AboutBill Edwards Expertise Professional Digital Still Photography and Film Questions on Lighting, Nikon PRO Equipment, Portraits, and Limited Commercial Still Photography.
Experience 30 years as a professional photographer / business owner
Organizations Professional Photographers of America
Guild of Professional Photographers of Delaware Valley - Past President and Chairman of the Board
Publications Have taught photography at all levels Including Lectures at Professional Photographers of America's National Convention; International Professional Photography Guild's National Convention; State and Local Associations
Education/Credentials Numerous classes and seminars - no degree.
Awards and Honors International Photography Hall of Fame Exhibit Winning Entry
Image Published in Fuji Film's Showcase Publication
Best of Show Portrait of a Child - GPPDV
Best of Show Portrait of a Group - GPPDV
Voted best in Bucks / Montgomery County several times
Past/Present Clients Clients are mostly individual Families local to Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania with several regional clients from Connecticut to Florida. Our studio has raised over $150,000 for local schools and other charities.
Question Could you recommend me a good camera to get good pictures from my oil paintings. I want to avoid the distortion of colors.
Answer That's easy - Buy the best camera you can afford. My experience has been that the better cameras have a better Color Gamut. I thought my Nikon D200 color was fantastic until I tested it against the D3 (which I now own). I also tested the Canon camera line but did not care for the color so much. That may have been due to work flow settings but some of my pro friends with Canons agree and some swear it isn't true.
The key is lighting. Oils have bumps and ridges so the challenge is to get the lighting to be even and shadowless without causing a glare. I would use a soft light source - flash into an umbrella - at least two of them - four may be better depending on the size of the painting. Typically in a copy situation each light is at a 45 degree angle (but this will take some experimentation) and is aimed into the far corner of the artwork. Feathering the light may help - experiment - adjust - experiment some more etc.
One more thing - include a grey card in the scene - available at any pro dealer - when you import the file into photoshop you can use this to easily find the correct color balance.
