Nikon lens and light for photographing a large mural-type painting

Hello.

I am looking for the best set up for capturing large acrylic canvas painting, which is pinned against a wall. The artwork is mural-like, 8ft by

12ft. The room is small and has poor light. I am having trouble spreading the light evenly. The best shots so far are with umbreallas

pointing away from the painting bouncing off the not so distant walls. The 50mm is neat but a little long for the space. Using the wide lens,

images didn't seem clear enough at 24mm, but better at 35mm. I am considering getting a 35mm prime lens for my full sensor camera if

it will be a better bet for photographing artwork, and of course for other work if it's a pleasure to use over the tamron zoom. Wondering

about lighting the artwork evenly and camer set up for such a task, f-stop, etc.

Have:

D700 //

Nikon 50mm 1.8G //

Tamron 17-35mm //

Photogenic strobe lights with umbrellas //

Thanks so much for any tips you may have!

<p>Unless you are shooting for some strange effect, the light should fall evenly on the painting. If you can't control the light inside, you may have to bring it outside into a shade/overcast. I'd photograph it with longer lens....preferably a prime (longer than 50mm), such as 60/70/85/105 in sections-overlapping and stitch everything. You may have to use pola filter to remove minute reflections. Also you may need a ladder. If you do stitch it, it would be highly advisable that you determine WB and lock it....an auto-WB will most likely shift from shot to shot, and it will be difficult to repair that.</p>

<p>Can't suggest camera settings, since lighting will determine that. Try using, however, some sort of DOF, I mean one or two stops from wide-open aperture....this will give you sharper results and without introducing diffraction. Try keeping it on some sort of steady platform or tripod, which would help you to keep the ISO's at minimum (better image quality).</p>

<p>Les<br>

</p>

Thank you Les.

I did try stitching the painting from three 50mm shots and had trouble with it because of the painting looks

so similar throughout, not distinguishing features like defined lines or shapes. Also, because I had to move the tripod (no

rail system), the lens did turn to one side just a bit and perspective changed significantly. WB did change too, I set it to

flash. I see now that it must still be an auto mode, but I would still worry that by shifting the lens, WB would read

differently just because the light distance would change. I do have a tamron 90mm as well, but since the space is tight

and the painting is tricky to stitch, I avoided it so far. I did also try outside, with help and a tall wooden fence, but due to

the size it was a huge problem. I think ideally it would need to be in some perfectly lit large indoor space.

Would you not recommend a 35mm lens at all?

<blockquote>

<p>"Thanks so much for any tips you may have!"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Here is what I do when I have similar artwork to shoot.</p>

<ul>

<li>I prefer to shoot subjects like yours with a large format or medium format camera. However, if I had to shoot with a small format digital camera, I would mount the camera on a sturdy tripod and use a Nikon macro lens. If the room was too small for my macro lenses, I would try various focal lengths until I found the right one.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>If I determined that 35mm was the best focal length for the situation, I would use a high quality 35mm prime lens instead of a zoom lens.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I place a small mirror at the center of the artwork and parallel to the surface of the artwork. I then position the camera so I can see the refection of the camera in the mirror. This technique places the camera so the image plane is parallel to the surface of the artwork. (I try to remember to remove the mirror before taking the photo.)</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I use grid lines to aid in proper composition.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I place one electronic flash with a 40-inch white umbrella at a 45° position on the right side of the artwork and aim it at the left side of the artwork.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I place another electronic flash with a 40-inch white umbrella at a 45° position on the left side of the artwork and aim it at the right side of the artwork.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>To ensure even illumination, I take a hand held flash meter reading at the center and the four corners of the artwork.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I set the shutter speed no higher than the camera's maximum flash synch (I actually prefer 1/30th second).</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I try to use a low ISO like 100 or 200.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I try to use an f/stop around f/8 or f/11.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I adjust the light intensity of the flash to adjust the exposure.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I set the white balance to flash, sun, or 5500° Kelvin (I actually prefer sun).</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>I use a remote trigger to fire the electronic flash units.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>If I decide to use a continuous light source instead of electronic flash, I use a remote shutter release to reduce camera shake during long exposures.</li>

</ul>

This same question has been asked many times

before, here and on the lighting forum. There are

also good online tutorials about copy lighting and

techniques.

<p>

For the best results you need to use a distortion-free copy lens such as the 55mm Micro Nikkor. If you're forced to use a wider lens, then it needs to be a prime with little distortion, or distortion that's easily correctable in post.

<p>

Two lights will probably not cover a mural-sized artwork sufficiently evenly. Four undiffused lights, two either side at corner height, would be better. It's easier to control unwanted reflections if the lights aren't diffused. You never find umbrellas or softboxes being used in a proper copying studio.

