens reviews I recommend Christopher Frost and Dustin Abbott (links below).
I perhaps under-emphasised the importance of having a decent, regularly calibrated monitor. They are your window into your raw file. If colour accuracy is important to you, definitely get a monitor made for photographers and designers: an IPS panel with high colour accuracy and at least 100% sRGB colour gamut (100% Adobe RGB is ideal if you’re printing, though they are more expensive, or alternatively Apple's P3 is almost as good), and a calibrator/colorimeter.
CaptureOne Pro is apparently a good alternative to Lightroom, and also I perhaps shouldn't have been so dismissive of Affinity Photo - it's cheap, other people rate it and it should do everything you need it too.
My specific camera recommendations are probably out of date since making this video, and I'm not really a gear reviewer. I think my general recommendations are sound though. Decide your budget first and work to that. Most modern APSC camera will probably be fine. There are so many good camera reviewers on RUclips (links below) - a quick bit of research will give you some good options. Upgrade when you hit a wall with your current gear - when you find it can't do what you want it to.
Apologies to my wife, Claire, for dissing her tripod lol!
Links:
Lens & Camera Reviews
Christopher Frost: / christopherfrost
Dustin Abbott: / @dustinabbotttwi
DP Review: / dpreviewcom
Specialist UK camera stores:
Wex Photographic: www.wexphotovideo.com
Park Cameras: www.parkcameras.com
MPB: www.mpb.com
Vanguard Alta Pro 2 with Ball Head:
amzn.to/3DUOoFK
Polarising Filters
amzn.to/30MMlpd 
Хобби
Thank you for being so detailed and specific!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks! 🙏😊
Great tutorials, mate! These videos are super helpful and really thorough. Very impressive
Thank you! 😊🙏
This is the ...maybe... fourth time ive seen this series. I dont understand it all. I have to research a lot of things but the information you gathered here is invaluable. Thank you! It is just what I was looking for.
Thanks Alissa! Yes learning photography is like going down the rabbit hole - there’s a lot to learn. But there’s so much great content on RUclips to do so, and for me it was totally worth it. Glad you found mine helpful! 😀
I am so grateful for this wonderful explanation, you've made everything so easy to grasp thank you!
Thank you! I’m making a sequel at the moment, stay tuned for that! 😊
Exactly what I needed. Fantastic.
Thanks! 🙏😊
THANK YOU...finally, answers to what I was looking for in artwork photography.
Thank you! 😊
This is a fantastic video. I studied photography but never photographed artwork before and the very thorough and clear way in which you have organized and explained everything is top-notch. I had not thought of the polarizers, though I am using an umbrella with a diffuser for my speed light and that seems to do a nice job. I also use a one light and a reflector combo instead of 2 lights as the work I am photographing has lots of texture and need some shadows to keep the images from getting too flat.
Thanks! Yes, photographing sculptural / textured work was definitely an omission, and I'm working on a new video covering it, as well as talking about umbrellas / softboxes etc, and shooting artwork as products and not just for repro.
Wow very helpful ! Watching this the second time...
😊🙏👍
One thing I've realized for strobe setups is you need the room pitch black prior to pressing delay timer (term?). I was using auto focus and AV mode with a light on, then pressing the timer button, and then turning light off during the delay. You'd think it would make the decisions and end of delay(?) SO going full manual and auto focus seems to be consistent and better.
Still very useful. Thanks s much for posting this video.
I love the way that you explain 😊
Ah, thank you! 😀🙏
thanks for the update in the Description!
Thanks! I'm going to release a new series on this topic soon 😊
Soo helpful! Thank you 🤗
🙏😊
Very good explanation, For light I prefer studio flashes with soft boxes
Very solid advice
Thanks! 😊🙏
Fantastic vid.
Thanks! 😊🙏👍
This is a fantastic video, thank you so much! I have an Olympus Pen E-PL5. It does not have an aps c sensor. Is the camera still suitable for taking very good art photos or should I look for another camera?
You’re an absolute babe!
Subscribed and hit the bell! 🔔
Thanks Rob!
Thank you!
😊🙏
Thank you so much.
