photographing stained glass artwork

<p>Hi,<br>

I am wondering if anyone can help me with photographing some stained glass artwork I have. I only have a Nikon coolpix p80 and not a lot of experience. I would like to know what the best way to shoot these pieces would be. I have put them in the window and tried taking them in different light situations but the purples look blue and the whole thing is drab instead of bright and colorful. Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>

I assume these are flat like pictures or stained glass windows sort of thing. That would look best if lit from the rear. You would need a white backdrop such as a white wall or white sheet hanging down. If small enough you could just use white paper. the whiter and more reflective the backdrop the better. I assume you have nothing else except the artwork and the camera. You would have to shine some lights or lamps on the backdrop to brightly and evenly light it. That should reflectively light the glass artwork from the rear with the artwork a foot or so in front of the backdrop. The lead framing between pieces of glass would be very dark since there is less light shining on it from the front. It that is not acceptable then you would also have to shine some light onto the front.

 

With artificial lights, the color would be off unless you were to set the white balance. You would have to read in your user manual on how to do that. You might get by by selecting one of the preset white balances such as tungsten/incandescent but if not then you would have to read how to manually set the white balance.

<blockquote>

<p ><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=5899729"><em>Geri Thieme</em></a><em> </em><a href="/member-status-icons"></a><em>, Jan 21, 2010; 08:51 p.m.</em><br>

<em>I have put them in the window and tried taking them in different light situations but the purples look blue and the whole thing is drab instead of bright and colorful.</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>It would help if you posted an example. Otherwise we're just guessing.....</p>

<p>Bill P.</p>

<p>Geri,</p>

 

<p>You should be aware that stained glass is one of the hardest subjects to photograph well.

You’ll need to capture a huge dynamic range to get both the light coming through the glass

and reflecting off the lead (and paint, if any) on the front. Doing so is possible, but requires skillful (and probably

expensive) lighting techniques, likely combined with HDR work in post-processing. And, even if you

get the lighting nailed, you’ve still got to deal with color fidelity, which means a color-

managed workflow…a really nasty can of worms, especially when dealing with diverse light

sources.</p>

 

<p>If you want my suggestion for something not terribly complex that might be “good

enough,” take the pieces outside on a sunny day. Set them up in front of a large white board

(foamcore would be good, available at your local art store) to provide transmissive light, and use

another similar white board to reflect sunlight onto the front side so as to cast light on those details.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time adjusting things to find the right combination of angles, but the

goal you’re working towards is similar amounts of light reaching your eyeball from both

sources. Specular highlights — bright shiny reflections — are your biggest enemy, though a tiny hint of them could help add dimensionality and texture.</p>

 

<p>Once you’ve got that set, use a $10 Kodak Gray Card for a custom white balance and to

set exposure. Take the shot. If your camera has a histogram, learn how to read it to adjust

exposure.</p>

 

<p>Good luck….</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

<p>I think a cloudy day is much better than a sunny one if you're shooting stained glass, in order to keep the contrast down, especially if your stained glass has clear/white areas as well as very dark colours. If it's brilliantly sunny outside, you could also go with James' suggestion of hanging some translucent white material between stained glass and the window. It doesn't necessarily have to be fabric either. Printer paper could do as well if the sun is shining directly behind. That will also cut down on the contrast, and if it's larger than the stained glass art (sticking out beyond it), it will give your camera something to base its white balance on. That might cure your problem of purples looking blue. (Of course that problem could also lie in trying to judge a pic on the cameras less than accurate lcd, or on an uncalibrated computer monitor). Regardless, having something white in the frame that you can crop out later can only help. I don't know if your camera has the ability to set a custom white balance, but if so, you can also hold a sheet of printer paper (or gray card or whatever) right by the window where you'll be shooting the art, take a shot of it and tell the camera to use that for a custom white balance and then shoot your art using that preset custom white balance.</p>

<p>As far as the drabness goes, there's a chance the camera is underexposing, especially if there are large clear areas in your stained glass, or if there are large areas of window around it. So, if your camera allows for it, keep adjusting your shutter speed to get more exposure until you see "blinkies" on the lcd, then back it off a notch. The only blinkies that will matter are the ones that appear in the stained glass art itself, assuming you'll be cropping out everything else in the photo. That will give you a nice bright picture with detail in the darker areas and no blown highlights (thanks to the white transluscent material behind it), and then you can always add a bit of saturation and/or contrast afterwards in software.</p>

<p>As Bill P. requested, we could help a lot more with one of your images to view.</p>

<p>But (just guessing here) HDR is probably the answer. Picturenaut is a very powerful, free (donation ware) program with which to do HDR processing, but be prepared to do some reading before you start.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. I feel a sigh of relief that I have something to try from people who know what they are doing. I will give it all a try tomorrow and see what happens, then let you know. </p>