HOW TO photograph artwork containing iridescence. Film and Digital formats.

This evolved into a particularly difficult project, and if any of it helps...great! . I set up two monolights

at 30-45 degrees to the artwork. 11.8 on my handheld meter at ambient setting. Then a singular light

above my workspace at 16.2 I used a defined 7 degree hex on this direct light, and UV filters on the

two sidelights. I use the light above to emphasize iridescence of pastel or gold leaf in artwork, which

would otherwise be lost in a straight scan or insufficient camera-angle lighting. The total exposure is

right at f/22: 16.2 from one light above and 11.8 total from the two sides.

 

For accurate color, I use Fuji Astia film. Slides turn out great from above procedure.

For digital work, I set my WB to 5900 K on my Nikon D-200 with a non-zoom lens. Non-zoom lenses

with fewer glass elements give me less trouble, though with photographing delicate jewelry, they are

very helpful. I just need square images to match the artwork.

 

For some reason, however, colors didn't sit well with me, so I had to set up an action key with one of the

photographs. Perhaps I should have shot 6300 K. Action key is an enormous asset when

photographing 90 images at once. On this particular project I saturated individual colors 40%RED, 50%

G, (15% Y - 15%K), 15%B. Then>Selective color White>

-100K, +50Y. I recently calibrated my screen with Spider.

 

I am not an inherently facile person with technical knowhow, and amiss at how poorly written so much

of current text. People like me meander through the vocabulary of "help sites" and text that has no

parallel or metaphorical equivalent to film. So be it. But I do eventually figure it out through hell and

high water.

 

Next chapters : "Color," and " How I printed with Epson 2200. "

May we see an example?

yep, here ye be

1.) shoot raw not JPEGS.

 

Number 2: polarize the lights and the lens and play with the polarization rotation angle on

the lens. When photographing works on paper with gold leaf details or accents these steps

have worked for me.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but try using a single, fairly compact light source at a low angle. If you can back the lamp off a considerable distance (I think the rule of thumb is at least 4x the difference between the near and far side distance - whatever, try to keep under 1/4 stop difference) the exposure will be fairly even and you can rotate the light to accentuate the shimmer effects.

Ellis, yes, this has worked well for me for years, especially for large mural work. I have

begun to shy away from this double-polarizer method, however, because darker

values...or zones...tend to become inseparable from each other.

 

Some reflective artwork is simply difficult, as iridescent pastels without polarizers, which

from one direction may give a purplish cast and from the other, a chartreuse cast.

 

Another photographer whom I assisted on large murals, would use only Velvia film. And

sure, the colors looked happy, but aren't as faithful as Astia.