😊🙏👍
Great info. I took your advice and purchased the Canon EOS 200D along with the Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 macro lens. My question is how can I take a close-up photo of my artwork as I stand 6 feet away and only get 33% of the 24x30 canvas on the display screen. What settings should I use on the camera to view the whole canvas? This might be a stupid question but keep in mind I’m new to this. Thank you
Thank you will! This is so helpful! New subscriber here! I tried and failed last year to photograph (edit on photoshop) and send my photos to be printed by a printing company. Some of them came back nice but some of them had parts of grey in the background or were badly pixilated. I don't know where I went wrong (I also dont know how to use photoshop properly) so I gave up which is a shame because I now don't have a way to make money back on my art apart from my youtube and skillshare channels.
Hi Lindsey. Sorry for the slow reply, I had a break from RUclips this year. I hope you've had more luck with your photography since. There's no way for me to problem solve what went wrong for you but if your images looked badly pixelated, perhaps you increased the images size too much. The key is to use as the best camera you can afford, shoot in RAW, light your work evenly from both sides, edit your images on a calibrated monitor (and I'd recommend Lightroom Classic over Photoshop), and don't increase your image size (though you can use an AI upscaler, it's best to only scale down). If you can't afford the equipment or time you can still monetise your artwork by working with a print shop - a good one can scan or photograph your artwork and make prints too. Good luck 🙂
Thank you so much for this informative video! I’m looking to shoot my artwork, primarily they’re 5x4 ft so they have some size to them. For lighting which Neweer do you recommend j purchase? Thanks!
Thanks Ramiro. It really depends. You can spend thousands on lights or under £100. Professionals generally use studio strobes and a wireless trigger, but that might be out of your budget or technical comfort zone. If you also want to use them for general photography, and if you don't need to use filters, a good pair of speedlights might suit you. If you also do video, or if you just want to keep things simple, a good pair of LED monolights like the Godox SL60W could be the answer. First decide your budget, then decide between continuous and flash, then do a bit of research - there are many good gear reviewers on RUclips - and find the best option for you within your budget. Beware that really cheap lights may have a lower CRI rating and may not be as good for colour accuracy.
Thanks for the video! Any tips on how to price for this type of work? Do you price per photo?
So incredibly helpful, answered all my questions.
Thanks Miriam! 🙏😊
Thanks for your clearly articulated and organized presentation. Being an artist asking artists to explain photography for professional purposes can be a bit overwhelming.
One thing I am still struggling with is what kind of camera is best for formatting for website, print quality and submissions. Understanding how to format for the best file size (I don’t even know if I am saying that right) has been a struggle. I confused myself trying to figure out how to do it with my iPhone. The main goal is to archive my work in an organized portfolio so it is easy to share and I can clear space in my studio. I really like to document my changes in style and skill. If you can clarify any of this I am grateful.
Please excuse. I watched the second video and it clarified a lot for me. I still wonder though if you have suggestions about kind of camera to use so you have the best out come for reproduction and submissions? Thanks again! I will be chewing on your videos for a while. So helpful!
Hi Lorien
Definitely watch the third video as well, as I go through formatting in that. Also check out my videos on Procreate, as much of it crosses over - I’m sure you’ll find it useful, particularly 2 and 3. Re cameras - I cover this in the first video, but I recommend starting with a second-hand DSLR or mirrorless with 20+ megapixels and at least APSC sensor size, with a prime 50mm lens, 2 lights (continuous are easiest for beginners) and a tripod, plus editing software. Learn the basics - how to shoot fully manual in RAW and how to process. Learn from RUclips - there’s a tonne of great tutorials. Once you’ve got your head around it (it is a bit of a project, but worthwhile, I promise!), then you can think about upgrading your equipment. But to start with, an entry-level camera will be fine, and a big improvement on your phone. That said, if you can’t afford new equipment and have to use your phone, at least use a tripod and lights, and shoot in RAW using a 3rd party camera app such as Lightroom.
I forgot to say Lorien - an alternative is to go to a professional print lab and get your work scanned.
Your videos are really really good. Can you do a future video on scanning. I do illustration and watercolor so glare is not an issue. Its probably worth doing this for my acrylics but not going to be investing in equipment at this point.
