In this third and final installment on photographing your artwork we talk about one of the most important aspects of fine art photography, making sure your colors are true and “balanced”. Website’s like TheArtGallerist.com will not approve images that do not properly represent the original painting or other work of art.
Color Balance
Ensure the color balance is set properly. You do this by making sure the white balance on the camera is set correctly, otherwise there may be an ugly cast on the final picture. You can rely on the camera’s auto setting for “daylight” or “shade”, but for best results it is good to set the white balance manually.
If your camera has a “custom white balance” setting, turn it on. Place an 18% grey card (or a plain white piece of paper) in place of your artwork and photograph it using the same setup and lighting that you will use for your artwork. This will give the camera a “reference” point to base the white balance on for the rest of the shoot. Another option is to simply include a small piece of white paper in the actual frame when you photograph your artwork (since it is unlikely that artwork will fill up the entire frame of the camera). If you are using this method, you can use your photographic post-process software white balance feature to select the white/grey area of the picture and base your white balance off of that.
Take the Photo
Avoid camera shake from your finger by using a cable release, which is essentially an extension of the shutter button available for a few dollars at camera stores, or by using the camera’s self-timer to take the photo several seconds after you release the shutter. Remove your hand from the camera after activating the self-timer.
What to Do With Your Digital Images
The photos of your original oil, acrylic, watercolor or mixed media paintings stored in your digital camera can now be downloaded to a computer for review or enhancement. A variety of software exists which will let you crop extraneous bits of the image, such as the white paper you used to color balance.
More sophisticated software packages such as Adobe Photoshop have functions that will let you adjust the perspective on an image that is not perfectly rectangular (indicating that the camera was off-center while shooting). This process does not distort the image; rather, it removes the distortion (foreshortening) created by the off-center camera position.
Make sure you save the original large image files from the camera so you can use the images and still have them available for other purposes should you need them in the future. Saving them onto a CD will also give you a backup copy in case of hardware problems. For fine artists represented by TheArtGallerist.com, a video demonstration of how to edit, resize, and save your images as jpeg files will soon be available to help you understand some of the basics of photo editing using Adobe Photoshop.
Finally after all your hard work, you may be disheartened to learn that the quality of the image you have worked so hard to capture will ultimately be determined by the quality of the viewers computer monitor. Yes, that’s right. Doing your best to capture a quality image is important, but the variances in computer monitors that people will be using to view your artwork online simply means that there is absolutely no reason to submit or upload images that are too high a resolution.
In our first posting on the topic of photographing your artwork we talked about the importance of learning how to take quality pictures of your original art to ensure that people viewing your oil, acrylic, pastel, or watercolor paintings are able to see the full range of the colors, textures and tones of the original viewed in person. Whether you are publishing your photos to a website like TheArtGallerist.com, submitting your artwork to competitions, preparing a portfolio of your work for galleries to review, or simply trying to create a historical archive of your work, taking a few important steps can ensure quality images every time.
Now that you know the basic equipment necessary to capture a good image of your original fine art, next I would like to look at two other factors that will influence the quality of your photographs.
Lighting
To keep things simple, it is always preferable if you can take photographs of your unframed artwork in natural light. While the best light may not always be available, it is still preferable as it does not require any special equipment or tools. Natural light also requires very little modification since it is so soft and even.
The best choice for lighting is from a northern exposure, preferably on a bright but overcast day. Some artists have had good luck using natural light outside in the shade. Direct sunlight can cause glare from the paint. If you are photographing your work indoors, open all available doors and curtains to admit as much diffused light as possible. Be aware of light that may be reflecting from strongly colored objects as your artwork may pick up that color, which may in turn, affect the color of the image in your photo.
Do not use the camera’s flash. If your camera is telling you that a flash is required, you obviously are trying to take the picture without enough natural light.
