Photographing art… For me F-stops and exposure times are alien concepts, however, that does not prevent me from making a relatively decent job of taking snaps of my work to pop on websites, brochures or those snazzy little gallery exhibition cards. I admit it. I’m not much of a photographer. Maybe like me, you concentrate on being a painter, draw-er, printer or whatever-er, and photography in all it’s modern digital mega pixel glory comes fairly low on the list of things that need to be thought about.

Hey, there’s only so many things in life you can concentrate your attention on, and for me photography is not one of them…until I need to take a photograph of an artwork for promotional purposes that is.

The following tips I’ve picked up myself basically by trial and error, so maybe you can save a bit of time by reading them so you don’t have to go through the same trials and make the same errors!

Okay already! On with the tips…

Your camera – big lenses work better

I’m sure actual real photographers will be able to bang on endless about why a camera with a big lens works better than a camera with a little lens, but in my experience of using domestic grade cameras for photographing paintings, the ones that seem to produce the most acceptable results had bigger lens areas. Yup, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but  your do-everything-including-wash-the-dishes smart phone has a lens that is just too weeny to cut the art photography mustard, even if it does create images containing enough pixels to reach to the moon and back if they were placed end to end at a distance of one micron.

Tripods steady your trigger finger

Ages ago I picked up a decent quality Velbon Tripod at a garage sale for next to nothing.  I’ve used it so many times that things are starting to fall off, yet nevertheless it hangs in there, and gets used over and over again.  Even if I’d paid full price,  I think the investment would have been well worth it. It just makes the whole process much easier, and more importantly, means that I don’t need to have a steady trigger finger when I shoot. I just set up the shot, lock the tripod adjusty thingies  so that they don’t move, and off I go. The good thing about the Velbon is that it’s relatively sturdy and the controls are easy to adjust.  When I move the head of the tripod around, everything is smooth as silk. This makes it easy to use.  I do have another very cheap tripod too, but that one is not nearly so good…in fact it’s just a pain in the proverbial, and I’ve consigned it to the back of the cupboard, only making an appearance when the Velbon is in need of a little repair. So when it comes to tripods, I’d say get a good sturdy well built one. If you make lots of art you will use it again and again.

Time delay

Read your camera manual to figure out how to set the automatic picture delay timer. This will allow you to delay the taking of your shots by a couple of seconds and avoid your big clumsy fingers causing the camera to shake when it’s mounted on the tripod. Just press the ‘take a picture button’, remove your hands from the camera and let your camera and tripod do their magic. Shake free images are a joy to behold.

Don’t varnish or frame your painting yet!

It’s much easier to photograph and artwork if it’s not varnished yet. Shiny varnish will make for shiny highlights in the photograph, which don’t tend to look good when reproduced.

Similarly, if your artwork is under glass it’s really hard to take a picture without getting reflections. When I’ve been faced with that problem I have solved it by poking my camera through a hole in a large black cloth, held in such a way so that no reflections are seen. It’s a pain though and I don’t recommend it.

My recommendation is to hold off on varnishing or framing until your photography is complete.

Lighting your artwork

I very rarely use any artificial lighting when I take a photograph of my artwork. I prefer instead to use normal daylight. For me I’ve found that a cloudy day is best if I’m taking a photo directly outside.  Diffuse cloudy mid-morning light seems the most ideal. Afternoon light is second choice, but the middle of the day starts to be way too bright. I live in Australia though so I rarely get diffuse cloudy days…it’s pretty much blue skies from the get-go in the morning, so instead I tend to take pictures on our covered Verandah where the light is not so harsh, and the reflected light provides enough illumination.

The key to getting the lighting right in my case is to actually LOOK through the view finder (or digital display)…not just a cursory ‘is my image in the middle of the frame’ look, but an actual ‘what is the quality of the light’ look. Sometimes it’s hard to see the quality of the light, but after a few goes at doing this you’ll start to appreciate how the light is falling on your painting, if there are any annoying shadows, and more importantly, whether the image will turn out any good.