Ah thank you! If you watch the third one on post-processing, that's just as relevant for scanning as it is for photography 😊
very nice video... keep up the good work!😍😇😊💖 best wishes from a fellow artist..
Thank you! 🙏Up late as we speak, workin' on the next one! 😊
Thanks. It is the most useful video series about this subject that i have seen. A question: Do you recommend a pair of Lume cube 2 for the light to photograph pieces of art at home?
Thanks Hamid! Just been looking the Lume Cube 2 - what a cool product. They look more designed for photography out of the studio - saw a wildlife/nature photographer raving about them. I would say if you wanted a pair to use for that purpose (or street photography etc - basically as a constant lighting speed light replacement) that could double as lights for copy work / product photography, that could work. You could always then get some studio lights later, if you find they're too underpowered, and still use the Luma Cubes out and about. But if you just want studio lighting for copy work / product photography I'd go with something more powerful (like the Godox SL60W) which aren't much more expensive.
@@WillJBailey Thanks a lot for the detailed recommendations Will.
thank u so much for video, want to ask u, can i shoot with one strobe 2 times from left and right and blend them ? i tried but to control white balance was difficult
Hey. Thanks! I wouldn't recommend using one light - use two strobes or constant lights, identical if possible, one on either side at 45 degrees. You don't need to spend a huge amount, but post processing is much easier if the lights have good quality accurate colour.
I like to save money, too. So I waited years before investing into a colour calibration card. Stupid. Because their software does a marvellous job. Under HSL you have 8 colours x 3 for HSL = 24 sliders. I never got it totally right. -- Good idea is to check if your camera supports tethering. Tethering is a great help because you can see a preview on your computer screen. Even a small laptop screen is huge compared to the monitor on the back of your camera! Plus you can adjust the camera settings from your computer instead of fiddling with your camera.
Yeah the calibration card is really useful, and tethering makes life sooo much easier 😊
This is been so helpful!! Thank you!
I’m buying the Sony a7 lll , which has been really handy because my photographer friend has the same camera so is giving me a lesson on how to use it, but I’m really unsure about what lens to buy. My work ranges from 5x7 inches to 36 x 48 inches. Would I need 2 lenses? You recommend a macro but I’m guessing this wouldn’t work for photographing my bigger paintings?
Hi Rebekah. I use two lenses for my repro work now, on my full-frame EOSR - a 45mm Tamron and a 90mm Tamron Macro. They’re both really useful. The 50mm has a ’natural viewpoint’ and minimal distortion, and is excellent for shooting products and general photography - it’s the lens I use the most, by far. My 90mm lens is sharper though, and is my go-to for repro, when I have enough room in my small studio - I can’t use it with bigger pieces. I’d recommend starting with a 50mm, just because it’s the most useful all-round.
I perhaps over-emphasised macro lenses in Part One of my video. They do often work really well, because they’re usually designed to be sharp, even at lower budgets. But other non-macro lenses are designed to be sharp too. All lenses involve compromise - between size, weight, price, distortion, features, sharpness/clarity, build quality etc - do some research and find a lens where sharpness/clarity is designed as a strength and not one of the lens’s inevitable compromises. My favourite technically-minded RUclips gear reviewers are DP Review, Dustin Abbott and Chris Frost. I’m actually working on a follow-up video at the moment, going into all this, so stay tuned for that!
I have looked at the sony A7 aswell. I was going to purchase a sony a6400 though because I do art tutorials and need a lightweight camera. Is there a reason for your choice? Ill have another look
@@LindseyDawnArt I bought the EOSR because it's good value for a full frame camera, and I wanted the option to print big. I also have a small Fuji XS10 for street. The A6400 could work well. The 24mp APSC sensor will limit your ultimate print size, but if that's not an issue for you, it is nice and compact.
Hi Will. Very useful and well made video thank you. I have the choice between the canon d200 and fuji xt100. Which one would you recommend is best?
