BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Questions

Still Life/Art Photography

Sarah

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February 22, 2002

You will want very diffused lighting unless the object is bringing out the specular highlights. For things such as yellow gold, white gold, platinum and silver jewelry, a white fine matte (almost felt-like) background is used.

For smaller objects that can be done on a table-top, it's common to use a translucent white "light tent" to completely enclose the object. The tent has a small opening just big enough for the camera lens. All the lights are placed outside the tent, and sometimes the tent "floor" is a light table illuminated from its underside using *true* daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs.

For larger objects a large light box is often used on the studio strobe(s) to create a large areal source of light versus the point source a direct flash tube creates. Although it doesn't completely eliminate reflection or glare, it can greatly reduce it. The backdrop should likely be plain white or plain black depending on the artwork.

As to films, I suggest considering the following:

Fuji Astia:
ISO 100 with high color accuracy, restrained saturation, lower contrast and slightly wider latitude than other chromes.

Kodachrome 64:
ISO 64 with high color accuracy, moderate saturation, slightly higher contrast and slightly less latitude than other chromes.

Fuji Provia 100F:
ISO 100 with excellent color accuracy, moderate saturation, average contrast and average latitude compared to other chromes.

I would suggest using tungsten lighting with tungsten film, but color accuracy is likely very important for artwork. You would have to "calibrate" your film and lights by shooting test charts under them and have some "CC" filters to tweak the balancing with slightly. I recommend using strobes with modeling lights instead.

Shutter speed should be selected for X-Sync (if using flash strobes). Select aperture for necessary depth of field, adjust the strobe power using a flash meter, and use a tripod.

These are only some general suggestions to get you started. Without knowing specifically what the artwork is and being able to see the studio facility, further details on exactly what you can try are difficult.

-- John

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March 16, 2002