Anger and Chaos (and question)

[MysticMonk]

Arcylic painting on 18x24 gessoed hardboard.

A painting that actually had it's origins in my being angry this weekend.

For some reason I had very difficult time photographing this one. I don't know if it was because it was so dark in appearance or if that some of the paint swirls were very thick paint, perhaps as much as 1/4 inches in one or two spots. It kept reflecting the flash on my Digital Camera. Any ideas?

A larger version ( I think) can be seen at

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1...0/100_2001.jpg

[timelady]

Because you've painted thickly it's harder to get an angle with no reflections. I always turn off my flash when photographing artwork.

I've had a couple paintings that just refuse to be photographed! Oddly enough one is a similar colour scheme to this. I think part of it is the colour of your/our lighting in combination with the colour of the painting. Sort of deadens it. In my studio I have flourescents and they give a completely different colour to the regular bulbs in a friends studio. Fortunately my new camera has an option to choose your lighting: tungsten, regular, daylight, flourescent and one other... before that I just had to do colour adjustments in Photoshop.

Tina.

[idylbrush]

Interesting work.

Consider not using flash. It will only interfere with the work. Try working in bright shade, outside. I photograph generally in the morning on the east side of the studio, outside, in bright shade. If really wanting to show texture I have used sunlight with it hitting the work at an angle as to eliminate the hotspot glare. I also tend to bracket the work to get several levels to manipulate and get the best possible print.

When all else fails there is a book titled "How to Photograph Artwork". Has great ideas on getting this done.

[MysticMonk]

Originally Posted by timelady

Because you've painted thickly it's harder to get an angle with no reflections. I always turn off my flash when photographing artwork.
... I think part of it is the colour of your/our lighting in combination with the colour of the painting. Sort of deadens it. In my studio I have flourescents and they give a completely different colour to the regular bulbs in a friends studio. Fortunately my new camera has an option to choose your lighting: tungsten, regular, daylight, flourescent and one other...

I may be able to turn the flash off but it is not fancy enough to choose lighting.

My studio lights are flourescent. May try taking it outside and trying there, then the flash wont go off as well.

Thanks for the tips to both Tina and Howard.