Cheers
Thanks! Assuming you mean the Canon 200D - either of those cameras are up to the job tbh. They're both 24mp APSC, they're both really good manufacturers. The Canon has the flip out screen, which you may or may not find useful. Have a look at lenses and see which one/s you might go for, that might sway you.
@@WillJBailey thanks for your reply. I got the d200 and the same lens a you. Next step are linear filters which are quite hard to find, and monitor colour fidelity! Talking about monitor... you say "half decent monitor", but is there anything in particular that needs to be sought after when chosing a monitor? This is because I have a laptop that is recent and I would love to be able to get away with my lap top screen....
@@dutheildimitri178 I had trouble finding linear polarising filter film originally here in the UK (I ended up having to buy it from Israel on eBay!) but now you can get it on Amazon. You should be able to get linear lens filters there too. Re monitors, look for IPS ones that are specifically made for graphics/photography/design, with good colour accuracy. If you’re uploading to the web, you want one that at least covers 100% of sRGB colour space. If you’re printing, ideally you want 100% of AdobeRBG colour space, but they are expensive. 4K is great - once you get used to it you wouldn’t go back. It’s good to have a monitor calibrator if you can afford it. If you’re printing, you definitely need one. Some monitors come pre-calibrated, which is not as good as having a separate calibrator, but better than nothing. BenQ make some solid budget options.
What about the most common scenario, artworks framed behind glass?
I have some paintings that are on average 4x4ft. I’m looking at a second hand canon 5D mark iii with a 50mm f1.4 Lens. Would this be good enough you think? I’m a noob when it comes to photography. I would also need to edit on my new iPad Pro as I do not own a computer
Hey. Yeah a 5D mark III should be fine, however note that it's only 22mp, which will limit how large you can print. I just looked up second hand prices and the 5D Mark III is around £500. For £6-700 you could get a Sony A7RII, which is 42mp and will allow you to print larger. 50mm prime is a good choice - 85mm often gives sharper corners, but is much less versatile. The iPad Pro does make things harder, as they can't be calibrated and post-processing software is more limited, but it's do-able. I would recommend Capture One over Lightroom and Photoshop for IOS.
In your UPDATE, by "smaller size" do you mean the setting for smallest image size: L, M, S-2.4 MB on my Nikon D3300? Thanks.
Thanks a lot, from across the pond in NYC, for being very helpful on explaining the importance of equipment, and for showing some comparisons. I'm of course going to watch Parts 3 and 4.📷 (I'm sure your wife has forgiven you, although I imagine that you had to sleep on the couch for a night!🤣🤣)
Thanks Jennifer! 😊
@@WillJBailey You're quite welcome.
Your videos are very informative and I’m using them as a guideline to build my studio, so thank you.
But I do have a few questions on lighting. I have two color temperature options when purchasing the sl60w one being tungsten and the other is daylight. You mentioned tungsten being antiquated so is the best option daylight temperature?
The other question is could I use a light box with a polarizing filter?
Thanks I’m advance
*softbox
Thanks! When I said tungsten was antiquated, I meant tungsten lights, as they run so hot and the bulbs are so fragile. But still, I would recommend getting the white version of the SL60Ws, rather than the yellow version, as they are more flexible, being much easier to use with other lights (which tend to be daylight-coloured, especially strobes) and actual daylight. Mine are the white ones and they’re awesome, I use them loads. Can you use softboxes for cross-polarisation? Very good question. Honestly I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know. I suspect the glare removal won’t work as well, because the diffusion will scatter the light, but that just a guess. It will certainly reduce the light output quite dramatically, but they are powerful lights... Let me know if you try! Next time I photograph an oil painting I will try it myself, but I’ve been working in gouache more recently, and digitally, so that might not be for a while.
@@WillJBailey ok I will most certainly purchase those lights they affordable and I like the aspect of “what you see is what you get” it seems novice friendly. Softboxes will still have some glare, now I understand. Thanks for the follow up.
@@jmr909jmr Yeah, they're great lights - powerful, well-built, colour accurate and really easy to use. I use mine all the time, for video as well. I'm only making an educated guess that softboxes will negatively affect cross-polarisation. But to be honest, you can probably do without softboxes anyway if you're just photographing flat artwork for reproduction, as long as you can get your lights a decent way back from the piece. I only use modifiers when shooting 3D objects.
