THE ART OF COPYING ART

Photograph paintings the right way with James Paterson’s guide to camera and lighting skills

Whether you want to capture a painting like the one above, digitise some old prints, or reproduce any kind of canvas, there’s real skill in copying artwork with your camera. Not only do you need the colours to be accurate, you also need to master the spread, angle and quality of the light to minimise glare and show the work at its best. This painting by the artist Bryan Hanlon has a wonderfully subtle colour palette, and to reproduce the painting in print and digital form, it needs to be captured in the right way.

It starts with your choice of camera, lens and exposure settings. Then comes the lighting – and having the right setup can make all the difference. You’ll need two lights, and if reflections and glare are an issue you can cut through these by setting up for cross-polarsation. The cross-polarisation technique is known for the colourful effect you get when capturing transparent plastics. But the uses don’t end there. In a copy-work setup it can be invaluable. We just need a polarised source of light and a circular polarising filter on our camera. It takes moments to set up, but it has a magical effect on reflections, which are often the biggest headache when capturing artwork. We’re not just talking about big patchy reflections, but also the tiny, weaker reflected light that can cloud out fine details and brushwork. The technique completely eradicates the reflections, which makes it especially useful for dark, glossy paintings that are more susceptible to glare.

HOW TO GET SET UP FOR COPY WORK

Learn how to polarise your light sources to cut through reflections and glare in paintings

1 LIGHTING