10) Preparing to Shoot Slides of Sculpture or Crafts

It’s convenient and cost effective to evaluate different backgrounds using a digital camera. You can find out right way which background shows your work to best advantage.

After a number of practice rolls of film, it dawned on me that far more important than exposure or even lighting or background, was the composition. For slides of artwork, the framing needs to make the piece as large as possible, while leaving enough background around the piece to give a sense of comfort. So framing is pretty obvious. What’s not so obvious is finding the best positioning and camera angle for each artwork. And this is by far the most important factor in making a slide that evokes a "Wow!" response.

I finally developed a simple method for finding the best views of each piece. Of course it’s on the best background, already established from prior digital shots. I use the same lighting I’d use for film shots.

By having so much light (1000 watts diffused) I can hand hold the digital camera and not get a camera shake warning. This makes taking a lot of views very fast and convenient.

So I place the piece on the background at where I’d call "front." I take digital photos of this view at all the different heights that might work – changing the height just slightly with each shot. I frame the shot with enough background on all sides that I can crop the photo later to 35mm ratio of 2:3. Using my digital camera, this means leaving more room at top and bottom. This also allows me to rotate the shot a little if I’ve held the camera a little crooked.

Then I rotate the piece a little bit and repeat – taking this view with all the relevant heights.

I keep rotating the piece, taking shots at each point, till I’ve turned it around to the original view.

Then I use a card reader to transfer these photo files to my computer.

Over the years I’ve accumulated photo editing and management software that I like: Thumbs Plus for image cataloging and previewing, PaintShopPro for printing and some editing, and PhotoShop Elements v2 for editing. There are many similar programs that you may already have. I just use these because they’re familiar and I have them – and they work fine.

I can take a preliminary look at these views in an image management program called Thumbs Plus. It makes thumbnail views of the shots and shows me all the thumbnails onscreen. I often settle back in my chair and watch a slide show of the full size shots. When I see a shot of the piece that looks really good, I note the file number.

Sometimes I print a "catalog" of the thumbnails and judge the printed thumbnails from a distance. Often some will leap out this way, because their composition is superior. Or the overall form of the piece leaps out as a "Wow!"

This way I narrow down the views to the few that are worth considering for film slides.

In PhotoShop Elements v2 I can duplicate the best files, then easily crop them. I want to see how each shot would look with 35mm film. I set the cropping ratio to 3:2 (or 2:3 for a vertical shot.) If necessary I can rotate the shot a bit too. I can use the auto levels feature to adjust the white balance so the colors are more accurate.

I like the ease with which I can print photo files from PaintShopPro. So I use this to print out the final views for the slides to take. I print them pretty large so it’s easy to see them when I’m doing a slide shoot.

If I still need to narrow down my choices, I use PaintShopPro to print three or four comparable views on one sheet of paper. I like this software’s File/Print Multiples feature.

Line up your processing lab before you shoot your slides.

Be sure to get the slide film processed at a professional lab that specializes in E-6 film processing. Be sure they use the "dip and dunk" method rather than a machine. Machines are more liable to scratch the slides. Ask other artists to recommend a good lab in your area.

I live about 80 miles from the nearest lab like this, so I usually ship the slide film to them by FedEx overnight express. When you sign up for a

FedEx online account, you can charge the shipment to your credit card and print out the label on your printer. You can order ten small FedEx boxes free from FedEx as well. If it’s not convenient to drop the packed box in a FedEx box in town, you can call the order in instead of doing it online, and have the box picked up at your address.

For originals, it can be handy to have your name and phone # or other contact information imprinted on each slide mount, along with the slide number. That way, when you send an original off to have duplicates made, there’s less chance that it could get lost forever.

If you can get the lab to imprint the roll label on each of the slides from the roll, this will make it easier to organize and evaluate slides later. Of course you have to come up with a system for labeling the rolls and mark each film container accordingly.

As I take shots, I record details on a printed form. My form is in Excel format. You’re welcome to download and use it or adapt it.

If you have a laptop in your photo studio, you could type the information right into the Excel sheet. I keep the handwritten copies and use them later to evaluate the shots and learn more about the best exposures, views, etc.

Have your view printouts handy. These should be the exact views you want to shoot of each piece.

Wear gray, black, or white clothes so no color or colored light is reflected onto your artwork. Make the clothes as clean and lint free as possible – run a lint roller over yourself. If possible don’t wear your shoes in the photo studio.

Of course you’ve cleaned the room. Just before you unroll the background, set up your artwork, and turn up the lights, spray a little plain water around down low. This will raise the humidity enough to lessen static attraction. And it will make it less likely that as you move around, you kick up dust from the floor.

Shooting a test roll of film with the same lighting you intend to use for your main slides, will enable you to narrow down the bracketing to three half stops. Also, you can practice using the light meter with this roll. Remember to note any filter and reflectors (left, right, front, spot) that you use. It may take more than one test roll to see how your work looks with different filters and reflectors. It’s worth the investment.

I keep the camera set at the smallest aperture the lens permits – F16, F22, or F32. This is for maximum depth of field. I need this for my bowl sculptures. However, since shutter speed on my camera varies by full exposure stops, I do change the aperture a half stop for one exposure.

For example, suppose according to the light meter, my best exposure at F22 will be a shutter speed of ½ second. To increase the exposure by ½ stop, I can take the shot at F16.5 at ½ second. To decrease the exposure by ½ stop, I can take the shot at F16.5 at ¼ second.

A half stop exposure difference does matter with slide film. Sometimes all three exposures will be acceptable, but one is clearly more powerful when projected.

How many copies of each view do you want, as originals? Usually original slides are slightly better in quality than any duplicates you have made. So you certainly need at least two of each view and exposure – one to send in for scans and duplicates, and one to safeguard in a safety deposit box or other safe place. I decided to have a third made as well. That way if one gets scratched, I still have two originals.

Doing this preparation means that when you begin a "real" shoot, you already know what to do. You know the views to take. You know how many copies of each exposure to take with each view. You’re basically running down a list. This makes it easier to relax and enjoy the process. So you can catch little things you might not notice if you had too much to think about with each shot.

Because your mind "knows" what it "should" see through the viewfinder, it’s easy to miss a big piece of lint on a dark background, or a dirty smudge on a light background. Maybe the light is actually in the picture – or the umbrella protrudes. Maybe an edge of the background shows. When you’re relaxed and know what you’re doing, you can notice these things before you take the shot.