Hi thank you for this video! I have a couple of questions about the megapixels, since I know very little about what exactly it means. I just bought 2 weeks ago a Nikon D7500. In the description it reads the following. The D7500 uses the same 20.9 MP DX-format image sensor. I take it that is 3.1 MP short of what you are saying in the video. So I looked at the Nikon D850, and again in the descritption is written the following. 45.7 megapixels of extraordinary resolution, outstanding dynamic range and virtually no risk of moiré. So if I'm correct in my research the Nikon D850 with 45.7 MP, would be double what you are talking about, when you say 24 MP, for taking photos of my oil paintings. Thank you in advance for your answer.
Hi! So the the D7500 is a 20.9 MP APSC £900 enthusiast-level camera. It should be fine for taking pictures of your paintings to go on the internet, and if you're just starting out in photography is not a bad place to start. The D850 is a 45.7MP Full frame £2500 professional camera. It's not really comparable to the D7500 tbh, and I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. Learn your camera, learn how to shoot fully manual, learn about full frame vs APSC, MPs, how cameras work, focal length, the exposure triangle, lighting et etc - there are so many resources on RUclips and blogs. It will take time but it's really rewarding. Practice shooting your artwork, and when you know what you're doing, and can feel that your equipment isn't cutting it anymore, then upgrade. For reference, I use a 30.3MP full frame £1,400 EOS-R with mid-range Tamron lenses, but my old 24MP APSC 70D was perfectly fine for shooting artwork for the web. I upgraded for video for my channel and to print my work.
@@WillJBailey, Hello! I do already know how to shoot in Manual, but that was using film cameras. Thank you very much for your advice! :)
@@ravenshadowz2343 Sorry, impossible to know exactly what level people are at. But yes, your camera should be fine whilst you learn digital photography. When you start to hit walls - when it can't do what you want it to,, that's when to upgrade 😊
@@WillJBailey, thank you! I totally understand about not knowing. Have a wonderful rest of your week! :)
Do you also shoot larger artworks? The largest painting I have is 2x2 meters. Is the Godox SL60W sufficient for such sizes?
They're fairly powerful light, they should be fine - you can always lengthen shutter speed with continuous lights, unlike with strobes. The issue shooting big work is more having the studio space to get the lights far back enough. If your space is tight you could consider softboxes, but try without first and see how you get on.
Thank you so much! Do you have an opinion as to whether a AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8G or a Tamron SP Di 90mm 1:2.8 Macro would be best for shooting artwork with my Nikon D5100. I inherited the camera and lenses, and my photography skills are way below my equipment.
Thanks Sedonia. I actually have the Tamron and it's a fab lens. I haven't shot any artwork with it yet, but that is in part what I bought it for (also for macro photo, video and portraits on my full frame EOS R). I'm not familiar with the Nikkor lens, but check out Christopher Frost's reviews (ruclips.net/video/K8kUyze_lm4/видео.html) - they're really good for the technical side of things. Look out for distortion, CA and most importantly sharpness, particularly in the corners. Also think what else you'll use the lens for. On APCS 50mm would double as a portrait lens, 90mm would be a short telephoto which is less useful perhaps for general photography, but great for macro. Also if you go for the Tamron, make sure you have enough room to shoot your artwork.
@@WillJBailey thank you so much for the reply. I already have both of these lenses; they were my late husband's. I'm just trying to figure out how to get started using them to photograph some paintings.
@@sedoniaraqs I see, in that case go with the Tamron! 😊
A comment regarding CCD scanners ... they may be brilliant at keeping the artwork in focus when it isn't completely flat, but they do this at the expense of shadows...
If I scan mixed media with ccd, it LOOKS totally flat too!!
With the 'worse' type of scanner, I can get an amazingly life-like and 3D image, that people can't believe isn't real until they look closely.
With a CCD scanner it loses that and comes across as totally flat and definitely only 2D. It can look good, but is blown out of the park when viewed alongside the other scan, which has highlights and shadows on the high and low points of the media.
Get both!!!