<p>

It sounds as if the space you're trying to copy in is far too small. To get even lighting you need a room that's at least twice as wide as the artwork, and with a length at least the diagonal of the artwork long. I'm assuming that this isn't a permanent display space because of the "pinning" and the fact that a painting so large wouldn't be seen properly in a small room. Borrow a larger room for your copying!

"To ensure even illumination, I take a hand held flash meter reading at the center and the four corners of the artwork."

Thank you for all the great tips, I was neglecting the light meter altogether. Time to learn how to use one.

"For the best results you need to use a distortion-free copy lens such as the 55mm Micro Nikkor."

Is there a list for all the distortion-free lenses or what features I should look out for in selecting such a lens?

Add-on question:

So far I was only concerned with accurate coloring and light, but I realize now that for reproduction I would need to be

able to print larger than what a 12megapixel camera offers. Is there a thread you would recommend or a quick tip for

printing large? So far I'm thinking of doing a quality 8x10print and then scanning on a table scanner.

Thank you!

<p>As said, rectilinear lenses and even lighting are good but are hard to get in the real world.<br>

Museums do try to get the light even if they can.</p><div></div>

Well, it looks like your only option is stitching if you

want more megapixels than your D700 can provide. Although you can print larger than 300 ppi by some margin. You can easily get an A3 sized print from 12 megapixels.

If you decide to go the stitching route, then you'll definitely need a low distortion lens. Oherwise matching up the tiles will be a nightmare. I'd also advise you make some sort of camera+lights bracket/rig. Preferably with padded "legs" that can be placed on the artwork to space, level and define the copy area. That way you can simply position the lights and camera together in front of the artwork, pop off a shot and move to the next section.

AFAIK there's no list of low distortion lenses. Lenses with zero distortion are near impossible to find in a Nikon mount. One very low distortion lens that I know of is Samyang's f/2 135mm. For others, check out the specifications of macro lenses, which should offer low distortion.

<p>There was mention that this painting was pinned to the wall, this makes me think that it may not be on a stretcher and therefore behaves more like a wall hanging than a painting. Or in other words part of the character of the work is the 3D effects of hanging and shadows caused by the non-flat surface against a flat wall.</p>

<p>If this is the case I'd be looking to retain that in my photograph and would start looking at ways to present it as part of the environment it is located in. I'd take it off the wall and light the room so that there is and even spread of light or at least ensure that there isn't a light fall-off in one direction. Take a few test shots to see how the light really falls and work out how much of the room needs to be included in the shot, because I always shoot RAW I wouldn't worry too much if the room was a bit dark to the eye.</p>

<p>Replace the picture and fire away! For this kind of work I always use my 45 PC-E everything on manual, live view and timer or remote for firing on the D800. Tonal values etc can be adjusted in Lightroom. Another very handy tool for this kind of job is "perspective" crop in Photoshop.</p>

<p>What I would do is first get the light evened out. For the size you are talking about, I'd want about 2-4 monolights for lighting. Monolights have a MUCH MUCH bigger area of coverage, and by diffusing and then overlapping them I can get very even lighting. Second is the lens. The very obvious choice here is the Nikon 24mm PC-E. Take three shots with it--shifted left, centered, shifted right. Then using Photoshop CC stitch the three together. This lens will give you perfect stitches every time with no distortion. A shifted 24mm PC-E will easily handle this. Anyway, if one of my customers hired me to do this project that's how I would do it.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>If you need to have more than 12 megapixels, you need another camera or you can use D700 and stitch. What you need depends.<br>

Dedicated stitching programs (I have an older version of PTGui - others do exist) can correct well lens distortion parameters. Those parameters get calculated automatically from 2-3 overlapping sample images. Thus the need to hire a T/S lens is lessened.<br>

You may want to take some test shots from your target or another suitably similar one, download a test version of a stitching program and see what you can get with that. Try first a low number of images to be stitched, like three or four in one row. By doing a simple row pano from 3-4 overlapping images in portrait orientation you may get around 20-24 megapixels for covering the artwork.<br>

For landscape panos I have used 20mm, 28mm and the mentioned 55mm lens mostly.</p>

<p>I would use my 24mm PC-E and several transparent umbrellas (4). Shoot digital and review your image. You can measure the illumination at different points in Photoshop then adjust your lighting as necessary. I've shot objects this size by "painting with light", but it was not as critical as your mural. I hope you have plenty of time to experiment.<br>

(you can rent a PC-E lens if you don't own one)<br>

Let us know how it turns out.<br>

Rick</p>