In fact, by following a few tips, you can even get beautiful prints of your art using nothing more than your smartphone! This article will teach you how to photograph your artwork like a pro, so your prints will look absolutely incredible.
How To Create A DIY Faux Oil Painting On A Budget
While I love a good framed print, sometimes it just doesn’t feel the same as a naked oil painting hung on your wall. Which got me thinking, could you MAKE a faux oil painting you could hang on the wall without a frame using free art from The Public Domain Print Shop? Better still, could you do it with limited tools and for less than $5!?
After a lot of experimentation… cough…a series of massive failures…cough cough… I’m happy to report that YES you can and the results are SO GOOD… once you know all the mistakes to avoid.
The Supplies
The supplies for this project are very simple, but do require a few tools that you may need to pick up if you don’t already own them. I’ll link to the ones I used.
Tools You’ll Need
- A Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
- An X-Acto Knife
- A Spray Bottle (I grabbed mine from The Dollar Tree)
- A Ruler
- A Cheap Paintbrush (A cheap one from Dollar Tree is fine for this)
- A Pen Or Pencil
- & A Small Rolling Pin (I used one we have for rolling out pizza dough, but they make specific ones for this purpose if you feel like picking one up)
Supplies You’ll Need To Buy
My favorite part of this project is that all of this (excluding the paper prints themselves) came from The Dollar Tree!
- A Bottle of Matte Mod PodgeThe small Dollar Tree bottle is more than enough, but if you want a larger bottle it’s cheaper on Amazon I’ve found.
- An 8×10 Stretched Canvas (For Version #1)
- An 11×14 Artist’s Canvas (For Version #2) I linked to the 8×10 but they have 11×14 in store
- A Tab From The Top Of A Soda Can (For Version #2)
- A Digital Art File Of An Oil PaintingI used these two I snagged for free from the print shop
- Edwin Tryon Billings “George Fuller”
- Stefan Fodor “Still Life”
Version #1 – The Stretched Canvas
There are two way to do this, I’m going to break down the easiest one here. The other way uses a few of the more complicated steps from Version #2 that we’ll discuss next.
STEP ONE:
Trim your paper print out down to remove some of the excess paper from around the edges
STEP TWO:
Paint over the top of your print out with a generous layer of mod podge. I like to lay down a thin layer over the entire painting first, then go back with a bit more mod podge on my brush to mimic the brush strokes in the actual painting. This will make it feel more realistic when we get done. We’re looking for texture here so don’t smooth out your brush strokes too much.STEP THREE:
Let you print fully dry. I repeat, let that print FULLY DRY. Do not touch it or move it or mess with it while it is wet.STEP FOUR:
Once your print is dry, flip it over and then place your 8×10 stretched canvas face down on top of the back of your print where you want it. Keep in mind you’ll need to leave enough paper to wrap around the sides of the canvas and secure your print to the back of the canvas.
STEP FIVE:
Using your glue gun you’re going to wrap your paper print around the side of the canvas and secure it tightly to the back. I found it worked best to think of this like wrapping a present, securing the long sides first (pulling the paper as taught as I could each time) and then the short ends last.And that’s it! You’re mini faux oil painting is ready to display! Super easy right?
HOT TIP: The only downside to this version of the project is that you are going to lose a lot of your image to the sides and back of your canvas. So if you plan to go for this version, make sure you pick a print that will provide you with enough extra space around the edges of the subject to do that (vs losing important parts of the image to the sides or back of your canvas).
Is It Better to Scan or Photograph Artwork?
If you have access to a scanner and your artwork is suitable for scanning, this will probably be your best option, as it’ll be easier to reproduce your art with greater accuracy and you won’t need to worry about distortion, shadows, image blur, or other issues you may encounter when trying to photograph artwork. With that said, scanning your artwork might be difficult—or impossible—depending on the medium and size. Artwork that has a lot of texture and/or embellishments likely won’t scan well because you will lose a lot of the depth and dimension the original artwork had. If the size of your artwork is larger than the scanner, you will need to scan it in sections and then use editing software, like Photoshop, to stitch it all together. In these cases, photographing your artwork for prints could be a better option.
If you do decide you’d like to scan your artwork to create prints, here are a few tips (originally shared in How to Enlarge Old Photos and Get Amazing Results):
Depending on the make and model of your scanner, the exact steps you take to scan your artwork will vary, but it will probably just be a matter of placing the art face-down on the scanner’s glass and pressing the scan button. Before scanning, however, there are a few settings you should check to ensure you’re going to get the best scan for the purpose of creating prints of your artwork.
Colour mode: Make sure you’re scanning in colour, not black and white or greyscale.
Resolution (DPI): For the purpose of scanning artwork for prints, the resolution should be set to 300 dpi.