Thanks Gary! That's useful info. I'm not a scanning expert tbh - photography is my medium! 😊
Hello, do you have any budget model recommendations for printing up to 12x14 inch art prints?
Hey. Do you mean camera recommendations? I really depends on your budget, but that's quite a small print size. Most modern 24ish megapixel full frame or APCS mirrorless or DSLR cameras should be fine, pared with a prime lens.
@@WillJBailey Yes, thank you. I actually ended up getting a 5D Mark II with a 50mm lens. It works fine, and as I found out, some detail is lost when the image is printed on that size.
I like the video. But I’m having trouble knowing what to buy?
I don’t really feel like this video helped. I just feel overwhelmed so with so much information. Can anyone help?
I recently bought a 40mm Nikon macro. Are the disadvantages for going 10mm under 50mm really great or do I only need to compensate for this somehow?
Also, for now I can only afford to use my laptop and free photo editing software: GIMP, which is extensive in what it offers. What is your view on this and the use of free editors?
Hi Jennifer. 40mm should be okay. I use my Tamron 45mm lens a lot for product shots with my EOSR. You have the lens already though, so just shoot some work and see how it comes out 👍
@@WillJBailey Thanks for the encouragement!📸
What Fujifilm lens would you recommend for the Fujifilm camera you recommended? Is it neccessary to buy an adaptor if i choose to use the Canon lens with the Fujifilm camera?
Hi Michelle. I made this video over a year ago now, so not sure how up to date that recommendation is! But if I was buying a lens for the Fuji XT system now, specifically for art reproduction, I’d get the Laowa 65mm F2.8 Ultra. However it’s.a bit of a speciality lens, with no electronics, so an alternative would be the Fujifilm XF 50mm F2 R WR 😊
Interesting re-reading my comment from two years ago! I actually completely switched to Fujifilm this year. I use the XF 56mm f1.2 for my repro work and it's fabulous.
Great videos! Do you know of anywhere in the UK to get polarising sheets at a reasonable price? The one you linked to on Amazon is £68 for a 30cm square sheet.
Thanks Dan! Ugh, that's annoying - it wasn't that expensive when I put it on there. I've changed the link to an eBay store where it's more reasonable. Thanks for letting me know.
@@WillJBailey Thanks! Theirs is about £15 for 15cm square cm, so I'd guess around £60 also for 30cm square. Pricey stuff! I'll see what else I can find. Looks like importing it might actually be cheaper.
@@DanJohnsonArt Oh yeah, the one on eBay is small isn't it. I've linked back to one on Amazon. £60 for an A2 sheet looks like the going rate at the moment. I checked B&H in the US and US Amazon, and the prices are about the same. Not sure why the've gone up so much...
www.polarization.com/polarshop/
WIndows in the UK are really short.
This are great video tutorials!!! I was looking to take pics of my art work but got confused on how or where to start :) I narrowed down my camera options to two both models by canon (i have already the macro lens so i guess i kinda stuck with the brand). The 30.3 Megapixel Full-frame EOS R and the 32.5 Megapixel (APS-C) CMOS Sensor EOS R7 both Mirorrless cameras. In other words i cant decide whether a full-frame but less megapixels camera would be a better choice than a non full-frame camera with more megapixels for printing Oil or water color paintings or it wont make much difference? Thank you very much
Hey. Thanks! Sorry for the slow reply, I had a break from RUclips for a bit. You've probably already made your decision by now, but FWIW for repro work I recommend a full frame camera over an APSC if possible. In general for copy work, the larger the sensor size the better. That said, I actually downsized my EOS-R (a flawed camera in terms of its features but with excellent image quality) for an APSC Fujifilm X-H2, and I'm very happy with it, so both will do the job. I'm planning another video on this topic soon 👍☺
Is a UV filter the same as a linear polarization filter?
No, different things. UV filters basically just protect the lens. Polarising filters actually filter the direction of the light waves. When used in conjunction with polarised filtered lights, all glare is eliminated. Personally I use a Hoya PL filter hoyafilter.com/support/how_filters_work/pl/. C-PL filters also work, but not quite as well. I'm going to do a video just on this subject soon!
