Deadline for Entries:
August 4, 2008

Juror:
Gloria Miller Allen

2008 Prospectus:
downloadable pdf

or send SASE to
Kansas Watercolor Society
Wichita Center for the Arts
9112 E. Central
Wichita, KS 67206

So now you have all the necessary equipment to photograph those beautiful paintings and turn them into beautiful slides that will, hopefully, get you into all those shows you plan to enter this year! You have your easel ready, or your plywood mounted on the wall, and your feet properly schooled so as not to kick everything over and break stuff…I suggest, before you do any photographing or taping (taping is discussed in the latter portion of this article) that you read the entire article. Your camera is off its tripod (a substantial tripod) and you are setting up your lights on their substantial light stands, your wires are fat; your plug box is also fat-of-wire and your lights are 500 watts of pure energy.

Position those lights!
1. Set the lights back approximately three feet from the painting and in front of the camera position. All measurements relating to lights are approximate because you’ll need to move them left and right as well as adjusting their distance from the painting and relative to the camera.
2. Set each light 1 to 3 feet to the left and right of the painting. The ‘1 to 3 feet’ is also an adjustable figure allowing you to vary the intensity of the light on the painting, which I assume is un-matted and un-glassed. The light will be ‘raked’ across the face of the painting and if done properly will not generate uneven light or reflections.
3. The painting should be directly in the middle of this setup.
4. Turn on the photo lights and adjust each light to approximate a 45 degree angle to the painting surface. Turn off any room lights that may be on.
5. Verify that there are no reflections or shiny areas of paint (necessary for acrylics and oils—watercolor shouldn’t be a problem) by closely examining the painting from the camera position.
6. The camera is off the tripod, the lights are on—you are now going to read the light through the viewfinder’s light meter. If you are using a hand held light meter the camera can remain on the tripod. Our goal here is to read the evenness of light covering the painting as you have adjusted the lights.
7. Read the light through your viewfinder (or your hand held light meter) from each corner, side to side and up and down across the entire painting. If your lights are properly adjusted the meter needle should stay relatively close to its mark on the meter throughout this process—the end result is to assure EVEN LIGHTING across the painting. If your lights are not properly adjusted the meter needle will bounce off its median as you move it across the painting; should that be the case it’s time to move the lights around again—watch out for those cords.