Things I look for:

• Is the light even all the way across the image? Any difference in light from one side of the painting to the other will stick out like a sore appendage when you view the image later.
• Can I clearly see all the detail? If the light is too bright all the colours wash out. If the picture is too dark it will lose detail when I try and brighten it up in Photoshop later.
• Does the weave of the canvas show? I create mostly paintings that use almost perfectly flat areas of colour. I generally like my photos to look similarly flat. If you catch the light on your painting on the wrong angle, then the weave of the canvas appears as tiny white highlights all over the photo. Not the effect I want.  I move the painting around a bit until the lighting is as even as possible.
• If the painting is textured I check to see that the highlights created by the light are pleasing to the eye.
• Is the painting straight? I like to get the sides of the canvas as straight in the frame as possible. The straighter it is, the less I work I will have to do later when I crop the image. Move your tripod and camera up and down to find the point of  maximum straightness (if your paintings are in fact squarish in shape that is)

Take lots of pictures using auto picture mode

I’m very lazy when it comes to setting up my camera. I generally just use the auto mode and rely on the trial and error approach of taking lots of pictures in the hope that one of them turns out to be ‘just right’… and you know what? usually they do (just about every time). When I review the pictures there’s always one version that stands head and shoulders above the rest, so I use it. Digital cameras these days are pretty good at figuring out what to do on my behalf, and I guess there are software engineers out there who have worked hard to program my camera so I don’t really have to think too much about the process. It works for me.

Focus

I also let the camera do all the focussing for me, and generally don’t have any problems when photographing medium sized works as long as I’ve made sure that the artwork is straight in the frame (ie the artwork is a parallel as possible to the camera lens). For larger paintings (say 1.5 metres wide) I do have to consult the manual on ‘multi-point’ focus to make sure everything stays sharp. For smaller works which I have to get very close to  I use the macro lens mode, usually indicated by a little tulip on the camera. Mostly though the auto-focus mode does the trick every time.

Turn off the auto flash

A direct flash makes everything look, well, erm…flashed. It’s not nice. So turn it off.  Sometimes though you’ll see a dreaded ‘LOW LIGHT’ indicator on your camera viewfinder. Don’t ignore this warning as the camera will not take good pictures if there is not enough light. Move to somewhere else where there is good light (I suggest Australia)

Use Photoshop to fix up your photographs

I use Adobe Photoshop for all manner of things. It’s an essential item in my toolbox. Yes it’s expensive, but if you are doing this stuff on a regular basis it’s the software to have. There are other cheaper programs that do essentially the same job though, but I love my Photoshop and don’t really look at anything else because it works for me.

When I’ve taken my images and look at them on the computer, generally I’ll need to do a few things with them…

• Straighten up the image using the distort tool
• Crop the image
• Adjust the brightness, contrast and colour
• Create versions at different resolutions for web and print distribution
• Tweak anything that needs tweaking to make the picture look as brilliant as possible!

So that’s all there is to it. You can get acceptable results with minimal equipement, at a quality that is fine for web or small postcards using just domestic grade equipment and a bit of experience with Photoshop.

I’m sure if you invest extra time learning the mechanics of photography it would pay you handsomely, and maybe one day I myself will get round to it, but until then I’m just happy to point and shoot.

Having said all that, if you want to create large high quality art prints, posters or giclees it pays to have a professional take the shots for you. I have in the past had professional shots taken using both large format photographic film and super hi-res scanning. The results are far superior, but for most applications the cost can be prohibitive. A decent mid-price domestic digital camera plus a bit of improvisation and experimentation can get you a long way though

Happy Snapping!

(BTW if you want to see how my snaps turn out have a look at my Creativity Pro Art gallery.  Some pics on there are taken by my own fair hand using a domestic grade digital camera, others are professionally snapped images, some images only exist in the digital domain, and there is the occasional image which I took with an old style film SLR…see if you can spot which is which!).