Set Up
Start by hanging the artwork on a wall or easel that is not in direct sunlight and that does not directly face a window. Smaller pieces may be best laid flat on the ground so they can be photographed with the camera pointing straight down from above.
Set up the camera on a tripod or something solid like a box. Make sure the camera is directly in front of the center of the painting, both horizontally and vertically, to eliminate foreshortening of one edge. Look through the viewfinder to confirm this. In the proper position all four edges of the painting are parallel to the viewfinder’s edges.
Move the camera towards the painting, keeping the painting centered in the viewfinder, until the painting’s edge meets at the top/bottom or at the sides of your view finder. Alternatively, with a zoom lens the tripod can be kept stationary while the zoom is adjusted so the picture fills the frame. Generally you will not be able to exactly fit the painting into the photograph, so get either the width or height to fill the frame; the other dimension will contain extraneous content that can be removed or masked later. Because the edges of what is visible through the eyepiece will not always exactly match what ends up on the captured image, take some initial exploratory pictures to determine exactly what is recorded.
In our third and final article, we will discuss color balance, taking the photo, and finally what to do with your digital images.
Customers entering TheArtGallerist.com on-line fine art gallery obviously do not have the opportunity to see your work in person. It is therefore extremely important that we provide them with an experience that is as close to a brick and mortar gallery experience as possible, which includes seeing the full range of the colors, textures and tones that communicate the power of the original oil, acrylic or watercolor painting. A little bit of time in this area can definitely make the difference between success and failure whether you are publishing your photos to a website like TheArtGallerist.com, submitting your artwork to competitions, preparing a portfolio of your work for galleries to review, or simply trying to create a historical archive of your work.
Most artists do not enjoy this process in the beginning because they spend hours having to learn how to achieve the best results. To save you that time or to save you the money a professional photographer might charge for taking these photographs, we have attempted to provide you with what we have found to be the best practices when photographing artwork.
The Equipment
All you will need to take professional quality photographs of your original fine art is a good quality digital camera (3 megapixels or more) and a tripod, or something sturdy that will eliminate possible movement of the camera when taking your pictures.
Digital cameras already offer many of the features to make your job easier. You should begin by setting up your camera for the pictures you are about to take. It is first recommended that you take your camera out of the “Auto” mode it may be in. The pre-programmed modes available on your camera may be great for average scenes, but can provide you with inconsistent results under the controlled environment we want you shooting in.
- Set the ISO to its lowest setting. Higher ISO speeds will have more “noise” in the image.
- Set the image size to the largest the camera is capable of shooting in the JPEG file format. Capturing the most pixels will give you flexibility when you “post-process” the image later.
You should shoot your artwork with your camera mounted on a tripod, or other sturdy surface where hand movement will not be a factor. Camera movement is the number one killer of image clarity, and even a slight handheld jiggle will degrade your image. A tripod will also help with aligning your “framing” of a picture to eliminate any “keystoning” of flat artwork. Keystoning is the effect a photograph has when the photograph is not taken from a perfectly level position to the piece you are trying to capture.
In future postings under this chapter of photographing your artwork, we will talk about lighting, set-up, color balance, and finally what to do with your images once you have photographed all of your artwork.
We have always felt strongly that visitors should have this ability. Everyone loves to be complimented when someone believes they have done something extraordinary, but potential fine art buyers can also ask questions of the artist about a specific piece of art, the inspiration, techniques, achievements, etc. While some of this information may be contained in the “artist information” sections of many art websites, it is this two-way Facebook like interaction that we always believed was missing. While this has proven valuable to some, we are not sure if everyone is actually aware that this feature exists. We have attempted to make some design modifications to make it more visible, but we don’t see art lovers using it as much as we thought they would. So the question I pose to all of you is…“If you were in the market for a piece of fine art and this ability to communicate with the artist was available to you, would you use it?”
Click on either the Guestbook or Artist Info tab.
