17 Feb 2024

How to photograph your original artwork with a modern smartphone.

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In the digital age, sharing your artwork has never been easier!

With just a smartphone in hand, artists can capture high-quality images of their original pieces and showcase them on various online platforms. However, capturing the essence of your artwork accurately requires some knowledge and technique, especially when it comes to colour management.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to photograph your artwork using an Android phone or iPhone, while paying attention to basic aspects of colour management.

Preparation and Setup

Before you start capturing photos, ensure that your artwork is clean and free from any dust or smudges. Place your artwork on a flat surface with even lighting. Natural light is often the best option, so position your artwork near a window but avoid direct sunlight, as it can cause harsh shadows and overexposure. Alternatively, you can use soft, diffused artificial lighting.

Stabilise Your Phone

To avoid blurry photos, stabilise your smartphone using a tripod or prop it up against a stable surface. This will help maintain consistency in your images and prevent unwanted motion blur.

Camera Settings

Both Android phones and iPhones offer manual camera settings that allow you to control exposure, focus, and white balance. Access your phone’s camera settings and adjust the following parameters:

  • Exposure: Set the exposure to ensure that your artwork is well-lit without being overexposed or underexposed.
  • Focus: Use the manual focus option to ensure that your artwork remains sharp and in focus.
  • White Balance: Adjust the white balance settings to accurately capture the colours of your artwork. You can use presets like daylight, cloudy, or tungsten, or manually adjust the colour temperature for better accuracy.
Composition

Frame your artwork within the camera’s viewfinder, ensuring that it fills the frame without cutting off any edges. Use the grid overlay feature to align your artwork properly within the frame and maintain straight lines.

Colour Management

Colour management is crucial for ensuring that the colours in your digital image match those of your original artwork as closely as possible. Here are some basic aspects to consider:

  • colour Accuracy: Compare the colours in your digital image to the original artwork under controlled lighting conditions. Adjust the white balance settings if necessary to match the colours accurately.
  • colour Profiles: When saving your photos, use a colour profile that preserves the colour accuracy, such as sRGB or Adobe RGB. Avoid using overly compressed file formats like JPEG, as they can degrade image quality.
  • Calibration: Calibrate your smartphone display to ensure that it accurately reproduces colours. There are various apps and tools available for both Android and iOS devices that can help you calibrate your screen.
Editing and Post-Processing

After capturing your photos, you may need to perform some basic editing and post-processing to fine-tune the colours and enhance the overall quality. Use photo editing apps like Adobe Lightroom, Snapseed, or VSCO to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Be careful not to over-edit, as it can result in an unnatural-looking image.

Print Preparation

As good as screen editing can be, for critical colour fidelity it is always advisable to test print your file on the specific paper surface that will be used for final edition prints via the codeice.com.au low cost proof/test print service

Final Review

Once you’ve edited your photos, review them on different devices to ensure that the colours appear consistent across various screens. Make any necessary adjustments until you’re satisfied with the final result.

Backup and Storage

It’s essential to backup your digital files to prevent loss or corruption. Store your photos on cloud storage platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud, as well as on external hard drives for added security.

Giclee Print Size

Check your Android/iPhone specification – can it produce a file at suitable pixel dimensions for the desired print size?

To calculate the print output size from pixel dimensions in a digital image file, you can use the following formula:

Print width (in inches) = Image width (in pixels) / Print resolution (in pixels per inch)*
Print height (in inches) = Image height (in pixels) / Print resolution (in pixels per inch)*

For example, let’s say you have an image with dimensions of 3000 pixels width and 2000 pixels height, and you want to print it at 300 pixels per inch resolution:

Print width = 3000 pixels / 300 pixels per inch = 10 inches
Print height = 2000 pixels / 300 pixels per inch = 6.67 inches

So the print output size would be approximately 10 inches by 6.67 inches.

*DPI can be anywhere between 240dpi and 300dpi. Any less and there is the risk of pixellisation, any greater simply creates an unnecessarily large digital file and does not make a better resolution print.

By following these steps and paying attention to basic aspects of colour management, you can capture high-quality images of your original artwork using just your smartphone. Whether you’re sharing your work on social media, selling prints online, or archiving your portfolio, mastering the art of smartphone photography can help you showcase your creativity to the world.