@@WillJBailey thanks! 🙏🏼
Hi im getting the Canon 200D and my paintings are 100cm x 100cm what would be the best lens to use for this and thank you for some great advice
Hi Scott. If you want to print at that size I'd recommend getting a full frame camera. APSC is fine for printing at smaller sizes, but for larger prints, the larger pixels of a full frame camera will give you sharper detail, less noise and higher dynamic range. Personally I have an EOSR and it’s great, I recommend it - full frame, same excellent sensor and processor as the 5D mk4, but much cheaper - you can pick one up for £1200 second hand. It’s a flawed camera, with no dual card slots, thumb stick, a big 4k crop, stupid touch sensitive buttons, but it’s good where it counts - in the image quality.
I recommend starting with a 50mm lens and building your lens collection from there. 50mm has a 'natural viewpoint', with minimal distortion, is just a great focal length all-round, and is an excellent starting point. I am biased though, as it’s my favourite! The Canon 50mm f1.8 is very cheap and is good if you're on a tight budget. I have a 45mm Tamron which is a better lens - a bit more expensive but still excellent value for money. Above that you have the Sigma Art 50mm 1.4 which has a reputation for being very sharp, but is more expensive still. Then above that the Canon L.
After that I’d get a portrait lens. I have a 90mm Tamron Macro lens which is excellent, and great value. It’s my go-to lens for repro, as it’s the sharpest in my kit, but I can’t use it with bigger pieces as my studio is so small. Yes the Sigma Art 80mm would be a good alternative, it’s supposed to have excellent corner to corner sharpness.
Hi again , i was also looking at the Canon 90d body 32mp and i wanted to know if the extra mega pixel would improve the quality of my image which is a 100cm x 100cm art piece and i had seen a sigma 80mm art lens would this be better than a the sigma 50mm art lens if i could afford it .
So the main question was to see if i was spending more on a body and lens if this would improve the image so i can get my artwork into print and show a better quality , or is it a case that spending much more would not improve it visibly . Im looking to do prints back to full size at 100cm x 100cm and also scale down to 60x60cm .thanks for your help Scott
Also I don’t really need the video 4K thing it really just for photo quality I’m needing it for . For reproduction of my art to prints so my budget iis about 2-2.5k
That’s for the body and lens
@@scottmarshall9034 Hi Scott. I had a think and replied a bit better to your original post ☺
Do the types of bulbs effect the gamut range? If you use a bulb with a gamut below 90 CRI then what effect will that have on the color of the digital image?
Hi Joshua. Interesting question. Does the colour temperature of the light effect the gamut of a photograph - ie the size of its colour space?
As far as I understand it - the camera sensor, or rather the raw data, has a much larger ‘colour space’ than the methods used to display it. Really, the colour space is ‘created’ when a photograph is converted. Pro-photo, the largest display colour space, and the one Lightroom uses, is much larger than what monitors and printers can actually display. Some monitors can display Adobe RGB, but most can only display sRGB, if that. CMYK is somewhere between the two. These are the factors that dramatically effect a photograph’s gamut.
The colour temperature of photography lights ranges from around 2500k (tungsten) to around 6500k (strobe), and as far I know the raw files of photographs lit within this range can be equally ‘corrected’ by adjusting the white balance - ie by determining what kelvin white should be set at.
Though really that’s more a question of colour accuracy than colour gamut, and colour accuracy is ultimately determined in post-processing, (on a calibrated monitor, having used a colour checker card), by adjusting the colour profile.
So my understanding is that in practice, the colour temperature of the lights does not effect the potential gamut of a photo. What does effect it, is the display method.
@@WillJBailey Thank you. I really appreciate the thoughtful reply. I was wondering more about gamut than temperature. From my understanding sunlight will light a painting with a full gamut. Which could be expressed as a CRI of 100. And different bulbs have different levels of CRI. Strangely the older incandescent bulbs had higher CRIs than what can be achieved with fluorescent or LED. From what I know, fluorescent and LED struggle to render many of the red shades. So I wonder what happens to these reds if they aren’t being rendered by the bulbs? Does the camera still read them as red? I imagine it makes it’s best guess. Maybe it’s so subtle it doesn’t matter? But my paintings have a lot of color and i want to make sure I’m capturing as full of a gamut as possible.