If you have been to TheArtGallerist.com website before, can you recall seeing the Artist Guestbook feature? If not, it is directly behind the Artist Info section that appears on every artist’s page. To access it, all you have to do is click on the Guestbook tab. Now granted, we do require the user to first register by providing their name and e-mail address, but that is all the information a user has to provide. This information also allows the person to become a member of our “Collectors Club”. Membership is free, and in addition to the exclusive ability to use the Guestbook feature, Club members also can receive a copy of our Quarterly e-Newsletter and to create and maintain an online “Wish List” of paintings or other original works of art that you would one day like to purchase.
To summarize, here the two questions we would like you to answer.
- Prior to reading this, were you aware of or did you see the “Artist Guestbook” feature on TheArtGallerist.com website?
- If you were in the market for a piece of fine art and the ability to communicate with the artist was available to you, would you use it?
We would love to hear your ideas on what you think might make TheArtGallerist.com Guestbook feature more attractive and enticing for people to use. Please leave your comments or suggestions as a posted response to this blog entry. Thank you in advance for your valuable input and suggestions. We are really interested in learning what you think.
Some of the liveliest discussions in the art world are going on in many social network chat rooms, and it is a debate over the ability of fine art to be sold over the internet. Most traditional gallery owners, artists, and art buyers insist that people must see the original oil painting, sculpture, etc. in person and meet the artist before they will be willing to part with thousands of dollars.
While I have tried to enter into these conversations to make some points, my comments have mysteriously been deleted by the “chat sponsors” because they know what I am saying makes sense and because they have no way of competing at this moment.
I happen to believe that original fine art can be sold online provided the virtual gallery owner does some specific things. These things are all being done by TheArtGallerist.com, and people are starting to take notice.
While I have talked about several of these differences in the past, there is one major difference that I still think people don’t understand. The critical feature to our success is our “Artist Guestbook” which allows potential buyers to interact directly with participating artists. We do the work to ensure that customers become aware of our website and its differences, but our artists actually take a more active role in the sale of their own artwork. Why rely on an art gallery sales person to try and relay the emotion that went into a work? Who is better equipped to talk about an artist’s achievements than the artist themselves?
We feel strongly that visitors should not only have the ability to leave comments, but to ask questions of the artist about their work, inspiration, techniques, achievements, etc. While some of this information is available in the “artist information” sections of many art websites, it is the Facebook like interaction that is missing. At TheArtGallerist.com, you have access to any of our artists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are all available to answer any question you might have until you feel comfortable with the fine art you are about to purchase.
Now, couple this with a 100% customer satisfaction purchase guarantee and the buyer of original fine art has nothing to fear in buying fine art online from TheArtGallerist.com. Should they not be happy for any reason with the fine art they purchased, they can exchange it or return it for a full refund. Our artists also stand behind this guarantee because they know that if you are not happy with your purchase, you certainly are not going to be showing off the original art or fine art print with pride to your friends. They want your return business, and they want to potentially sell to others who have seen their work in your home or office.
To many, keywords are something that other people have to worry about. If you are an artist that wants to sell your original art on the Internet, your use of key words is critical to everything you do online. If it can be published on the Internet, then whatever you are doing online should be optimized with the strategic use of keywords.
A keyword is a word or short phrase that captures the essence of the topic of a document. The major search engines like Google then use these keywords, page titles and descriptions to index the page on the website. People looking to obtain information then use these keywords in their searches on search websites like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others.
Writing for the Internet is different in that you must always keep the keywords that you have deemed important in mind. For example if you are an oil painter, you should not refer to one of your paintings as “artwork”. Not unless you think that people are going to search for the term artwork. Instead, you might call it an “original oil painting”, or a piece of “original art”. These are more popular search terms. There are many free tools available to help you find the most popular key words and phrases, but I recommend Google’s Keyword Tool that is very easy to use.
