pictures of pictures

I don't understand how you "practice" polygamy . . . I mean do you marry one and just date the other?  When I dated a set of sisters in college, was that practice?

I still can't figure out WHY a guy would want two wives anyway . . .

Ed

ME EITHER!  And I can't figure out how all the wives are okay sharing the guy!  I mean, I hate that my husband dated a girl who won beauty pagents before he met me.  And she is LONG gone now.

And the term practicing polygamy... I don't know.  Doctors "practice" medicine.  Lawyers "practice" law.  LOL, actually one of my friends got married really young and divorced after a year, now she is re-married and she calls the first one her "practice marriage". 

Ok, I can't see why polygamy would be a guy's fantasy, I mean, have you watched the news, these aren't sex kittens.  (OK, I am really rude, sorry)
I say stick with one wife and a mistress 

Anyway, back on topic (not that I care if it strays, but...) I took a picture of the picture.  I turned out contrasty.  I tried to match it the best I could in Photoshop.  Perhaps I shouldn't have used my Nikon, my Olympus would have probably done a better job, but it's too late now, she is coming over in a little while to preview her images and the album page I made with the snapshot she gave me.  Cross your fingers for me.

The image below was done with a Nikon D80, two AlienBees with their standard 7" reflectors.  There is absolutely no photoshop work done.  I did use a Gretag white balance card to perfect the white balance in Bridge.  The drawing is faded from time and it was done completely with a #2 pencil, so the contrast of the original artwork is what you see.  Heck, I did it in '94.  I did want the photo to represent the actual piece though, not a perfected but unrealistic version of it.

I used a room with no windows or other light.  Any light on you, your camera, or whatever is behind you will cause reflections.  You can tip the photo, but you will still get reflections of whatever reflects from it, just like a mirror.  Now, realize this is much more pronounced with glassed images, which this one is.  Your exposure needs to be completely even across the entire image, an overcast day could possibly do it if you were careful, but you still have to watch for those dang reflections so close in daylight.  You really want the photo to represent the actual artwork very closely, so that makes things somewhat more difficult.  Also, if you want the lines to be straight, tipping it will only require additional photoshop work.

I guess it depends on how critical you consider the image, but to do this right, it's going to take a little more work, I think.  I have tried several other techniques and have never been happy with the shortcuts.  It takes about 15 minutes to get the lights set up and dialed in and the camera set, but then you can go through image after image quite quickly if you have a good way of hanging or supporting them.  I realize you may not need to go to this extent, but I also know there are some artists doing some of their own copy work and I think it's valuable enough to do this right.

Travis