Tips for photographing your artwork

Image: Leica, Steven Wilson

Why is your brochure image so important? 

Your brochure image is your major marketing tool. It is the main factor in attracting visitors to your Open House while browsing the website or the brochure.

What should I consider when choosing an image?

Your image needs to stand out, using a single artwork works best.

Although there can be a temptation to be democratic and want to include a sample of all your artists work in one photograph, because of the small size of the image when printed in the brochure, all detail will be lost, and the image will have little impact. (Composite images are not accepted for this reason.) Remember it is in the interest of everyone in your Open House to have a single bold, impactful image.

Images should also be strong and have good contrast, i.e. a good range of dark and light tones.

Landscape or portrait (i.e. rectangular) images work better in the design space than square images or extremely elongated images and allow better space for your listing text.

It is key that the image is chosen because it is the best one for marketing your house. It may not be the highest quality work you have.

It should represent the type of work you have on show but, more importantly, attract interest.

Image: Examples of impactful images from the AOH Winter 2022 brochure 

Tips for photographing my artwork

Make sure you photograph your artwork in good light, with a plain background. Daylight is best. Placing a work flat on the floor in front of a window is often successful.

Don’t photograph work behind glass, which will throw reflections, always remove the work from its frame if possible.

Remember to ensure the artwork is on a level surface and parallel with the lens of the camera, so that it is straight on rather than skewed or distorted.

Adjust the lighting on your camera or phone so that it is well lit and in focus.

Look out for shadows; make sure your body doesn’t block the light.

Use a tripod to avoid blurring. There are some very affordable tripods for phones available from Amazon but you may want to buy from a local family-run firm like phonefix.uk who sell this one for £16.95 Phonefix Tripod.

Here is a link to the Everesta Store on Amazon with a range on sale.

 

Portable Photo Box

These allow you to create professional shots of objects against plain backdrops. They are available in many sizes and cost upwards of £10. If you regularly photograph your work then buying one is likely to prove a good investment. They pop-up, too, so are easy to store.

There a wide range of photo boxes available, which you can view here.

Pixel Size

Images need to be of a high enough resolution not to appear pixelated when reproduced. To test that your image fulfils all the above criteria, you could try printing out the image at the size it will reproduce in the brochure and see if it looks good. Also recommended is taking a look at last year’s brochure to see what worked really well.

Videos

There are many videos with advice on YouTube. Small changes can make a big difference to its impact. You can view an example here. 

Happy snapping!

If you want to speak to us about this or have any questions, feel free to email us at: [email protected]