Taking light readings and exposing the film
1. Assuming your lights are now properly set, position the gray card in the center of the painting and take a meter reading—either through the camera viewfinder (off the tripod) or from the hand held light meter. If reading through the camera viewfinder you must fill the viewfinder with the gray card to take your reading. You can hold the gray card against the painting—try not to cast any shadows on the gray card as you do this, also be careful not to move the easel or lights. The gray card can be hand held or you can enlist a volunteer to hold it against the painting--or develop another method as you desire. The gray card works best with a manually adjusted camera as opposed to one set on auto exposure, so set your camera on manual exposure (this applies to both film and digital cameras). opposed to one set on auto exposure, so set your camera on manual exposure (this applies to both film and digital cameras).
1. Your film camera meter reading should be at least f8, higher if possible. If it doesn’t fall within the f8 range, adjust your lights closer to the painting left and right until you get the f8 or greater reading. This will necessitate rereading the light falling on the painting and essentially repeating steps 4 through 7 as listed above. Many smaller digital cameras don’t have the same exposure settings as film cameras so this part might take some experimentation. Through the lens (TLR) digital cameras are more closely matched to film cameras, they are expensive and require considerable education to master. If you have a TLR, it should be satisfactory for the above film instruction.
2. Attach your camera to your substantial tripod and center the painting through its viewfinder, adjusting the camera- on-tripod to get as close to the painting as possible without getting in front of the lights and casting a shadow over the painting. Be careful here to make sure the camera lens is in focus! If your lens is auto-focus it should be all right. If you are using a manually-focused lens, carefully determine that focus is sharp.
3. Check the edges of your viewfinder so as to fill them with the painting; adjust the camera angle until viewfinder edges and painting edges are vertical and horizontal to one another (no keystoning)—this will simplify taping the edges of the image when your slides are back from the processor.
4. All is now in readiness, set your lens at the reading shown by the gray card. Let’s assume it to be f11. Make your exposure at that setting; make your second exposure at f16 and your third exposure at f8. Of these three exposures one should be very close to what is desired. Unfortunately it will never be exact but it should be close enough to give an accurate representation of your painting from a color transparency. Please note: review the first article on making exposures; this is important, particularly info about keeping track of exposures. Remember, the same principles apply here, the only difference being tungsten light instead of sunlight.
5. Turn off the copy lights using the switch on the plug-in box. Do not move anything except the painting. Replace it with the next painting to be photographed.
6. If the second painting is a different size you will need to repeat instructions 1 through 7 outlined in the first portion of this article--make any adjustments necessary as I have explained them in this section. HOWEVER, life is easy if each of your paintings are the same size; all you need do in that case is replace each one with the next until all your entries are photographed, being careful not to disturb your lighting setup. ALSO, you can use the same exposure settings as defined on the first painting, unless one or more of the paintings are very dark or very light, even so the exposure should be relatively close in one of the three f stop settings.
7. Tricky part: if you have a very dark or light second or third painting you’ll have to use your own judgment based on prior light readings as to how you will adjust exposure to allow for that variation. For example if the next painting is very light in value the camera lens must be set to a higher reading, f16 perhaps, to allow for the brighter image. If much darker, the lens will have to be opened to f8 or f5.6, though at f5.6 you’re getting into the low detail area—but where extremes are concerned it’ll have to do. Photography is not an exact science as generally practiced; the real pros make it so, but for most of us, achieving a good result with our limited knowledge is the best we can do. I could teach you, but the book would be 600 pages long and you’re a painter with other fish to fry. Fact is: even with extreme light and dark paintings the initial starting point with gray card should get you an acceptable exposure.

The above is only the FIRST STEP in your photographic education; the rest is up to you. You will experiment; you will find some of the slides unacceptable and you will use your good painter’s judgment to understand what went right and what went wrong. Your first roll of exposures may be lousy— or not. Consider your first roll as strictly experimental and a way of establishing an exposure guide for reference. You’ll either need more exposure or less, but chances are you’ll need more experience and that is gained only by doing. Like learning to paint, one must also learn to make good photographs and that comes by photographing your work until you develop your own system. What I have given you is a beginning; I urge you to take as many photos of your paintings as possible; by so doing you will develop the knowledge and skill to make it a natural process. Remember this: don’t wait until the last minute to photograph your paintings! If you’re close to slide entry deadline you won’t want to be messing around with a lot of film, unless you have an easy-fit straight jacket close at hand.

Preparing Your Slides
With that said and assuming we have good exposures, we’ll need to clean up the edges of our photos by taping their margins. As I noted in my first article, you can order your slides mounted or un-mounted. I recommend un-mounted for this first roll of exposures--this will allow you to compare exposures across the entire roll of film-- much easier than holding slides side-by-side for comparison.

To view your single roll transparencies you will require some form of light table. The most economical is to buy a piece of white Plexiglas® about 12 inches by 30 inches, or whatever size appeals to you. The wider the piece of Plex (left to right) the more easily you will see the full length of film over the light. By comparing exposures in this way exposure adjustments can be made on your next shoot. You can purchase a light box or build one using the Plex and two florescent tubes mounted under the Plex, one tube on each inside of the box you will make to hold the Plexiglas. Box is simple, 4 pieces of 1x6” wood, painted white inside and screwed together at the corners; 2 florescent lights, tape or screw Plex to the top.