Joshua Nathanson Well, I’ve just been learning all about CRI, so thanks for that! As far as I understand it, it’s about colour accuracy. As you say, some lights have a higher CRI than others, meaning they are better at rendering colours naturalistically. Thankfully it turns out (unintentionally) that my Godox SL60s have a very high CRI rating of 94, which is nice! Of course, colours can be also be substantially corrected in post too, especially using a colour card and a calibrated monitor, but starting off with good lighting will definitely help. I’ll write a section about this in the description - I’ve been meaning to update it for a while with everything I’ve learned recently studying up on colour space. So thanks again.
What I was trying to explain before is that the ‘colour space’ of light, from whatever source, is so substantially bigger than the colour space of the methods used to display your photos, that any difference is irrelevant. The biggest display colour space is Prophoto, which is what Lightroom uses. But monitors can’t actually reproduce it, so in a way it only really exists inside the data of the raw file. I have a wide-gamut Eizo monitor which can display 100% Adobe RGB. This is the widest gamut you can get on a commercial monitor. Apple’s P3 Display is slightly smaller. SRGB is smaller still. SRGB is what the internet runs on - it’s what most people will see your images in online. The colour space of the YMYK pigment inks used in printing is similar to Adobe RGB, which is why I forked out over a grand for mine (money well-spent btw). But all these colour spaces are substantially smaller than the data recorded by the camera’s sensor. So, the gamut of the lighting source doesn’t matter - colour space is determined (and limited) by the display method.
Check out this guy's video on colour space: ruclips.net/video/ujE5bBXIKJE/видео.html. Lot's of other good videos on his channel too.
@@WillJBailey Thanks for all the info! I really enjoyed the link you sent too. I didn't know that the whole internet used sRGB! That's really crazy. I think you are probably right in thinking that the color space of any light is much bigger than the color space of any screen or printer one would use. However, I still wonder about those reds. Even if the camera is capable of capturing a huge gamut I still worry that it might be limited by what the lights are capable of rendering. It seems possible that the colorspace might be larger in the overall sense but smaller in some areas (like reds). I've been doing some research on the internet but I can't find any charts that compare CRI gamuts with any of the RGB gamuts. Have you been able to find anything like that? But I'm probably overthinking it and I'm not sure it would make much difference. In any case, I think using a color card, like you suggested, would be the safest bet. Thanks for nerding out on this stuff with me! Great videos. Hope you do more!
Thanks for this comprehensive video. The Spyder checker has a lot of technical reviews (by qualified people) that show it to be wildly inaccurate, which is troubling. For that reason I went with the Xrite Color passport. You dismiss Affinity photo without much qualification. This seems to go contrary to most of the reviews I've seen of it online. Do you have a video where you expand on the reasons for you poor opinion of Affinity Photo? Adobe is just hideously expensive if you are not using the software every day. I got tired (and poor) from paying over and over for software I was only using intermittently.
Hi. Thanks for the feedback. Interesting about the Spyder Checkr - there are plenty of good reviews for it, but that RUclips video by Humcrush is indeed worrying, I'll mention that in the notes. Tbh I only use the Spyder Checkr to get close - I always finalise the colours by eye with the actual piece next to my monitor (I’ve since bought a higher-end Eizo monitor, which has excellent calibration software). Rewatching the video I didn’t say that Affinity Photo wasn’t good, just that it wasn’t as good as Lightroom but would still do the job. However this wasn’t fair, as I’ve been using Lightroom for years and only tried out Affinity for a day or so, so I should have been more careful with my language, and expressed it as a preference.
@@WillJBailey I wondered whether familiarity with the software was part of it. I know there are lots of professional photographers who have gone over to Affinity, and certainly for someone like me it will do more than enough to accomplish my goals. I am happy with the Xrite colour passport. Honestly, these days you feel as though you have to be a professor of everything (it's exhausting). Thanks for you considered reply and for your thoughtful and informative content. It is much appreciated.