It’s a jungle out there and now its time to engage in guerrilla warfare and hand-to-hand combat in order to sell your art direct to the public. Don’t like the analogy? Think all this art sales stuff should be all comfortable and snuggely like a warm blanket? Yes of course it should, for your customer at least, but for you this is serious, this is YOUR art business. So camo up, lock and load, we’re going over the top!

These golden rules were honed on the front line, selling my art myself, direct to the public at my own exhibitions. To do it successfully you have to be audacious. Shrinking violets should apply elsewhere.

Like any form of combat training or martial art the golden rules I am about to tell you will take practice, practice and more practice, and you can only practice by actually doing it. Be relentless, eventually you will experience the sweet taste of victory. So here we go…

Golden Rule No. 1: Greet, Retreat and then LOOK BUSY

When anyone walks into your exhibition space and takes more than a passing interest in your art, say “hello”, and maybe even a “how are you today?”, but not in a desperate “look at my art and then buy it pleeeeassee” way. YOU are a successful artist and you are busy, so GREET, RETREAT and LOOK BUSY. You want your prospective customer to feel welcomed and comfortable to stick around a while. They won’t do that if you are oggling their every move. Find something important looking to do like tapping on the computer keyboard fulfilling other sales (pretend or otherwise) or talking quietly on the phone to important sounding clients (again real or fictional…your choice). Look busy even if you are not! People have a herd mentality when buying art. If they get the impression that there is a stampede of people out there buying your art then they will be subconsciously reassured and more likely to move from art looker to art buyer.

Golden Rule No. 2: Display your battle victories

People seem to be absolutely fascinated by any artwork that has one of those red dots on it indicating that the painting is now SOLD. They will stare at these dots even more than the artwork itself for some strange reason. Maybe it’s just the colour attracting the eye. Maybe it’s the special aura around an artwork which someone else has deemed to be worthy by stumping up their hard earned cash. Red dots provide a cosseted reassurance that the ‘herd’ has already approved of your wild gesticulations on canvas or paper and that you and your art are the real deal. Here’s what to do:

• In a very obvious location in your exhibition hang a board on which you will display your sales victories.
• Stick the artwork details card (containing the title, size, medium and price) of artworks already sold on the sales board. Make sure each card has a big fat red dot.
• If you can, do everything in your power to sell at least two or three of the artworks that are intended for your show before the show opens so you can confidently claim victories on your sales board to get things rolling.
• As soon as any sale is made at the show, stick that big enticing red dot and details card on the board.

Adding up the amount of money an exhibition has taken by checking out the dots is a sport for some. I’ve actually witnessed people walk straight up to my art sales board and do the sums even before they looked at my artworks! Maybe I should just create artworks from fat red dots instead.

Golden Rule No. 3: Watch for Circling Sharks

Like a detective on a stake out, undertake discrete surveillance of what your exhibition visitors are doing. Stay busy but just keep a discrete eye on what’s happening. You’re on the lookout for ‘prospective buyer behaviour’. Prospective buyers tend to act differently from other exhibition visitors. Like sharks circling a prospective food source they hover around your artworks for longer than usual, and then quickly move up close for a quick snappy nibble to examine the artworks and take mental note of prices. Rarely will they decide to devour an artwork straight away by proclaiming “I’ll buy it now!”

If you notice this kind of behaviour then it’s time to just casually wander over and engage Mr or Mrs Shark in pleasant conversation. Quietly introduce yourself, ask where they are from or note something interesting about the artwork. Some people will put their defences up straight away, but maintain your pleasant composure and if necessary back off and leave them to their own devices. Many people will respond well, especially if you approach the encounter as genuinely wanting to meet a new shark (Oh dear I’ve now moved from a Guerrilla warfare analogy to a Jacques Cousteau Extreme Shark Encounter…oh well, if it works go with it).

Golden Rule No. 4. LISTEN!

