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Photographing paintings

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MauriceRR

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Hi,

I'm searching a way to improve my skills, and I'm trying to find a good way to shoot paintings.

I'm not really talking about flash and shooting, but more about retouching.

I'm using Adobe Cameraraw/Photoshop

I'm photographing the paintings with 2 flashs beetween 35-45°, the uniformity is ok, and I adjust my WB with a gray card from scuadra truecolors (with lab values mesurated)

My eizo display is well calibrated (Δ<1, 130cdm2 and is matching not so bad my viewing conditions).

My problem :

My photo are always too much contrasted and colors not great at all, specially red and blue, even with creating dcp profiles with a xrite passport in best conditions with my flashs (with adobe dng profile editor or colorchecker passport software).

What could I do ?

Thanks,

Maurice RR
 
Ditch the flash, use a tripod for long exposure. Then ideally have the device you post-process on and the painting in question near one another so you can simply post until you get what you see, best done with a laptop..
 
You could try using in camera WB setting to Flash and shoot painting with grey card on it and then in ACR chose Camera Profile, Camera Neutral and then look at the Histogram has all 3 colours in register and if out use eye dropper on grey card. On Basic Tab their are 4 little lines and if you click on these and chose previous conversion on your shot without grey card. or save as new default. I only have Elements but it must be similar in Ps ACR.

Use large soft boxes for soft low contrast light.
 
Dave makes a good suggestion regarding softboxes. I'm wondering whether the exposure is correct? Often if you see colour shifts it's because one channel has blown out. Without posting examples it's hard to say for certain though!
 
Thanks all. I don't think it's a shooting problem. My flash are good with good softboxs.

Thanks for dcamprof, but it's command line !! Never touch to this....

3dlut creator, they speak russian, but I will invistigate this. (I know a guy who knows a guy who speak russian).
 
Yes, i have seen. Thanks a lot.

Maybe I should also invistigate to the side of an icc solution with capture one, i thought with Adobe dcp profiles I could produce good colors but it seems it's impossible.
 
MauriceRR said:
Yes, i have seen. Thanks a lot.

Maybe I should also invistigate to the side of an icc solution with capture one, i thought with Adobe dcp profiles I could produce good colors but it seems it's impossible.
Click to expand...
You are welcome.

3D LUT can do, but you can also try Photo Ninja as it can create camera profiles and also custom light profiles, see here.
 
Anybody else who is photographing paintings and art works ? I think I need workflow tips...
 
I've always used existing light in museums. Maybe ask them about the color temperature (degrees Kelvin) if you're in a studio.
 
I use my flashs, I use expodisc for WB, the problem is not here.

I think my problem is the tonal response curve. I don't know how to switch it off and maintain good colors.
 
If you're shooting RAW there is no curve until LR/PhotoShop or some other program alters that. Camera Calibrations follow various standards, and Presets can alter the settings contained in the Tone Curve.

I'm using ACR 9.0 with TC set to Camera Raw Defaults. That's where I'd start.
 
The problem seems to be prior to any slider in cameraraw. 0 seems not to be 0 at all.
 
Maybe try Raw Therapy, or another commercial app.

Best I can offer. --
It's not the camera...
 
MauriceRR said:
Anybody else who is photographing paintings and art works ? I think I need workflow tips...
Click to expand...
Question: do you take photos in museums and galleries or you have a client who wants a photo from a painting(s) in his possession ?
 
MauriceRR said:
Thanks all. I don't think it's a shooting problem. My flash are good with good softboxs.

Thanks for dcamprof, but it's command line !! Never touch to this....

3dlut creator, they speak russian, but I will invistigate this. (I know a guy who knows a guy who speak russian).
Click to expand...
dcamprof is worth every minute you invest into it. Torger is on a GUI-version which should be available soon but will cost some bugs.

If money does not matter, I highly recommend BasICColor Input 5 as an easy but very accurate profiling tool. Works for ACR/LR/PS, C1 and general ICC (several RAW-Converters).

--
flickr
 
Last edited:
MauriceRR said:
I use my flashs, I use expodisc for WB, the problem is not here.

I think my problem is the tonal response curve. I don't know how to switch it off and maintain good colors.
Click to expand...
This comes from the used raw-converter and the selected profile. I recommend to create your own profile with the lens (and camera and f-stop) you use. Lenses have slight differences in color but also in contrast reproduction. In C1 you can use a linear curve for your profile and also for the processing. I don't know about LR and others.
 
I think my mistake is to go with adobe ACR/LR...

Thanks a lot sebbe for your reply, I'm going to invistigate there.
 
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