Taking photographs of completed frames

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dmcgreen
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Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by dmcgreen »

Hi all,

Perhaps I'm being particular but I am always unsatisfied with the outcome when taking photographs of completed frames. The perspective tends to look odd and gives an unusual sense of size and generally doesn't do the finished article full justice. I presume alot of this is down to the square-nature of photographs(?)

I'm looking to capture high quality images for use on my website for a professional look. The quality of the photograph is not so much the problem (using a combination of iPhone X and DSLR camera)

Does anyone else find this to be an issue? Any tips?

Thanks
David
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by Not your average framer »

This is a difficult issue to resolve. First of all lighting is very important to get right and single source lighting rarely looks right. It is no accident that studio photographers use use so many different free standing lighting facilities. Also they are not experts on lighting by accident. It's a major part of their training.

Then there is the lens and shutter settings. Most of us probably use point and shoot cameras, where these sort of settings are automatically set be the built in electronics in the camera and there is an element of compromise to this. Very fast shutter speeds are the norm with this sort of system , which helps to minimise camera shake when you press the button to take the shot. Unfortunately shutter speed and iris spettings have a majors impact on the depth of field, that is going to be in focus.

Very often the built in flash in a camera, will automatically operate when taking photographs in doors and this causes unneccessary problems with reflections and if you are photographing someones face the is a risk of creating the effect known as red eye. These days clever software in the camera is supposed to correct this, but correcting unwanted reflections is another matter.

The human eye and the brain are very good at compensating for unwanted shaddows, but as they say "The camera never lies" and all the unwanted shadows will still be there. This what the multi source re-positional light is for in a photographic studio. So sorry, but there are times when you will need to experiment with your lighting set up.

Fundimentally, a lot of the problems take time, practice and skill to produce the best results and probably some digital photo editing software, if you are using a digital camera, so you either need to equip your self accordingly and spend much more time getting it right, or pay for a professional photographer to do it all for you. Do you have a family member, or good friend who has the necessary skills who can do it for you? It might be the easiest solution in the long run.

I would like to point out that I am not much of a expert on these things, but I helped organised some photo shoot for a company that I used to work with. I was just making sure that the items being photograph were correctly presented before the photograph did the rest. It is in such a situation that you find out how little you actually know about taking perfect in door photographs. I hope this helps!
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by pramsay13 »

I normally lie the image on the ground and take a photograph from above.
I have lines on my phone to make it as square as possible although sometimes I edit it in GIMP to correct lens distortion.
If there's too much reflection on the glass I switch out the lights or wait until it is a bit darker outside.
I then take away the background and add a shadow to make it look more realistic.
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by pramsay13 »

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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by vintage frames »

Make sure you don't get too close to the frame when photographing it. Otherwise a square frame will suddenly become quite bulbous in shape.

Context is everything - an empty frame is pretty boring.

Close one eye when you're looking at the frame. That is how it will look in the photograph.

Use a strong daylight bulb for lighting, the auto function on your camera will be enough, you can twiddle the exposure later in a photo editor.
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by Rainbow »

I use Photoshop to correct the perspective and remove the background. I photograph on a plain background, in whatever colour provides a sharp contrast with the frame so that the Magic Eraser tool has an easier job. It's only the framed picture that goes on my website, no background.

PS. I'm sometimes guilty of getting bulbosity (is that a word, if not, I've invented it :D), but I can eliminate it in Photoshop.
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by Not your average framer »

I would be more than happy with those photos, if they were mine. It's a fairly basic technique, but , but the results look o.k. to me.

:clap: :clap: :clap:
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dmcgreen
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by dmcgreen »

Thanks all

Placing the frame on a surface and taking the photo from above is an interesting idea, hadn't thought of that.

Need to dig out my old copy of Photoshop 7 it seems haha!
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by Justintime »

Copy lighting would be the traditional way. The important factor being the placement of camera and lights (of identical power/lumens/cri etc)
Place work on wall, camera in the middle on tripod and lights equidistant to the wall and work.
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Re: Taking photographs of completed frames

Post by Gesso&Bole »

Saw this subject discussed on The Grumble, but can't find it now.

Basically if I remember correctly folks were saying cut a small hole in a sheet of dark coloured mountboard the same size as your phone camera lens. Build a holder on the back of the mountboard sheet to hold your phone securely, and then you can stand in front of the frame that you hang on the wall, and you wont get reflections in the glass, and a decent picture.

Haven't tried it yet, but it seemed a plausible idea.
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