Self-reliance

Yesterday, Kathryn Ikeda of the San Francisco Bay Area wrote, "Recently I was asked to submit jpegs of my paintings for an upcoming book. Requiring high quality digital images, what stopped me from hiring a photographer was that the paperwork included not just a signed release from me, but also a signed release from the photographer to use my images. I don't understand why I need to get permission to use an image of my own painting. Further, I don't want a photographer to change anything. I'm thinking about learning how to do it myself, though the investment in equipment may be more than I can handle. I would rather hire a professional, but I hate giving up the rights to my own images. What should I do?"

Thanks, Kathryn. In lands where folks are regularly sued for inadvertently stepping on someone's peonies, everyone, including photographers, pull out the paperwork. Too bad. It cramps everyone's style. You need to learn to do the job yourself and you need to know, as the original creator, you can do the job just as well as anyone.

A quick course given by a professional photographer can cost less than a single professional photo. Further, many of today's inexpensive point-and-shoots take better, sharper photos than the top digital cameras of just a few years ago. Don't be intimidated. The highest paid blue-collar job in Manhattan in 1909 was "chauffeur." For a short time in history, people didn't think they could drive their own cars.

Here's a quick guide for book-reproduction work: You need a camera with at least 8 megapixels. Check your camera's handbook and set the camera at the highest resolution and quality possible in JPG. Hang your unglazed art vertically on a neutral-toned outside wall at eye level in open shade on a bright day between 11 and 3. Take several shots almost filling the frame from a few feet away at a medium focal length. In other words--not wide angle and not telephoto. When you look in the viewfinder, make sure the painting is not keystoned (off-square) or pincushioned (curved edges).

You can submit these directly to the publisher (by camera card) or from your computer. You can elect to crop if you wish, but you need to save it, without any resizing as a very high quality JPG before you send it by email.

The idea is to gain self-reliance, get what you want, put another feather in your fedora, and avoid dependency, bureaucracy and lawyers.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Self-trust is the first secret to success." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Esoterica: If you want to straighten, crop, brighten, or otherwise play around with your shots, I recommend you load them into a program called Picasa. There are other programs of similar design, but be clear it's not always necessary or desirable to give your painting shots the full Photoshop treatment. Resist "warm up," "cool down" or further saturation of colour. Colour truth and sharpness are job one and two in this type of photography. Unless you have a wonky camera, which is rare, you'll make yourself look as good as you are.

(RG note) As there are legal variations between countries, and a variety of iterations between various equipment--both cameras and computers--we've included some useful notes from our own art photography expert Yuri Akuney yuri@digitalperfections.ca at the top of the current clickback.