Tasadam's Art Copies
![Post Post](./styles/prosilver/imageset/icon_post_target.gif)
Without wishing to kick of a blue I must say at the outset that I do not agree at all with using a light tent to copy oil paintings. It would change small specular highlights on the brush-strokes into an overall sheen which would reduce contrast and colour saturation. In part the situation could possibly be remedied in POST PRODUCTION - but then again, perhaps it could not. Well, not so precisely, anyway.
Now, Adam, the foirst thing to come to grips with is why you wish to copy all these paintings. Is it simply to catalogue them as a reference and for possible on-line promotion, or do you wish to make reproductions from them for sale and possible printing as posters, post-cards, calendars, etc. The intended use will greatly influence the lengths you go to in the copying.
For the ULTIMATE result I suggest copying the paintings in cross-polarised light. What is 'cross-polarised light?' I hear you ask. Well you place a sheet of Polarising foil over each lamp orientated in the same direction (usually indicated by a mark of either your own or the manufacturer's addition) and then you place another Polariser over the taking lens of the camera orientated so as not to allow any reflections to show.
Because so much of the light is being blocked by the filters, exposures can become quite lengthy affairs and so this is all best carried out in a room capable of total darkness so that other (ambient) non-polarised light does not affect the exposure. The simplest thing if you don't have a light-tight studio or copy-room is to work at night woth the lights turned off.
I use standard dish reflectors on my flash units because being smaller the reflections are smaller. The lights are placed at about 45ยบ either side of the artwork at sufficient distance to give an even illumination without hot-spots. Obviously the lamps should be positioned in such a way as to cause minimal relections to begin with.
I used this technique just a few weeks ago and wrote of it here. I used flashes of 1500WS and, using a view camera and macro lens, I needed f22 to assure even image quality across the image. The flashes with all the filtration gave me f4 and so it was necessary for me to open the shutter on 'B' and then fire the flashes 32 times to attain enough exposure for f22. (I ended up cheating and using f16 which only required 16 flash 'POPS'.
Included adjacent to the painting should be a Kodah Colour-Separation guide and a Step-Wedge (greyscale) if you intend to have the pictures reproduced by a commercial printer They provide an industry standard reference which relates directly to the ink that goes onto the paper.
Good luck with the project.
Now, Adam, the foirst thing to come to grips with is why you wish to copy all these paintings. Is it simply to catalogue them as a reference and for possible on-line promotion, or do you wish to make reproductions from them for sale and possible printing as posters, post-cards, calendars, etc. The intended use will greatly influence the lengths you go to in the copying.
For the ULTIMATE result I suggest copying the paintings in cross-polarised light. What is 'cross-polarised light?' I hear you ask. Well you place a sheet of Polarising foil over each lamp orientated in the same direction (usually indicated by a mark of either your own or the manufacturer's addition) and then you place another Polariser over the taking lens of the camera orientated so as not to allow any reflections to show.
Because so much of the light is being blocked by the filters, exposures can become quite lengthy affairs and so this is all best carried out in a room capable of total darkness so that other (ambient) non-polarised light does not affect the exposure. The simplest thing if you don't have a light-tight studio or copy-room is to work at night woth the lights turned off.
I use standard dish reflectors on my flash units because being smaller the reflections are smaller. The lights are placed at about 45ยบ either side of the artwork at sufficient distance to give an even illumination without hot-spots. Obviously the lamps should be positioned in such a way as to cause minimal relections to begin with.
I used this technique just a few weeks ago and wrote of it here. I used flashes of 1500WS and, using a view camera and macro lens, I needed f22 to assure even image quality across the image. The flashes with all the filtration gave me f4 and so it was necessary for me to open the shutter on 'B' and then fire the flashes 32 times to attain enough exposure for f22. (I ended up cheating and using f16 which only required 16 flash 'POPS'.
Included adjacent to the painting should be a Kodah Colour-Separation guide and a Step-Wedge (greyscale) if you intend to have the pictures reproduced by a commercial printer They provide an industry standard reference which relates directly to the ink that goes onto the paper.
Good luck with the project.