Most visual artists would prefer to simply display images of their original art, but you must be aware that the search engines can’t read images, only text. That is why it is so important that you use what is called an “alt text” (alternative text) description. We’ve all seen this before. When an image doesn’t load, there is still a description of what the image is. That is the alt text you see. You should make sure that you apply very descriptive alt text to every image, more than just a title. In my opinion, good image alt text for images of your original art include the medium and the artist’s name at the minimum.
The use of key words is important even if you are posting images of your original art to online fine art gallery websites like TheArtGallerist.com. These websites typically have an item description and/or an artist information section. Each of these sections can be seeded with key words to help your page be found by people performing Internet searches. Obviously in the description section you are going to want to talk about the work of art itself. Words like oil painting, ceramic art, hand blown glass, original art, affordable art, etc. can all be used to describe what it is the customer is looking at. Additionally, words that describe your style, (“contemporary”, “impressionist”, or “cubist”), the substrates (“acrylic on canvas”, “print on watercolor paper” or “oil on board”), or the techniques you used (“dry brush”, “intaglio” or “gallery wrap canvas”) are just some of the descriptive key words that people might search.
In your “Artist Information” section, don’t be shy from peppering your biography or artist statement with important key words as well. Biographies should always be written in the third person so that you can leverage the most unique keyword you own, your name. Places you studied (art schools) or well known artists you studied with can also be key words to an individuals search. Even in your Artist Statement where typically everyone strives to write as “artistically” as possible, you should always try to remember that you are writing to be found on the Internet. The use of your key words here is not redundant, but still vitally important.
To get started with this new way of thinking for writing on the Internet, start by making a list of all the key words people might use to search if they wanted to find you; the artist. After you have compiled the list, you can check your list using the Google Key Word tool to find out how many searches are performed for that word or phase each day. Then, it is simply up to you to start using them in everything you write about you or your “original fine art” online.
In one of our blog posts we talked about artists adding lifestyle or other images that are not your own to your website or blog to create headers or to break up copy in the case of a blog. Now as we approach the New Year and with everyone wanting to make a new year’s resolution, I felt it important to talk about ethics and the right and the wrong way to acquire the images you want to use.
Many people think, “Why don’t I just go to another website and copy the images from them that I like for my website or blog?” As an artist or as someone who appreciates and buys original fine art online, you should know the answer to this better than anyone. Copyrights! Every time you copy an image from any website on the Internet without the permission of the owner or creator, you are violating someone’s copyright.
We at TheArtGallerist.com see this on Facebook quite frequently. It is the only reason we go through the trouble of adding watermarks to the fine art images owned by our artists. People don’t think they are doing any harm by copying an image they like and using as their Facebook or avatar image, but it really isn’t fair to the artists who work to get paid for the beautiful work they create.
As an artist, how would you feel if you had spent hours painting or waiting for just the right moment to capture a photographic image only to have someone take it from you and use it for free? Not very good I’ll bet. For any kind of artist, copyright protection is the only thing they have to protect them from being completely ripped off. You may not think it to be a big deal, but using an image of an original oil painting or sculpture without the artist’s permission is stealing. I know that some websites make it too easy to copy and paste images, and that finding the original owner of that image is sometimes next to impossible. In those cases, you just have to assume that the person using that image has already paid and received permission from the person that created it.
Since most struggling young artists don’t have much money anyway, why not create your own so you don’t have to worry about paying someone or violating their copyright protection. Need a specific photograph to help deliver your message? Why not shoot it yourself! Hire one of your friends to serve as your model and find or create just the right setting. I’ll bet that your photo will turn out to be much more interesting than a stock photo as every image you take is literally taking money the artist could have earned for producing it.
So please, don’t ever copy fine art, prints, or photographic images from a website unless you have the permission of the person who created the original art work. If you don’t respect copyrights of artists, then you will ruin it for everyone as many fine artists will simply tire of having their images used without their permission. The result could be that they will simply stop using the Internet as a channel to show and sell their original fine art.
