ARTISTS TALKING

Part 1. Richard Taylor looks at how to create a documented library of your work for online and print publishing: producing better professional practice and forwarding your work by establishing a self-archive.

Non-wet photography and edting tips

Evidence of your work is just as important as the process, the hanging and the exhibiting - whether you're setting out to for installation shots or standard flat images it is important to take a few steps and learn a few tricks before hand.

Most of all this is about attaining and maintaining a professional practice. After all, opportunities to make and exhibit new work will come from well presented and recorded images of things made and shown before: this process starts with pieces included and excluded from your degree show and grows alongside your CV.

Think of documentation as starting your own archive: being consistent and preparing in advance allows you to conserve your images, your work and your exhibition shots. You're then prepared for sending off MA applications and residency or exhibition proposals: you're also ready for responding to recommendations to art publications and inclusion in web or print publishing.

Different work different pictures - being prepared

It's time to get friendly with your tripod (especially if it has a spirit level), and to get adjusted to Adobe language (especially if your college has the software - make use of it whilst there).

Also try to shoot in RAW file format; effectively this is a digital negative that can be adjusted in resolution to more affect (the opposite of JPG, which is more of a closed file that has already maximised the workable elements of the image).

Use a remote control for your camera to prevent using timer functions, saving time whilst minimising shake and blur in your pictures - your looking for clarity. Make sure the viewfinder is set square to the composition and take some time using manual focus to highlight the subject properly.

Installation shots

Be objective. The work that you like the most may not always turn out to be the most striking when photographed: instead look for the best composition and effective image for documentation purposes.

Unless you have a specific intention in your working process to make these shots "arty and creative" remember to keep it as simple and informative as possible. This is what publishers, editors, galleries and curators look for.

Use natural daylight as a condition in which to shoot your work. Some studios have daylight set bulbs or cold lighting: otherwise, with DSLR's and most compact digital cameras you can adjust the white balance accordingly for tungsten light situations.

Photographing flat surfaces

A flat light for a flat surface: a good thing to use for this is two direct light sources that can be reflected off a white or bright surface. A perfect surface to use is a large sheet of paper to reflect the light source on the subject placing an even light onto what is photographed. It's a good idea to recruit a friend to help out, out of shot (offer them your services in return afterwards).

If you're shooting close to a piece of work that has a reflective surface grab a black-out black sheet to use as a screen with a small hole to poke the lens of the camera through. This minimises reflection and cuts the camera and you out of the picture.

Photographing film installations (or dark spaces)

Sometimes it is necessary to shoot film projections in situ, especially if they're site-specific in content. To achieve better results make sure you use a good fast film speed to make the most out of a lack of light. Be careful with using flash too - it could well spoil the affect (don't forget - in some cases - you're photographing light anyway).

Post-production - be consistent

Firstly, these images are your 'currency' do not loose them, back them up in more than one place.

Always start with the maximum and highest level of reproduction in mind - then work your way down from there saving each time. There is a minimum of three stages for this - saving for post-production, saving for print and saving for web publication/reference.

There are imaging programs that you can use to develop 'contact sheets' for your digital images: this is a faster way to generate thumbnail images. The 'Adobe Bridge' program is a good example.

For return editing

The first thing to do is to adjust the white balance and curves to get the colour balance correct and tonal values correct. If you have shot your work in even light this sort of editing can be minimised - there are auto functions that make it easier.

Save original files in these formats to maximise capabilities in re-producing, cropping and duplicating images for a number of purposes: Photoshop (PSD), Photoshop RAW, 'Portable Document Format' (PDF) or Large document format.

For print

Re-sizing and saving for print ready images. Make sure the resolution of the image is set to at least 300 pixels or 'dots per inch' (dpi). When re-sizing any images use the metric scale to keep an idea of how large they'll be when reproducing in print.

Set the colour mode to the 'cyan, magenta and yellow key' (CMYK colour mode) for the image properties of the file to communicate best with printing capabilities.

Save in 'Tag Image File Format' (TIFF) or PDF to maximise printing quality.

For web

'Red Green Blue' (RGB) imaging is the colour format to stick to when saving web ready images - this works universally with screen imaging and web publishing.

Most web publishing sites, blogs and social networking sites have their own built in image set tool that down sizes images if the uploaded dimensions are too big. With this in mind it's probably best to just choose your own constant size and stick with it (perhaps 650 pixels high for both portrait and landscape images).

These sites will have a limit in the file types you can upload - stick to the following condensed file formats and you should be fine: JPEGs, 'Portable Network Graphics' (PNG) or 'Graphics Interchange Format' (GIF).

Batching in Adobe Bridge and Photoshop.

Use the 'action' tools in Photoshop to process your images for web publishing - make sure the pixels are set to 72 dpi (a chosen height in pixels: say 500 pixels = 11.71 cm screen size).

Use Adobe Bridge to batch a larger number of images under the same action to automate the image re-size.

Use the help tool or Adobe forums to find out more - in the end this is a good process to get used to as images can then be published on the internet easier, with less upload time.

Links

Copyright - As a UK artist you automatically hold copyright in your original works of art. This guide by Lee Gage introduces the basic concepts of copyright law and offers practical advice on protecting your work against possible infringement...
http://www.a-n.co.uk/knowledge_bank/article/81144/77173

The artist's development toolkit - This toolkit enables artists and students to develop themselves and their practice. It provides self-reflective material suitable for any career stage and allows artists to review their position and explore ways of developing.
http://www.a-n.co.uk/knowledge_bank/article/168331/77174

How to improve your chances of getting work - "Here's some of the tactics you can use to gain an edge during your own search for work and opportunities..."
http://www.a-n.co.uk/knowledge_bank/article/618984/77173

Finding out more about Photoshop actions - Adobe Photoshop forum for picking up advice on Actions in Photoshop.
http://forums.adobe.com/search.jspa?resultTypes=DOCUMENT&resultTypes=MESSAG...

First published: a-n.co.uk May 2010