Photographing and Re-Sizing Basics for Tapestry
One of my volunteer jobs with an organization I belong to involves accepting high quality images and re-sizing them to be put on the website. In doing this, I’m discovering that many artists are not comfortable with - or have no idea of - how to take a good clear image and then size it to the correct dimensions and quality level.
If this is you, know you are not alone. I have a BFA in photography but I kind of blew off the lesson on studio and/or product photography. Until I had the need to photograph my tapestries. Luckily, my husband has worked quite extensively with product photography and studio lighting so I’ve had a good teacher.
Don’t have this? No worries! Read on…
The set-up
Of course, I knew lighting was important and “even diffused lighting” is key. And I’d heard the usual advice concerning “Photograph outdoors on an overcast day”. But this isn’t always possible, is it. I mean, how do you hang a tapestry outdoors to photograph it evenly?
But yes, if at all possible, I would agree with this advice. One thing that could be done is to place the tapestry on a clean backdrop of some sort- foam core board for smaller tapestries works well. Larger pieces will be tricky. You may need to stand on a ladder to shoot overhead.
OR…
If you’re lucky enough to have a big window and ample floor space like I do (sliding glass doors in several locations around the house) then you can do what I often do. Using a foam core board, place it under the tapestry on the floor.
Sounds easy enough, but that’s not all.
Timing is important. Just as the advice is to shoot on a cloudy day, you don’t want the sun pouring in when you set this up, so choose the time of day accordingly.
Again, the key is even, diffused lighting. So, if there is a lot of bright natural light coming in and you really have no choice, you could set up a surface to bounce some of the direct light back on to the tapestry. This is called a reflector. Reflectors are used to correct lighting and fill in shadows. Using a white surface, such as foam core board, will allow you to diffuse the light and even it out. The foam core board is positioned opposite the light source until it reflects light back on to the tapestry.
The angle is really important, too.
You don’t want the edges to be skewed so make sure the camera is parallel to the tapestry (floor). This is one mistake I see happening a lot whether it’s photographed on the floor or (preferably) on the wall. A lot of cameras have a grid that is helpful to use and will ensure straight edges.
Best case scenario, though, is really to photograph your tapestry on the wall with lights set up to evenly illuminate it. This does require more room, however, and is often just not possible.
The lights should be at 45 degree angles from the artwork. This doesn’t have to involve expensive lights, though. As long as the light source is even (both should have the same size and watt bulb in it) then you could use a sheet or similar item to diffuse the light.
Photographing
Use a tripod if possible and make sure the camera lens is parallel to the artwork.
Turn off any conflicting light sources or set your camera to adjust the white balance. Most smartphones already do a good job at adjusting the balance automatically, but there are apps you can purchase if yours does not.
It’s always best to photograph at the highest resolution you can. Most smart phones these days have excellent cameras on them that offer options in resolution. RAW is highest, but TIFF or JPG will work as long as you have it on the highest resolution setting (preferably 300ppi). If you have an older phone, like me, there are apps you could purchase for more options. I use this one.
Of course, if you own a digital camera, by all means- use it!
Editing your Image
Fast forward. You have your images. Now, what?
I see a lot of confusion over how to re-size and submit images to an online source.
First and most important advice I can give: archive your image!
You’ll be duplicating it, or saving it in another filename when you re-size it. Most requirements are for jpeg files and I’m sure you’ve probably heard that every time you change the size of a jpeg file, you’re destroying quality.
Always start with the archived image and duplicate it first. You can do this by saving it in another location, or by another name. Try to set up a good system from the beginning and keep all your archived images in one place and any duplicates elsewhere.
You’ll need a photo editing program to re-size your photo. I use Photoshop, but there are other programs out there that are less costly or free. Photoshop Elements is one. Gimp is another I often see highly recommended. Another that’s been recommended to me is Website Planet’s image compressor.
You may need to adjust the color (sRGB for web) or crop the image to remove any background clutter before re-sizing.
If you are submitting work online, check the guideline requirements. Most places will suggest submitting work at 300ppi and give the required or minimum dimensions and file size.
For instance, CaFE, an online submission program for artists, lists the file type (jpeg or jpg); file dimensions (1200 pixels or greater on the longest side); file size (under 5 MB); color profile: (sRGB). The American Tapestry Alliance specifies 300 dpi and links to another article by Barbara Burns for more information for their artist pages. The British Tapestry Group requests images be at least 500 pixels tall and around 500 Kb in size.
How to Re-Size
This is really much easier than one would think. Below are screen shots in Photoshop to show re-sizing an image. If you use Gimp instead, here’s a tutorial from their website.
Open the image size box to display the current settings. Here you can see the resolution is set at 72ppi. This is because I took this image with my iphone 7 which does not come with resolution options. I’m showing this here to prove that you can re-size to 300ppi if this is your only option. It’s not ideal because you will lose quality, but if it’s your only option and the original photo was very crisp to begin with, give it a try.
Image’s original size- note it was shot at 72ppi
In the below photo you can see where I have changed the settings to 300ppi and reduced the image size at the same time to 2000 pixels longest side.
Image resized to 300ppi and longest side 2000 pixels
And here’s the resulting photo.
Image after resizing from 300 to 72 ppi.
To sum it all up, remember these key points:
To photograph
Make sure you have good even lighting.
Check that the camera is parallel to the tapestry.
Get rid of any clutter in the background.
Editing your images
Archive your original photo!
Duplicate the original.
Check color accuracy and crop out distractions.
Re-size to specified guidelines.
I’ve glossed over some of the more technical aspects of photographing your artwork. If you want to dive deeper, Lyn Hart wrote a very thorough article you can find on the ATA website. And if you’re a member of the British Tapestry Group, you can read Matt Smith’s article on photographing tapestries.