Key takeaways
Light the artwork with two identical daylight-balanced lights (5000 to 5600 K, CRI 95 or higher) at about 45 degrees on each side, or use even daylight from an overcast sky.
Put the camera on a tripod directly in front of the center of the artwork, with the sensor parallel to it. Fixing a tilted shot later costs sharpness at the edges.
Shoot RAW at base ISO and f/8 to f/11, and include a gray card or color checker in a test frame to set white balance and color.
For prints, divide the pixel dimensions by 300 to get the largest print size in inches. A 24 MP camera gives about 20 by 13 inches.
Glare on varnish or glossy paper needs cross-polarization: polarizing film on the lights and a polarizing filter on the lens.
Step 1: Decide what the photo is for
A portfolio image for a website needs far fewer pixels than a file for a fine-art print. As a rule of thumb, divide the image's pixel dimensions by 300 to find the largest print in inches at 300 ppi, the resolution most print labs ask for:
Camera resolution | Pixels | Print size at 300 ppi |
|---|---|---|
12 MP | 4000 x 3000 | About 13 x 10 in |
24 MP | 6000 x 4000 | About 20 x 13 in |
48 to 50 MP | 8000 x 6000 | About 27 x 20 in |
Large prints are viewed from farther away, so many labs accept less, but check your printer's file requirements before you shoot. For a web portfolio, around 2,000 pixels on the long edge is plenty.
Step 2: Choose a camera, or a phone
Any mirrorless camera or DSLR with 20 MP or more, shooting RAW, is enough for most prints. A RAW file keeps the unprocessed sensor data, so you can correct white balance and exposure without damaging the image.
A recent phone works for portfolio images and small prints, especially if it can save RAW (DNG) files. Its main camera uses a wide lens and processes images heavily, so keep it perfectly square to the artwork and avoid the ultra-wide lens. Our guide to shooting product photos on a white background with a phone covers phone stands and settings.
Step 3: Use a normal or short telephoto lens
Wide-angle lenses bend straight edges and make rectangles look like trapezoids. A lens around 50 to 85 mm on a full-frame camera (about 35 to 55 mm on APS-C) lets you stand back and keeps lines straight. A macro lens is useful for close-up shots of brushwork and texture, but use a normal lens for the main record shot.
Step 4: Light the artwork evenly
The standard setup uses two identical lights, one on each side of the artwork, each angled at about 45 degrees to the surface and at the same distance and power. The camera sits between them, directly in front.
Use daylight-balanced lights between 5000 and 5600 K with a CRI (color rendering index) of 95 or higher, so pigments look right.
Diffuse the lights with softboxes or a diffusion panel. A white sheet in front of a bare LED panel also works.
Turn off room lights and close the curtains, so window light and lamps don't mix with your lights.
If you see glare, move the lights farther to the sides. Light bounces off a surface at the same angle it arrives, so a wider angle sends reflections away from the lens.
Check evenness by photographing a gray card in each corner and the center. The exposure should match across all five.
Budget LED kits work well for this. Neewer's two-panel bi-color kit, rated CRI 97 and above, lists at $169.99 on its US store.
No lights? Shoot outdoors in open shade or on an overcast day, never in direct sun. Daylight changes color through the day, so include a gray card in every session.
Step 5: Keep the camera square
This is the step most people skip, and it's the hardest to fix later.
1. Hang the artwork on a wall or easel, or lay it flat for a camera on a copy stand.
2. Put the camera on a tripod with the center of the lens level with the center of the artwork.
3. Turn on the camera's grid and electronic level, so the sensor is parallel to the artwork.
4. Check that the edges of the artwork line up with the grid lines and that the gaps around it are even on all four sides.
5. Fill most of the frame, but leave a small border to crop into.
Perspective correction in an editor can rescue a slightly tilted shot, but it stretches pixels at the edges, so treat it as a fallback.
Step 6: Set the exposure
Shoot in manual mode at your camera's base ISO, usually ISO 100.
Use an aperture of f/8 to f/11, where most lenses are sharpest from corner to corner.
Set the shutter speed from the histogram, keeping the brightest whites just short of the right edge.
