Best way to photograph oil paintings and pastel artworks with a DSLR

Question

I’m photographing oil paintings and pastel works for an art book using a Nikon D800 and a Sigma 50mm f/1.4, shooting RAW. I’d like advice on the best setup for accurate reproduction.

Questions:
- What lighting works best for artwork reproduction: direct sun, open shade, or an overcast day?
- What aperture is usually best for keeping the entire artwork sharp without losing lens quality?
- Some pastel pieces are behind glass. What’s the best way to minimize reflections when photographing them?
- Is a 50mm lens suitable, or would a longer focal length be better for flatter, lower-distortion results?

user37321 · Accepted Answer

Personally I would not choose a 50mm lens for this but a higher focal distance. 100-200, but it depends on the art size. The more focal length you have, the less distortion you get. But as it is a prime lens, it is a good option. If you get noticeable distortion you can correct it on postproduction.

F-Stop

The lenses have an optimum performance in the mid range, normally on F8-11. If the F-Stop is too wide you can have some zones out of focus, and if you force it narrow too much you could have diffraction.

Try to see if there is a review on your specific lens here:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Filter

I am not sure, but you will probably want to reduce the reflection on oil paintings, but on the other hand you probably want to show them if the paint has a lot of texture. If you want to reduce it use a polarizer filter. The same case with the glass.

Light

Outdoors would be my last choice... I would not consider it at all for a painting.

I would consider natural light (next to a window) only if the context is important, where the painting is, the painter's studio. Only in those cases.

So the option is artificial light.

I would use 2 flashes with a large softbox on 45° of the painting on each side as far as you can go, to have the most uniform light you can get.

If the painting has a lot of texture, I would move a main light closer to the plane of the painting to enhance the texture. But far enough to have little difference of light on the side next to the light compared to the far side.

To avoid almost any reflection your studio should be dark with the lights only pointing at the paint. So you would not use white transparent umbrellas, but a softbox with a grid on it.

But if you can, remove the paintings from the glass frame. Pastel painting also has texture.