Quick Tip - How to Make Copy Prints of Art and Photos

Have you ever tried to photograph an old photo or painting? What this is called is making a “Copy Print”. The idea is simple, you take a picture of a picture or art work that you can reproduce. But many people run into issues that are easily avoidable.

One major issue is that a lot of photographers try and use their flash. What ends up happening is a large reflect shows up on the image making it not the best representation of the original.

Here are my tips. If the photo or art is behind glass, do not photograph it until you remove it from its frame or glass. The key to a good copy print is natural even light while making sure all of your lines and angles are straight. If you are off one way or the other or your leaning or tilting the camera the final image will not be flush.

If you do not have studio lights don’t be afraid to go shoot outside under natural light. You should have no problem getting nice even lighting at any point during the day. Be sure to shoot RAW so you can better match the original photo or painting.

As you will see in the video I choose to stand on a ladder to photograph a larger piece of art. This is a good alternative if you do not have an easel or copy stand.

This is a great quick tip for saving your old photographs and art work. It is great to have archive your old photos and artwork for future use.