How to Make Great Photos of Your Work
This class is for any artist wanting to have better photographs of their work, regardless of experience and knowledge of photography in general. It’s for amateur, aspiring professional and career artists that make 2-d and 3-d artwork. The only requirements are a desire to learn, a commitment to putting what you learn to work for you, and, of course, a digital camera which could be an iPhone, a point-and-shoot, DSLR or a mirrorless camera.
Having great photographs of your artwork is important to your success for three reasons. First, photographs are the best way to document your work over time. It’s important to have a record of your work after it leaves your studio. The better your photographs, the more useful that record and those photos will be in the future.
Next Class: TBD. The class scheduled for Dec 13 has been postponed.
If you are new to digital photography, I highly recommend taking my first class, Digital Imaging for Artists & Creatives. Click HERE for more info.
Second, photographs are the best way to communicate about you as an artist and your work. Photographs are essential for marketing to art buyers, galleries, shows and festivals. These audiences will judge you and your work based on your photos, and the competition for their attention is intense. Great photos will help you stand out and show the quality and value of your work and of you as an artist.
Finally, great photographs provide the opportunity to create products based on your artwork that provide additional income, including Giclee’s, notecards, small reproductions and other derivative works. High quality photographs are the basis of creating high quality products that sell.
In this class you will learn how to get great photographs of your artwork in three ways
Creating images in your own studio using available light with a minimum of investment in equipment and accessories, then editing those images, creating needed output and managing the resulting image files.
Working with a professional photographer or digital imaging firm to get a finished master image file, which you then use to create output files for various uses and manage in your archive,
Or you can outsource the whole process to a professional photographer or digital imaging firm.
The class will cover the complete digital imaging process: capture, process, output and management. Most of the class will focus on Capture and Process to create a master image file. Here’s the agenda for the first day class which will include instruction, exercises and demonstrations:
Introduction – laying the foundation for effective digital photography and use of your photos
Capture – using your camera, the right light and composition tips for the best capture
Process – editing your image captures to best show off your work and ensure accuracy
Output – creating image files for use on screen or in print
Organize – managing and finding your image files most efficiently
Putting it all together – demonstration of simple set-ups for 2d- and 3d artwork
Depending on the interest level, I may schedule a second day to do more demonstrations, especially to show how I would photograph artwork that participants bring to the class.
Class length: 8 hours. The cost of the class is $136 which includes sales tax.
For more information, please email Mark at markbgardner@outlook.com or call 360-472-0191.