Since first grade in Hong Kong, I had been asked (told) by the nuns to make feast-day cards and Christmas decorations. Perhaps they were the first to realize I had a talent for art (which I would just call an insatiable longing to make visible). When I came to the United States to attend university, I began with a double major in English Literature and Sociology, while taking extra credit for any art classes I could find and get into. At the end of my junior year, I realized creative work had the strongest pull. I simply surrendered and heeded the call.
Acrylics. I like the immediacy of putting paint on canvas. For over thirty years I have developed the habit of working on primed un-stretched canvases directly pinned onto the wall. I relish the firm resistance pushing against my charcoal lines and brushstrokes, engendering a partnership with the surface of the canvas that is at once unwavering and intimate.
I just do what I love.
I love making marks on a virgin ground with no preconceived notions or expectations. It is a time of ultimate adventure, allowing the lines and layers to accumulate and fester until out of the necessary but utter confusion, they sort of find their own hierarchy. My job is mostly to allow and listen. Then about ¾ of the way into the piece, I generally can begin to sense the gist of what it is, and begin the process of what I call shaping (selective emphases and erasures). The last step of the process is detailing, where I much like a car detailer, clean-up and “polish” the work until it arrives at an agreeable level (between me and the painting) of dynamic balance and resonant clarity.
I am a political wonk and an opera addict. I have a very rich family life, as well as serve as devoted companion to my dog. I am a home-body and a nomad. I have for a long time practiced dance, yoga, Tai Chi, and butoh. I am affected by everything that happens around me. I do not consciously choose my subjects.
I am patient and impatient, curious and unafraid. When I am working, I am constantly aware of the great legacy of my profession. I toil in the shadows of men and women from every generation whose mission has been to find unique ways of seeing and telling about things as old as time. It makes me feel very humble and grateful for my opportunity to do the same. I don’t know if that makes me a good artist, but I know it makes me tireless, irrepressible, and full of purpose when I step into my studio and begin a day’s work.
I love and admire art that challenges and inspires me. I like seeing the hand of the artist in the work, as well as his/her journey. I am especially drawn to work that invites me to become more open and allows me to find resonance with it.
Because I have the great fortune to live and work my passion, and must still manage to pay the rent on my studio, and for the occasional visit to the dentist, I do appreciate the real and pressing concerns of the economy. But I say, treating yourself to something you love, is a treat indeed, in any circumstance.
I congratulate them if they are working with great dealers. But the world has changed. There are too many artists and just not enough brick-and-mortar galleries. I like the arcing reach of the Internet. It is a great way to reach a broader audience and engender dialogue and response to the work, which is after all, one of the most important components of an artist’s life.
I decided to work with TheArtGallerist.com because I was sold on the management, and their vision. With their background in art, I really feel they not only understood the needs of artists, but what art buyers and collectors want in a fine art website.
When thinking of what to get someone special for the holidays or for a special occasion, one rarely thinks of artwork. The reason is that most people know it can be one of those gifts that can easily backfire. Buying something that you think someone will like can easily turn a momentous and joyful event into an embarrassing and awkward moment when you realize the person doesn’t like the painting you were sure would please them.
Fine art can still however be the one of the greatest and most memorable gifts you can give. Just don’t make it memorable for all the wrong reasons. You may think you know a person, their likes and dislikes, but art is a very personal thing. What one person likes might be another’s nightmare.
That is why the best solution is to give a Gift Certificate which allows the recipient to choose a piece that they truly like. Additionally, it saves the recipient from having to dig it out and hang it back on the wall every time they think you are coming over.
Just think of what the gift of art can mean. A piece of original fine art is the perfect gift for Christmas! It can mark a special occasion like a birthday, wedding, or anniversary. It can celebrate a milestone or special achievement like a graduation, a birth, promotion, or a new house. It can also say “I love you”. The thing that makes it so special is that the gift of art that you made possible will keep on giving! With the ability to pick that special piece for a special place in their home or office, your loved one will think of you and remember that special time each time they look at the artwork that you made possible. Many of us know this feeling when after many years we look at a painting we may have purchased when traveling. It immediately sends us back to that exotic location or an exciting city, and the things we did, saw, etc.
