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 | Selecting images to represent your work |
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Documenting your workYou already know how to document your work, having done it for the last three years. But here are some quick reminders: Just do it. When you are caught up in deadlines, and are desperate to save time, it can be tempting not to bother taking photos of your work. Trust me, you will regret it later. Lighting, lighting, lighting. Make sure the work is properly lit when photographing it. Small, portable works can be transported to a photographic studio where the proper set-up is available. If that isn't an option, you can always bring the lighting to the work. In artificial light conditions, it is better to get the lighting right than use a flash, which may "bounce" off the work and cause glare or shine. In natural light (e.g. outdoors), diffused light is preferable to strong sunlight. Keep it simple. Get rid of any distractions in the background. Traditionally, 2d works are best photographed against a white background. If your work is small enough and flat enough, scanning on a flatbed scanner often gives a clearer image than photographing it. A distracting background Steady now. Always use a tripod if possible to eliminate camera shake. Give the work a space.Typically, you need to get good, sharp, well-lit images of the work with as little extraneous background as possible. But it is also very useful to have "hanging shots", i.e. photos of your work installed in a space to be viewed. This type of photograph can help a viewer not familiar with your work to understand a lot more about it. If the work has been exhibited, then getting these images is straightforward, but, even studio work is presented for a crit or assessment at some stage, so you can get some more contextualised photographs then. Do it lots.Take lots of similar photos of your work, at various settings, to maximise your chances of getting a few really good images. Size matters.If you are using a digital camera, make sure you have it set to the highest available resolution when you document your work. The more pixels you have in the image, the more freedom you have to edit it digitally later.
Choosing which images to useIt sounds obvious, but the photographs you select need to be to be the most accurate representation of your work possible. So make sure you choose images that are in focus and well-lit, and in which the actual work fills as much of the frame as possible. If you have been asked to provide a number of images of an individual work, consider including a photograph of a detail of the work as well as those that show the complete work, particularly if such detail is hard to pick up in the overall photos. And consider including an image of the installed work too.
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