Camera??

Any camera 10mp and up will do. do not get a point and shoot but a dslr and dont use pop up flash because you will get terrible glare from it. instead use quality lighting around the painting or off camera flash...all depends on what your budget is. for processing you would need a decent computer that can run at the very least lightroom and photshop if you need it. If you are only into basic processing then photoshop wouldnt be necessary but you can get the lightroom/photoshop photographers bundle in adobe's creative cloud for ten bucks a month.

Also....Wide angle lenses will add some distortion to the image but it can be corrected in software if that is all you have. a prime lens or a telephoto lens (wont add the distortion) would work better than a wide angle.

Thank you I really appreciate the input! I will have to look up a few of this things but it's all good. I have a couple of macs and they both have Photoshop. My husband and I both took a lot of communication classes and so I am familiar with it and brother in law is a photographer but is across the country. Thank you so so so much!

Great advise from Andy. I would add always use a good (meaning adjustable and fairly heavy) tripod and always use the self timer on the camera. Mine gives me a choice of 2 sec or 10 sec delay before the shutter trips. I use 10 sec setting . Welcome to FAA and it's always good to meet another painter in acrylics. Seems to be a growing trend in the medium.

Hi Elizabeth - welcome aboard.

Most painters actually much prefer to use a scanner for best results.
Depending on the size of your originals - scan it whole - or in quarters, & use an online free "stitching " program to piece them together.

Best wishes.

Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago which explains it all:

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=284083

Elizabeth,

If you NEED a new camera,then an investment in something like the Canon EOS Rebel family would be fine. Just buy the body and a used old manual focused Macro lens,100mm or so and that will be your copy camera. You could even save more,by buying an old film camera and lens, under $200 for both on eBay and then get the film scanned and into the computer. Really depends on if you need/want a "real" camera or not.

If you think you're going to do more photography,than the start woulf be something like the Rebel, in that family,Nikon has it's own version,as do others. That typeof camera is an APS-C camera and that means it's not a full frame sensored camera, which is even more money.

Murray has most of that right! LOL!

Visit my site and see the light set up that I suggest people use if they are doing this for the first time and on a budget.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/rich-franco.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=148572&page=1

The lights on on the second page,

Good Luck,

Rich

A Canon Rebel or Nikon 3200 body will work just fine. Both use APS-C sensors and have plenty of mega-pixels. Photographing your work well means getting precise with a close to normal focal length lens like the Nikon 35mm DX that is a 52.5mm equivalent. A tripod and two inexpensive Smith-Wesson scoop fixtures with stands will do. With the camera on the tripod center the height of the camera to the center of the piece of art. Move the camera and pod back from the artwork until it fits the frame leaving a bit of air around it. The lighting fixtures must have identical bulbs, something in the 150 to 250 watt range. Position one each about 4 to five feet on each side of the camera a little higher than the lens and in towards the artwork aimed at it's center. The goal is to light the artwork evenly across its' surface. If it's a little too "hot" in the center feather the lights each a little more to the edge of the artwork until it becomes evenly distributed.

You might need to crop the photos in an editing program like Adobe Elements or one even less expensive will do also. Good Luck

Elizabeth,

Here are 2 images that might help your set-up, and explain what both Murray and Robert are describing.





Rich

if the pieces are small - buy a scanner. usually the best option.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

As far as camera suggestion, I would try to buy at least a little higher camera than you think you need, so you leave room for growth. When I first started learning to photograph my art for print sales.. a great Cannon Prosumer camera did the trick. I fought learning a DSLR for a long time, but it is necessary, especially if you want to provide quality files in the future. in hindsight, I wish I had learned earlier and bought a descent camera, as I still have so many I wish I had photographed better. It is also hard and tedious to go back and upgrade previous image files. As my business grew and I got licensing deals and needed to provide higher quality files, I quickly became behind the times. I now have a great Cannon 70D camera that I am still learning. It is true that you don't need the most expensive equipment or softwares, but do plenty of research so you can be prepared for what your future goals are.

Slade,others,

I think Elizabeth is only looking for a camera to copy her artwork, not to create photographs. Is that right Elizabeth?

Rich

When I researched DLSR cameras, I became obsessed when comparing and it took weeks and learned so much. I finally settled on Nikon because extremely up-close shots revealed Canon having some issues around edges, even on higher end cameras. You don't need a super high -end camera for what you need and actually with Nikon, you can't beat their own 35mm 1.8/f DX lens. For the price/performance it's a steal, and for an even better deal I got mine refurbished and it still works perfectly to this day and I now never use my zoom kit lenses. I never use my flash anymore with that lens. But listen to these people on here and do your own research. Decide your budget and what you want to do with it beyond photographing paintings and in the future. Cameras can become addicting to say the least. Andy is right, at least 10 MP though but most cameras, even older ones have you covered there. Good luck!