Use a 2-second self-timer or a remote release so pressing the button doesn't shake the camera.
Take a few frames a third to two-thirds of a stop apart, in case one exposure renders the whites or darks better.
Step 7: Get the color right
Start every session with a test frame that includes a gray card or a color checker, in the same light as the artwork.
Gray card: in your editor, click the gray card with the white balance picker to remove any color cast, then apply the same setting to every shot from the session.
Color checker: a chart such as the Calibrite ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 (formerly sold under the X-Rite name), currently $89.25 on Calibrite's site, lets you build a color profile for your lights. The free editor darktable's color calibration module can calculate a correction from a shot of a 24-patch color checker and save it as a preset for later sessions under the same lights.
Calibrate your monitor before judging color on screen; see our guide to calibrating a monitor for photo editing.
Step 8: Remove glare with cross-polarization
Oil paint, varnish, glossy paper and acrylic with a sheen reflect your lights as white specks and patches. Cross-polarization removes them:
1. Cover each light with linear polarizing film, with the film on both lights aligned the same way. Sheets cost about $55 to $62.
2. Put a circular polarizing filter on the lens.
3. Look through the camera and rotate the filter until the glare disappears, usually at about 90 degrees to the film.
Polarizers block a lot of light, so expect much longer exposures, which is fine on a tripod. Cross-polarization removes reflections but not the shadows of raised brushwork, so you keep the sense of texture.
Step 9: Handle texture, glass and large pieces
Canvas and impasto: two lights at equal angles keep texture even. To show off the surface, add a single light from one side at a low angle for an extra detail shot.
Work behind glass: take it out of the frame if you can. If not, use cross-polarization, wear dark clothing and shoot from directly in front.
Pieces bigger than your camera can resolve: shoot the artwork in overlapping sections, about 25% to 30% overlap, without changing focus, exposure or white balance, then stitch them with the free panorama tool Hugin or assemble the sections in GIMP.
Step 10: Edit and export
Free editors handle all of this. darktable (version 5.6.2) develops RAW files, corrects color and perspective and exports high-bit-depth TIFFs, and GIMP (version 3.2.6) handles pixel-level cleanup.
1. Set white balance and exposure from your gray card or color checker frame.
2. Correct any remaining perspective, then crop exactly to the edges of the artwork.
3. Sharpen lightly for print, and remove dust spots.
4. Export a master file as a 16-bit TIFF with an embedded color profile and lossless compression.
5. Export separate copies for each use: sRGB JPEGs at high quality for the web, and whatever format and color space your print lab specifies for prints. Many online labs want sRGB; some fine-art printers accept a wider-gamut color space or supply their own printer profile.
Keep the RAW files and the master TIFF together, so you can export new versions later.
When to scan instead
For small, flat work on paper, a flatbed scanner at 600 dpi gives an evenly lit, distortion-free file with no glare setup. Scanners can't handle canvas, thick paint or anything larger than the glass, and glossy surfaces can show a hotspot. For large pieces, use a camera or a professional scanning service.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best way to photograph artwork?
Light it with two identical daylight-balanced lights at about 45 degrees on each side, put the camera on a tripod square to the center of the artwork, shoot RAW at f/8 to f/11 and set white balance from a gray card.
Can I photograph artwork with my phone?
Yes, for portfolio images and small prints. Use the main lens, shoot RAW if your phone allows it, keep the phone perfectly square on a stand and use even lighting.
How many megapixels do I need to print my artwork?
Divide the pixel dimensions by 300 for the largest print in inches. A 24 MP camera gives about 20 by 13 inches at 300 ppi, and a 50 MP camera about 27 by 20 inches.
How do I stop glare when photographing a painting?
Move the lights farther to the sides first. If glare remains on varnish or glossy paper, use cross-polarization: polarizing film on the lights and a polarizing filter on the lens, rotated until the glare disappears.
What color space should I use for printing artwork?
Use whatever your print lab asks for. Many online labs want sRGB, while some fine-art printers accept a wider-gamut color space or supply their own profile. Keep a 16-bit TIFF master so you can export either.