Ego driven, self absorbed artists read the following carefully. When you are selling your art do not go banging on to potential customers about the underlying deep philosophical meanings of your artworks, and how during the creation of your artwork your soul was tortured due to memories resurfacing of the premature and untimely death of your budgie in the claws of a rabid bird of prey which flew off with the aforementioned budgie and then electrocuted itself on power lines. Don’t do that. Save it for interviews with editors of undecipherable art magazines later.

Instead, bring the conversation round to what the prospective buyer likes about the artwork. Get them to tell you about it and LISTEN! Don’t impose your thoughts about the artwork on them. Facilitate their getting to know the artwork for themselves. Let them have a chance to identify with it. Even though it’s your artwork, what it means to you is not important. IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO THEM! By all means answer their questions about any aspect of your work but make sure that you are leading them back to what they like about it. Help them to make the connection between this artwork and their own life.

Golden Rule No. 5: Lead the sale

It’s always amazing to me how many people really don’t know what they want. Most people (not all) will fluff around all day and ultimately make no decision to buy at all after wasting hours of your time if you don’t lead the sale. To lead the sale effectively you need some inside information about your prospective client. Since I’ve been using a war analogy I could start painting a mental picture of a dark interrogation room with a single light bulb swinging as extract the info we need, but since I have no wish to torture my clients I’ll leave that one alone.

Ask questions about where they’d like to hang your artwork; get them to describe the space. Guide them in visualising your artwork in their house by telling you where it will be situated. People LOVE to talk about themselves and their beautiful homes. Take an interest and a mental note of everything they are telling you. This is valuable information and it will help you guide the sale. If you can extract the information about what they like about your artwork and where it might eventually live in their home you have a powerful weapon in your art sales arsenal. Guide your potential client to zeroing in on just a couple of artworks based on what you are hearing, and how your artwork can fulfil THEIR needs. At all times just act as if this is a sale that is going ahead. Don’t fluff around saying ‘if’ and ‘maybe’ to a client. Be direct in your speech. More often than not there will be a point at which the client has a decision to make. To buy or not to buy, this painting or the other, or both.

When the time is right in the ebb and flow of things don’t be afraid to quickly reflect back to the client what they have said and how ‘this’ painting will fulfil their needs. For instance:

Client: “Oh I just can’t decide, both paintings are wonderful, but I’ve only got a small house and room for one”

You: “Well, you mentioned that the painting will be hanging over a blue lounge, so of the paintings that you like here I think this one would be absolutely beautiful in that spot, especially as it would echo that spectacular sea view from the opposite window.”

Client: (nodding and thinking): “Ah yes”

You: (in a matter of fact tone that infers this sale is going ahead): “So, would you like to take this painting home today?”

Important: NOW IT’S TIME TO SHUT UP. Do not say another word. If there is an awkward silence do not fill it. Rattling on any further will give the potential client room to wriggle out of making a decision right now. STAY QUIET. By asking the question and then staying silent they must make a decision.

At this point they will either:

COMMIT and indicate that they are genuinely interested in buying

SAY NO – people very rarely do this as it makes them feel awkward

DEFER and say “I’ll think about it and come back later” (which is a complete and utter lie designed to make them feel less awkward, but refreshingly just sometimes turns out to be true)

Okay, so we’re at the point of a client actually buying your artwork (or not as the case may be). Surely I can’t just leave you here like a bad soap opera cliff-hanger? Well yes, I can. This is turning into another long post so please subscribe to my feed and you’ll receive the next thrilling instalment as soon as I get in some more ranting time.

To be continued…

Are people really interested in your art? Do people stop and stare when they pass your art? Does it have that ‘certain something’, star quality, a ‘je ne sais quois?’.

It’s all relative of course. If you are a beginner artist then your art may not have reached it’s full potential yet, but there has to be a certain something about your art no matter what level of experience you have that makes people stop, look and get interested if you want to have any chance of success with your own art exhibition.

How do you know if your art is any good?

Lets defines terms here. By ‘good’ in terms of an art exhibition I mean interesting, engaging and that ultimately someone would be willing to transfer money from their bank account to yours to own it.

