Photographing Art Works--keeping the artist's achievement in the photographic image

Here's an image of a small oil painting that hangs on my wall. It's a squirrel in oil on barn wood.

I bought it at a street craft fair about 30 years ago. It's one of a kind.

The artist did not sign her name, and I have mislaid the receipt in the move I made from Kentucky to Tennessee. She was doing these before one's eyes, in her booth. But I believe it is fair use to photograph it for my own use and pleasure, and to ask for help in doing that optimally, here at OPF.

Could I have made the shot better? It's cropped a bit, here, and considerably downsized. I sharpened it once and brightened it the merest shade, to bring it nearer to how my eye sees it on my wall.

@Nik--in reference to my Optimize thread in the Retouch, Repair forum: this squirrel has nothing whatsoever to do with my early dawn rabbit. < she said with a smile >

Squirrel, Oil on Barn Wood



Comments will be very welcome.

Mary

1. Use a tripod if light is scarce; an improvised one will be enough.
1a. If no table, cupboard or cabinet is high enough to serve as a tripod, press your camera and yourself to a wall.
2. Crop in camera: go as near as possible, choose the correct format [portrait in this case].
3. Although there is a three-dimensional component in the original art, it is essentially 2-D art. Use the telezoom end rather than the wide angle.
4. Try to get the main light from the front to get out the colours, but have a secondary light coming from the side [outside frame, upper left corner] to show the cracks and general nature of the wod "board"
5. Correct sharpening is a much underappreciated and sadly seldom discussed art in itself. Trouble is, digital images need a little bit of sharpening. Most of the time, particularly for on-line use, a low-medium setting is quite good; most pictures get oversharpened.

Thank you so very much, Dierk.

As a matter of fact, the artist fixed with epoxy a little hanger to the back of the old board. So I can remove it easily from the wall and place it in the most advantageous position. This thought occurred to me only as I read your listed points of advice.

I shall go try again in a little while.

Mary