Buy some MYLAR TAPE in rolls, (silver or gold-- either works well), quarter inch in width. If they are small rolls, buy two. A smaller width can work, but not as well, because big fingers are all over the place the first time you do this and it’s easier to trim the wider tape. You will need a new, sharp, single edge razor blade (hardware store) or X-Acto® knife for cutting the tape. I prefer the razor blade, as it is sharper and definitely thinner than a knife blade—its thinness makes for a cleaner and more accurate cut on both film and tape. You have your transparencies and they are now fully unrolled and on top of your light box, right-reading image facing you,( i.e., orientation of the painting so it reads as you painted it). Determine the best exposure for each of your paintings photographed: the one that makes your painting really look good but not under exposed. Carefully remove the film from its transparent sleeve and cut the best exposure out of the film-strip, being careful to cut down the middle of the vertical black bars that separate each frame from its neighbor. You can use either the razor blade or a GOOD pair of scissors to cut the film (you may have more control with the razor blade and a straight edge). Cutting vertically through the middle of these bars from the top of the film through the bottom edge allows a good fit when you slip the film into the slide mount after taping is completed. If the film is cut too close to the image it will be too small and leave gaps on either side of the slide—that’s a no-no; judges hate it when that bright strip of light hits them full in the eyes in a dark room. (You can order slide mounts from your local photo store.) You should have left enough visible edges of your painting on all four sides to allow taping unless your painting was the exact proportion of the slide mount. I sometimes intentionally paint to that proportion when I’m entering shows so I don’t have to spend a lot of time taping film. It’s also a good idea, if possible, to photograph your painting so the top and bottom of the image is cropped by the camera, leaving one or both left and right edges of the film to be taped off. This saves a lot of time when you’re trying to get everything in the mail.
Taping the film
Take the film you’ve just cut by its corners (you can buy cotton gloves for handling film—a must) and lay it on the Plex with right-reading image (i.e., proper orientation of the painting so it reads as you painted it.) Turn the film over so the image is reversed-- carefully, as this is the emulsion side of the film and easily scratched. You’ll tape this side because the tape will be on the side of the film away from the viewer. If you tape the front side (right- reading) the mylar tape could reflect light so it can be seen on the projected image, distracting to the judge and diminishing your presentation.
Square up the film then tape it to the Plex. Take a small piece of either the mylar tape or masking tape and fasten the top and bottom of the film to the Plex. Next, pull off an amount of mylar tape corresponding to whatever edge of the film you are taping; allow extra tape so you’ll have something to hold onto, big fingers need room to operate (even small fingers can become giants the first time around). I tape the sides of the image first, leaving the tape on the film edge and the Plex, thus keeping the film flat for whatever taping remains to be done.
Next remove the tape from the top and bottom of the film and proceed taping those edges of the film if necessary. When all edges are taped trim the tape by placing the blade right on the edge of the film, piercing the mylar tape, and cut smoothly down the edge of the film. This will trim the tape so nothing remains to hang-up when you put the film into the slide mount.
Cautionary Note:
The most difficult part of taping is MAKING CERTAIN THE TAPED IMAGE IS TRUE. Occasionally I’ve had to remove tape after examining the film because it was not taped completely vertical and horizontal on the film. Don’t let this happen if you can avoid it because removing tape can ruin the film if you’re not careful. After a little practice you’ll notice you’re able to gauge the squaring up of the image by eye-balling it next to the vertical bars on either side of the film image, or the top and bottom, depending on what portion of the film you’re taping. It is very important to remember if you submit a skewed image/slide it looks amateurish and will not help your cause, so be careful and get each taped edge 90 degrees to its neighbor; the judges will love you for it and you’ll win every show you enter—well, maybe not every show, the painting has to be beautiful, too—but I got involved in the taping and forgot about that. As I’ve noted in the other parts from the series, this all seems very complex, but it isn’t. It becomes second nature after a few rolls and not nearly as intricate as it appears. As they say in really nice restaurants, “ENJOY!” (But try not to get any gravy on those slides!)

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Photographing Art I
Photographing Art II