Good art, the kind that people want to see and buy (you want to make a living out of this, right?) engages them in some way. They stop for a good while and stare at it. They say things like “oh!” (in a fascinated way) or “now THAT’s interesting”. It induces some kind of emotional state. Good art gets a very real reaction.

Just because your best friend, mum, dad, great uncle, neighbour three doors down etc says that “you are very clever” and that your art is “pretty” does not necessarily mean that your art is good.

To know if your art is any good, you need to show it to people who don’t know you at all, people who don’t know or even care about ‘your story’.

How to find out the cold, hard truth about your art in one evening over a glass of wine

Here’s my subversive tip for really figuring out if your art is any good in terms of (at least some) people actually being interested in it before you invest your time and hard earned cash in the opening night of your life:

• Enter your art in local art competition exhibitions

Yes, this may seem obvious, but wait, there’s more…

If you actually get your work past the committee that chooses the artwork for the exhibition, depending on who the committee is, this might indicate some level of ‘goodness’ about your art, but we don’t really care about that at this stage because we are more interested in what ‘the street’ thinks about our art. What does Mr and Mrs everyday ordinary gallery going person think about what we have to offer? To find this out we need to go undercover.

I’ll illustrate the approach with a story:

When I was a child my mother would often enter her art in the local art competitions, and I would toddle off full of excitement with the family to opening night. Mum really wanted to know what people thought of her art and had no hesitation in sending me, as an undercover mini secret agent to find out the mood of the crowd in relation to her paintings. Glass of orange juice in hand I stealthily lurked in the vicinity of Mum’s creations and cast a sneaky ear on the conversations that were happening as each gallery goer passed the artwork. People can be quite open about their feelings when they think no one is listening, a small boy sipping on orange juice goes quite unnoticed, and I mentally noted down every word and dutifully reported back to Mum with every detail my young mind could remember. I still do this at my own art exhibitions today!

So your mission, should you choose to accept it:

• Find someone to stand unobtrusively around your artwork on the opening night of an exhibition acting as your undercover agent.

If its a big exhibition and no one even knows who you are then you could even do this yourself. Holding a glass of bubbly and quietly staring at the artworks next to yours will give you ample opportunity to tune in your ear to the mutterings of groups that pass your work. It’s not so much words you are listening for (though this helps), its more a case of judging how well people are engaging, stopping, staring, and noting things to each other about the work. Be aware though that an art competition opening night is filled with other artists, who tend to be arts biggest fans and biggest critics too!

If you do this a few times at a number of art competitions then you’ll start to build up a picture of how your art is stacking up against other art in terms of ‘goodness’. Notice how long do people stop and stare at other artworks in the competition. Does your art get more attention? less attention? more reaction? less reaction? Does it tend to get prime placement in the gallery? Does it get hidden away in a dark corner? Does it win? Winning art competitions is not necessarily the ultimate barometer of goodness but it can certainly help you on your mission; everyone loves a winner.

Spontaneous Adulation

Another marker of art that is likely to do well at an exhibition is that when you show it to people they ask if they can buy it. Again this may seem obvious, but really, if your art can induce someone to ask the price when they’ve never seen it before then the chances are that it might do well at your art show.

When I first started out in the art world I created screen-prints of my paintings in my garage. For some reason I showed them to the staff in the screen-printing supply shop where I bought my equipment. I was almost shocked when they were willing to hand over money right then and there for my screen-prints. It seemed everywhere I took them, people wanted to know if they could buy them or hang them in their gallery, framing shop, restaurant or home. I was even more surprised when an art agent came to seek me out after having heard about my art that hung in the screen print supply shop. When it came time for my exhibition opening night everything did indeed go well, and I made my first ever painting sale for $395 (a lot of money to me at the time) to someone I didn’t know before the exhibition had even opened.

It’s amazing how these things build momentum once you get started and you’ll never know if your art is any good unless you actually show people; so off you go, get out there and start the ball rolling!