As professional artists, we have to present our artworks to perfect strangers in slide form. No matter how wonderful your painting or sculpture may be, if the image of it is bad, it reflects poorly on you as an artist.
You can pay a professional photographer to shoot your slides for you, but it's not hard to shoot your own. You don't have to be an amazing photographer or have expensive equipment to take good slides of your work. Just follow some good photographic sense and use your eye.
Equipment
You will need a good quality manual 35mm camera with at least a standard (50mm) lens, which is good for all artworks except those that are exceptionally large. Even the most expensive automatic camera is not as useful for photographing artwork because it sets the exposure automatically for you. For instance, if your painting is mostly black, an auto camera will try to make it look grey.
Use a tripod, if you have one to insure clarity of the image.
Focus your image carefully. Use a slightly higher F-stop to increase the depth of field and minimize focus difficulties. Bracket the photo, i.e. take shots with slightly under and slightly over exposed settings to make sure you get the right exposure.
Film
Your choice of film will depend on what lighting you will be using to shoot your work. I prefer Fujichrome to shoot most of my work because it has a bluer tonal quality to it than Kodak's chrome films, which is a bit more sepia in tone. Kodak's Elite Chrome can be processed in about an hour by most labs, so I use it when I'm under a tight deadline.
Lighting
I always prefer natural light over artificial light. A room with a large window on a sunny day is wonderful. You may also shoot your work outside, midday, in the shade; however, meter to make sure all areas of your work have the same light. Photograph in diffuse natural sunlight, never with direct sunlight on your work. Never use the flash mounted directly on the camera.
Backgrounds
Keep the backdrop for your work very simple. A general rule of thumb to follow is to photograph dark work against light backdrops and light works against dark backdrops, so that your work can stand out.
Presentation of Work
If you're work is 2D (painting, drawing, etc.), set it up without any glass or plexi and without a mat or frame around the work, if possible. It is best to present the work unadulterated by distracting elements. If you're photographing glazed work, you can use a polarizing filter to reduce the glare.
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