We had a very interesting club evening yesterday. One of our members who photographs artwork for catalogues and prints took us through the problems that photographing flat artwork has. Secondly Emma Rosen presented on her 2 month trip to the Stans.
Flat Artwork
Firstly you can’t edit the photograph after it’s taken, the quality of the printing means that any editing always shows up. You have to have adequate lighting and that will cause reflections off any glass that may protect the art and off any gilt work on the frame.
The solutions are ones that I wouldn’t have thought of. To take the photograph so there is no need to edit means you have to line the camera lens exactly parallel to the artwork. The way to do this is to identify the centre of the artwork this can be done be tying strings to the corners, where they cross is the centre. Then get a mirror and hold it flat against the artwork. Go to the camera and look through the viewfinder and reposition it so the reflection of the front of the lens is central and appears flat.
To remove any reflections from the glass hide everything but the front of the lens under a black sheet. To remove reflections from the gilt frame turn the frame and the camera through 45 degrees then the reflections are lost in the frame corners.
The Stans
This was one of the best travelogues I have seen. It covered 2 months travelling through the 3 Stans between Russia and China. These aren’t generally places where tourists go and in one in particular there were stories of bugs being everywhere and guides telling people not to ask “those sorts of questions”. While some people may find this threatening the group felt that it actually increased their safety. Some of the photographs were excellent, landscapes and interesting weathered faces of the population, as well as beautiful tiled buildings.
Steve Ransom (originally provided on 21st Spetember)