Photographing Art – My Camera Settings

There are some basic settings you must change on your camera before taking photos of your artwork. 

When I first got my digital camera, I searched everywhere online for proper settings for photographing my paintings.

I found many sites with great tips, but no specific settings.

 

This is why I am sharing them with you today.

This is the setup that has worked for me for photographing art.

These settings are for the Canon Digital SLR cameras. Many other camera brands have the same.

Camera settings often need to be adjusted to get a proper photograph, but this is a good starting point.

You may feel the need to adjust them according to your situation.

Photographing Art for The Web – My Digital SLR Camera Settings

 

1. Attach your camera to a tripod, and adjust it accordingly.
   
   
2. Turn the flash OFF
   This is so there will be no glare on your photograph from the flash.
   
   
3. Set the ISO to no higher than 200
   
   
4. AV mode
   Choose this so that the camera will automatically focus on the artwork.
   
   
5. Aperture to F 5.6
   You may feel the need to increase this number if all the image is not in focus. The higher the number, the more all of your artwork will be in focus.
   
   
6. Change white balance according to the lighting you are using.
   If you are shooting outdoors, then set your white balance to “daylight”. If taking pictures inside, choose either fluorescent or tungsten.
   
   
7. Drive mode set to self-timer 10 sec
   This is essential so that there will not be any blurriness in the image of your artwork. When you press the button to take a picture, a repeating beep will sound, and will get faster as the camera gets closer to taking the photo. Stay very still and away from the tripod to ensure the image doesn’t turn out blurry.
   

Some closing tips:

• Take lots of photographs.
  
• Try different distances from the artwork.
  
• Find a setting that works for you, and take a note of it for future photography sessions.

 

Digital Cameras for Art Photography

Canon EOS Rebel T3	Nikon D90 DX	Canon EOS Rebel T3i

 

After you look at them on your computer, simply pick out the best one that matches the quality of your artwork.

If you are interested in the setup for photographing art for the web, please kindly take a look at this:

How to Photograph Art for the Internet

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