Do I need a macro lens

Hi all,
I am hoping that someone here can help me with a specific issue I have!!!
My wife is an artist and paints on canvases usually about 100cm x 100cm. She used thick oil and acrylic paint and the paintings are very textured.

I use a Nikon D3000 with a 18-55mm standard lens to take picture for sending to clients and agents etc.
At the moment I am struggling to get a true colour likeness of the painting as there are very colourful and some colour seem to get lost. I am also finding it hard to capture the depth and texture of the painting. My poor photography is reflecting bad on my wife’s brilliant work.

I was wondering if I get a macro lens this would help with the colour and detail I am trying to achieve.

Any help\suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Shane Horkan
P.S. you can see some of my poor photography and my wife great work at www.victoriahorkan.com

Several points need taking into consideration.

1= Are you photographing in the best light ie daylight
2 =Are you shooting in RAW
3 = are you doing any editing say with Adobe to adjust the colours
4= What distance are you shooting at
5 =are you checking the histogram
6= are you using the correct camera settings
7= are you using any filters

Also take into consideration you are using a kit lens which is a general all purpose lens and not possibly the best.

A macro lens isn't the answer in my opinion, a good quality lens say an F2.8 lens would be better.

having said that you will be hard put get an exact likeness as possibly the monitor hasn't been calibrated properly or not the best monitor for the job. Don't forget monitors are back lit so hard copies may well vary from what you see on screen. Here again sending off to have prints done depend on how good the people doing the developement are. They havn't seen the original subject matter so can only guess at the correct colours.

Photographic paper can also make a huge difference to the hard copy,be it high gloss through to a heavy matt finish, let alone the ink type.

Without wanting to appear rude, the kit you are using is at the bottom of the Nikon range and therefore may not be flexible enough to achieve the perfect replica. Are you trying to do your own prints? if so a good photographic printer is needed not a general all purpose one.

As a by the by the colour red is one of the hardest to get correct or for me it is.

These are just a few of the many variables which can affect what your trying to achieve. What might help is " Datacolor SpyderCheckr" (google it) which should show how accurate your camera is against a set colour chart .

Bazza

Hi Bazza

1= Are you photographing in the best light ie daylight
Usually variable due to timing etc.
2 =Are you shooting in RAW
Yes I am using RAW
3 = are you doing any editing say with Adobe to adjust the colours
I use RAW editing but seen to over photoshop it trying to get areas of colour right
4= What distance are you shooting at
The camera is about a meter away from the subject (we have space limitations).
5 =are you checking the histogram
I guess I better read uo in histograms!!
6= are you using the correct camera settings
I adjust the setting to the light at the time, to the best of my limited knowledge.
7= are you using any filters
No filters.

I dont use these images to print. I would deffo get a pro if I was going to print them. The images are used for websites, submitting to galleries and agents. And sending to customers for approval of commission work.

Thank for your considered response. All the help and advice if very much appreciated.

If its for commercial work its a completely different ball game. You really do have to spend out to get the absolute best to sell a product. People your trying to promote the product to will only take a second look if the image first looks great and second will sell.

presentation presentation and again presentation is your priority, something looking second best won't sell.

If you try doing it via the internet (remember its a world wide medium) be well aware that photos are unfortunately copied irrespective of copyright laws. Not only from this country but from anywhere and trying to prosecute is nigh on impossible.

I realise you want to show the best which is ok if its a one to one contact, but for web use you really need to use the lowest settings possible so the picture distort if blown up. Watermarking is far better protection than just having a signature on the bottom of the photo, that is only too easy to remove .

You may not have taken other aspect into consideration so if I may I will run through them

1 =Take out third party insurance, its not unheard of someone ordering something not liking it and demanding money back. Cover your backside as where there is a blame there is a claim

2 = declare earning to Inland revenue

3= keep books on every financial transaction (submit to accountants annually who also charge for their services) business bank accounts also charge per transaction.

3 = work out your costs ie camera gear and replacement costs -travelling- your time -hourly rates to charge- printed business cards and brochures.

4 = price for photo sizes

5 = advertising you won't sell anything without it ( it cost me several thousands a year to advertise my own business)

Finally do check out the competition, you may find your prices are much higher than rivals doing the same thing

As reguards the colour issue maybe a colour checker would be worth considering such as an xrite colour checker.

bazza

Hi Shane,

Go through this guide to get an idea of depth of field: http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=4504 and post your results up

You could then send a few shots, some at an angle to highlight details, and some head on - that thread above should help with both.

Re colours, you will need to make sure your monitor is calibrated and that you don't have any 'colour' settings turned on in the camera.

Everything said above and to re-iterate, you don't need a macro lens.

Are you using manual or auto light balance?

Light balance or more the wrong light balance (daylight whilst shooting under fluorescent light source) will cause major problems with colour.

Steve

As above, would like to see some images though, to better help, and because I for one would be interested to see your wife's art!

xx

A couple more observations/questions.

Is the artwork behind glass? If yes then this will cause loss of contrast so I would suggest removing the glass.

Are you keeping the plan of the sensor exactly parallel to the picture? Set the artwork on a stable platform and the camera on a tripod to achieve this.

Do not use front on flash or other artificial lighting but use a 2 source lighting rig with a source either side, at 45 degrees, of the artwork.

Steve

I have been called on to do some artwork photography a while back after another photographer had made a poor job. One of the main complaints was distortion.

So I used a prime lens (50mm or 85mm) to shoot with to keep any distortion to absolute minimum.

That is a very valid point KenTT. Barrel or pincushion distortion will warp the image which is particularly evident when there are straight lines near the edge of the frame. It can be compensated for in LR or PS but is better to be eliminated, as much as possible, at the image taking stage.

Personally I think the 50mm would be the lens to go for. Cheap (ish) and a simple construction that does not introduce too much distortion.

Steve