Camera for shooting original paintings

[maihuaz]

I use Nikon D7100 and a 85MM Macro Lens to shoot original paintings. But the photos do not show texture very well especially after they re-sized to 2400px for web posting. What are your suggestions on what type of cameras and the techniques are best for shooting original paintings and keep good texture in the photos.
Thanks in advance.

[David Anderson]

What sort of lighting do you use ?

[Jim Kasson]

I use Nikon D7100 and a 85MM Macro Lens to shoot original paintings. But the photos do not show texture very well especially after they re-sized to 2400px for web posting. What are your suggestions on what type of cameras and the techniques are best for shooting original paintings and keep good texture in the photos.

Good texture a) requires high resolution (or high MTF, if that means anything to you), and b) is in the mind of the beholder.

So, before you spend a lot of time and money upgrading your camera and lighting, have you ever seen similar pictures with what you consider to be good texture at 2400 px wide?

If the answer is no, you may be trying to do the impossible. If the answer is yes, then post the image here (with permission ), then post some of yours, and we can talk.

Jim

[maihuaz]

I use two studio flash lights. Each one is set about 45 degree angle in relation to the painting. One flash from left side and the other one from right side.

[David Anderson]

I use two studio flash lights. Each one is set about 45 degree angle in relation to the painting. One flash from left side and the other one from right side.

That will flatten the light out if they're on the same output.
To get texture you will need a 70/30  or even 80/20 split, but that will give you a shadow on one side of course.
That's not a problem if you crop to the edge of the painting.

I did some paintings and prints recently just using one big light (Octa) and got texture I was happy with without any real
fall-off from one side to the other.

[kers]

in fact for measuring falloff i use an external light meter.... it does not get used that much anymore... but its very usefull for these things.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

in fact for measuring falloff i use an external light meter.... it does not get used that much anymore... but its very usefull for these things.

I agree. And one can compensate for any residual (or intentional) fall-off, by making a Light Cast Calibration (LCC) shot for correcting any non-uniformity across the image in Capture One Pro, or RawTherapee, or Lightroom (with a plugin).

I also suspect that part of the loss of material texture the OP is experiencing is due to low quality down-sampling, and sharpening after that.

Cheers,
Bart

[BradSmith]

I'd focus on lighting as your most likely issue.  I recently did a test of photographing a highly textured oil painting.  First setup was outside under a large overhead awning with the painting being mostly lit from skylight coming straight at it from lower in the sky. The light was close to perpendicular to the painting surface.  It was very hard to see much of any texture in the file.   Then I moved it out to the front of the overhang so it was receiving skylight from directly overhead down to the horizon.  The details of the texture were much more evident in this file.   
Brad

[Fine_Art]

I use two studio flash lights. Each one is set about 45 degree angle in relation to the painting. One flash from left side and the other one from right side.

Try using both pointing down from far enough back to even the light. The left + right is washing out your contrast.

[Pic One]

Fine detail and micro-contrast are hallmarks of the Sigma merrill cameras..  you could consider trying out a DP3 Merrill. 

[ynp]

I use Nikon D7100 and a 85MM Macro Lens to shoot original paintings. But the photos do not show texture very well especially after they re-sized to 2400px for web posting. What are your suggestions on what type of cameras and the techniques are best for shooting original paintings and keep good texture in the photos.
Thanks in advance.

Your camera is ok for copying work, if calibrated. Your lens is more than capable. If you want more resolution, than stitch.

As mentioned above, the light shall be more directional for texture. I usually light the oil paintings with two strip boxes with cross polarization : a polarizer on the lens and film polarizer on the strips. I play with the ratios and angles. There no strict rules.


Very often I light the painting from one direction to expose the texture and deal with the falloff in the post production. I use a Broncolor Lightbar with the barn doors for that, from above, but any soft light will work. A big softbox will work too : the more acute angle, the more directional light, the more texture.