How to photograph your art
A resource created by Louise Krasniewicz
You are about to enter your art in a show. But unless you create good images of your entry, it is difficult for us to include your work in online shows as well as in a slide show of an exhibit after it is finished. It can take 10-20 minutes to correct a difficult image and with 50-100 or so entries in a show that is a lot of hours (by volunteers). So please look at these examples and try to follow the guidelines below.
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So you want to enter a picture of Kitty enjoying the beach in an exhibit. Here is what your image should look like. Nice Kitty.
It will be 1000-1200 pixels on the largest size (if you don't know what this means, look here). It will be 72 DPI (if you don't know what this means, look here). It will be well lit, with no reflections, and will be in sharp focus. It will NOT show the frame or anything in the background. You should crop these out (if you don't know how to do that, look here). It will be straight on, not at an angle. The format will be a .jpg (or .jpeg). Do NOT submit a PDF, an HEIC image, a GIF, a PNG, or a TIFF. Only a jpeg. Open your file in an image viewing program and export it as a jpeg. It will be named according to the instructions for the show you are entering. |
To demonstrate some of the problems with photographing your art, we are going to insert Kitty into actual photos entered into BAC calls for art..
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Here the image is in a frame which is photographed at an angle. It should be shot straight on and the frame should not be included.
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In this version, the image is too dark. It is photographed showing the frame and a large background around the frame.
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This image is properly exposed and photographed straight on but it includes unnecessary background . Crop it in an image processing program.
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This image was submitted sideways (in addition to all the other problems with it). Take your image into an image processing program and rotate and crop it.
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This image is dark, shows a frame, and a large unnecessary background. It has an orange cast from indoor lights. Either adjust it in an image processing program or reshoot it near a bright window.
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The art only fills half the image, is at an angle, and shows unnecessary background.
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This image is too small (only about 200 pixels instead of 1000 or 1200 pixels). As a result it will be blurry when it is enlarged.
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This image is out of focus. Lightly hold down your shutter button to get it to focus on the front of your image and then press it all the way to take a picture.
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