Getting acceptable web photos of paintings with a smartphone is pretty difficult, but it can be done if you get the lighting right and have some way to hold the device steady such as a tripod attachment and using a voice controlled release where you don’t touch the device at all during the capturing of the image. Using a tablet is more difficult than a smartphone. Plus in most cases the resolution of the camera in a tablet is lower than that of phones.

Not what you want to hear, but in my opinion, better than acceptable quality web images cannot be achieved with a smartphone or a tablet. The good news is you can get a camera that will give you images that far surpass that of your iPad for a fraction of what the tablet cost and the learning curve is not that steep.

I read that the newer IPads now have higher megapixels than the iphones. My iPad Air 2 has 8 mexapixels. I don’t know what the resolution is, but I will find out —what is a good resolution percent for art work?
Thanks for,your help!

I don’t own anything made by Apple, but from their website it says their latest iPad has an 8 megapixel camera. The latest iPhone has a 12 megapixel camera. The Samsung S9+ has three built in cameras, a front facing 8 megapixel and two rear facing 12 megapixel cameras one of which is a “Telephoto” which should give you better images of two dimensional flat artwork than the normal wide angle cameras. But the money for the Note 9 or the Iphone X is many times that of a very good quality digital camera that would be capable of producing professional looking images of your artwork if you do your part.

The major problem with cellphone and tablet cameras isn’t the resolution as much as it is that the lenses are of such short focal length that they are not well suited to taking undistorted images of artwork. You need a 35mm camera lens equivalent focal length that is between 50mm and 105mm for better looking perspective with less distortion in the final images. Personally I would never publish an image of any of my artwork taken with a phone or a tablet.

I happen to run across a Dan Nelson youtube where he explains how he takes photos of his paintings. Dan Nelson is a life-long professional artist – doing large scale urban plein aire, lecture circuit, books, videos, live streaming, classes etc.

He uses a handheld 8mpg Android Phone to photograph ALL his work, including those for prints and publication! – the secret is in the technique not the equipment. He photographs six (or more) slices (called tiles) and stitches them together in P.S He explains every detail in his youtubes. He did it the “proper” way for decades, has the studio space and equipment, but found this way better.

He also paints with two brushes – one in each hand – simultaneously. He is a bit of a character to watch, but a pioneer and encyclopedia on painting.

Anyway, I’m not suggesting chamisa do this but thought it was interesting,.

Professional shots would be ideal, but not always affordable or practical. My iPad Mini which is a few yrs old doesn’t take very good shots. Perhaps newer full sized iPads and other tablets do though.

My current iPhone takes better photos than my 2008 digital point and shoot type camera. I’m sure new cameras are better, but with a bit of effort to shoot in good light and make sure the phone is still, they do pretty well. Light, and glare, are a challenge sometimes on big pieces, especially shiny surfaces. The same information on how the pros deal with that can be adapted to shooting with a phone, and improvising to overcome light issues without buying expensive stuff.

Mine has a timer on it, so I can set up a shot with the phone propped up on an amusing array of books and ladders and stuff, and when it goes off, there’s no movement.

Even hand held I can get good shots most times. I have the “Live” feature turned on so I can choose the sharpest frame, because with hand held, some frames in the shot are better than others.

Of course, professional shots are superior, but if you don’t need huge image files, the newer smart phones are plenty good enough for small reprints, and definitely good enough for web use. If you think you’ll be enlarging it, doing billboards or bedspreads, it is important to have a huge high resolution image. Otherwise, a newer smart phone is probably fine.