Data format/file type: JPEG
Once you’ve scanned your artwork using these settings, it’s ready to be printed. All you need to do now is upload the file to our website and choose the product and size you would like your print to be created as and we’ll take it from there!
How to Photograph Artwork for Prints
If using a scanner to reproduce your artwork isn’t an option, you can still get professional-looking results photographing your artwork for prints.
Option 1: Using a Smartphone to Take Photos of Your Art
Ideally, when photographing your artwork for prints, you should use a DSLR camera because you will have more options and control over the settings and the camera’s sensor and lens will produce better images. However, if all you have access to is a smartphone, you can still capture photos of your artwork that will result in fantastic prints! Follow the lighting and composition tips below, just as you would with a DSLR camera, but if you’re using a smartphone, don’t forget to clean the lens. Because our phones are constantly in our hands, being put in and out of our pockets, maybe even being handled by the sticky little fingers of our tiny humans, the lens on the phone easily picks up finger prints, oils, and grime. Take a second to wipe it off with a cloth before photographing your artwork to ensure you get the sharpest, clearest image possible.
Option 2: Using a DSLR Camera to Take Photos of Your Art
As we just mentioned, capturing photos of your artwork using a DSLR camera is a better option than using a smartphone camera, as it’ll produce sharper images and you’ll have more control over your settings.
Lens: A 50mm prime lens is ideal for photographing artwork. If you have to use a lens with a shorter focal length, try to avoid anything under 24mm. Shooting with a wide angle lens can cause barrel distortion, which means straight lines in your artwork will appear to bend in the photograph.
Aperture: The sharpest images are produced with the aperture set to f/5.6 to f/11. Using a wide aperture creates a shallow depth of field, which isn’t necessary when photographing artwork, and lens diffraction will decrease the sharpness of your image if you shoot at anything much greater than f/11.
ISO: ISO settings control how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. A high ISO allows more light in, which is great when shooting in low-light conditions, but the payoff is image noise and grain in the photo – something you don’t want when photographing artwork to create prints! For the sharpest image possible, set your camera’s ISO to 100.
White Balance: When taking photos of your artwork to create prints, you want the image’s colours to be as close to the original art as possible. Adjusting your camera’s white balance settings will significantly help with this because it’s letting your camera know what light sources are being used and will adjust the colour temperatures accordingly. If you’re not sure which setting to choose, don’t be afraid to experiment and try a few! You can also adjust the white balance using photo editing software later.
Setting Up Your Lighting in 5 Steps
Specialized equipment, like softboxes and polarizing filters, can make it easier to photograph your artwork, but you can get by without these accessories and still get outstanding results. In fact, you can successfully take pictures of your artwork without studio lights or a tripod, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
For an indoor photoshoot, you will need:
- A tripod
- Two bright, identical lights
- A wall to hang your artwork on
- Measuring tape
Optional, but helpful:
- Two white sheets (or something similar to diffuse each light)
- Camera remote shutter release
- White piece of paper
- Level
Step 1: If your artwork is in a frame, you’ll need to remove it in order to avoid glare and reflections. Likewise, if you’re planning to add varnish to your original artwork, photograph it before doing so if possible.
Step 2: Hang your artwork flat on the wall. Assuming your art isn’t too heavy, a thumbtack should do the trick, as it won’t be up there for long. If you have a level, check to make sure it’s straight. If you plan to edit your image later to adjust its colours and white balance, consider either hanging your artwork against a pure white wall or simply hang a white piece of paper directly beside yours art (it’ll be cropped out later). This will allow you to use the eyedropper tool in your editing software to adjust the white balance later.
Step 3: Position your camera on a tripod at a distance from the artwork which allows you to fill the camera’s frame without needing to optically or digitally zoom. When you compose the shot, although you want to fill your frame, don’t do so too tightly – if you include an inch or so of the background behind your artwork, it will make editing your photo a little easier later since you’ll be able to rotate/straighten the shot without any of the artwork being cropped out in the process.
Step 4: When positioning your camera, it’s very important that the camera lens is parallel to the artwork and the lens of the camera and center of the artwork is at the same height. Use a measuring tape to measure from the ground to the center of the artwork and then adjust the height of your camera to be the same. If the height isn’t the same or if the camera is angled from the artwork, your photograph of your artwork will be distorted.
Step 5: With your artwork and camera set up, you can now position your lights. You want them directed at your artwork and at a 45º angle on each side of the camera. Although your lights need to be bright, you’ll get better results if you can diffuse the lighting. You can do so simply by hanging a white sheet in front of each light. If you don’t have white sheets, you can experiment with other semi-transparent white objects you can find around the house, like t-shirts, parchment or wax paper, white garbage bags, or even printer paper.
Important: The lights can get hot and the material you use can be flammable, so be careful you don’t set up your diffusers where they can catch on fire!