Fine art is one of those unique things that you can purchase that will not only last a life time, but that can be passed from generation to generation. No other thing that you may purchase with maybe the exception of expensive jewelry will last as long. People will easily spend hundreds and perhaps a thousand dollars on an outfit, which after a few years is thread bare, out of style, and something that they don’t even feel good about donating to the Good Will. The right piece of art will continue to give joy year after year.
For weddings as an example, with a gift certificate to TheArtGallerist.com the couple can purchase a piece of original fine art that will remind them of a shared experience, their backgrounds, or even their honeymoon. It is true that it is right out there how much you spent on the gift when you give a gift certificate, but buying them something that you hope they will think costs more than it actually did is not the solution. Let’s just keep in mind that the gift should be something that celebrates the happy couple, and does not have to break the bank. After all, what good is a gift that may seem expensive, if the person has absolutely no use for it and it ends up in a closet, under the bed, or worse gets re-gifted?
Finally, your gift doesn’t have to be extravagant like in an amount to cover the most expensive painting or sculpture in the gallery. Whatever the amount of your gift certificate, the recipient can either buy something beautiful and inexpensive, but yet is none the less meaningful. Another option would be to save it until they can afford the piece they have put on their “Wish List”, a free service for members of our “Collectors Club” (coming soon).
As the creator of an online fine art gallery, we occasionally get people that want to know if we have a store or brick and mortar gallery that they can visit to actually see the artwork they want to purchase in person. While I can definitely appreciate that nothing beats viewing a piece of artwork in person and up close, I think it is a bit funny that some people can’t yet grasp one of the Internets greatest strengths. That is the Internet’s ability to link people to products from all over the world. Because just about every business has a website now and because the search engines typically provide their results based upon a person’s geography, people tend to loose sight of this fact and often think of all Internet businesses in local terms.
The assumption that we would happen to have a brick and mortar gallery that be within driving distance to each of you is extremely remote. That is why the Internet is so fantastic, and a wonderful place to purchase fine art! It not only exposes people that don’t have the ability to visit a fine art gallery access to the same to quality artwork, it also allows them to see more great artists in one place. Artists, not just from all over the country, but from around the world!
Skeptics say that you really can’t appreciate or understand what you are buying when you buy something over the Internet. It is true that your depth perception, color, size, and other important criteria might not be exactly the same as it would be if you were seeing a piece in person. This however should not stop potential buyers from purchasing even an expensive piece of art as long as the art website offers a purchase guarantee.
Customer Satisfaction Guarantees make purchasing fine art over the Internet risk free, and typically allow buyers to return the artwork they purchased for any reason as long as they do so within a specified period of time. These guarantee periods range from seven to fourteen days, which is plenty of time for the buyer to check out the artists work and see it in the location or room for which is was intended. For example, at TheArtGallerist.com we have a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee which provides the customer with a full refund of the purchase price as long as we are notified of their intent to return the artwork within 7 days.
The Internet now provides everyone with access to an entire world of wonderful and very talented artists. In the not too distant past these artists had to struggle to gain recognition beyond the borders of their cities. Today their only obstacle is, with so many artists and so much artwork to choose from, how do they get noticed? That is where an online fine art gallery is most valuable, taking the time to study and evaluate submissions from around the world before deciding which artists they want to work with.
So the bottom line is that you should not be afraid to purchase fine art from an online gallery. Simply make sure they sell great art in the mediums, styles and price ranges you are looking for. Most importantly, make sure they provide you with the ability to return your purchase for a full refund should you not be satisfied for any reason.
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Prairie Lee Frame
