Sculpture Photography

   I'd like to talk a little about the line between sculpture and photography, and where our work falls between the two, and what implications this has for the context that the work should be photographed in. Photography has an extensive history, which incorporates many roles, the most relevant to us of which are documentation and art form. When one takes a photo of a sculpture, is the image a documentation of a sculpture, or is it a work of art in and of itself? In either case, there is one thing it most certainly is not- and that is an actual sculpture. There is a series of paintings by Rene Magritte called The Treachery of Images. The most famous shows a well-rendered smoking pipe with the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or, "This is not a Pipe." It may be tempting to think Magritte was just being contradictory, but in actual fact he was making a pretty profound statement about the role of representational imagery that hadn't really been addressed that way before. His painted pipe couldn't be stuffed, or smoked, or held. It was always only an image of a pipe. Similarly a photo of a sculpture can only ever be an imitation of the real thing. There is a real sculpture of course, which can be bought, sold, exhibited and seen by plenty, but if you are displaying your work online, then a photograph is most practical method of representing your work (although I have seen people show videos of their work, this is not something I've tried yet and so not something I am addressing here.) The next logical point to consider then is whether the sculpture should be photographed in order to simply document its existence, or enhance it in order to compensate for what is being lost by it not being there physically. I am bias toward neither of these in the work of others- I enjoy both (as well as the in-between,) but in my own work I tend toward the latter. My formal training is as a painter, and an urge to create whole diorama-like scenes can probably be blamed on this. There is nothing more artsy about one method over the other; it is up to the artist how they approach their work. It can be a photo of a sculpture to document it, or it can be a photo of a sculpture in the context of a scene, or it can be a certain angle shot of a sculpture in order to capture a feel or essence of the original, or any number of possibilities in between and beyond. It's all up to you.

For this guide, I will talk about basic equipment, the types of photography, scene building, lighting, and editing your pictures.

Your Camera

   You should have a decent camera first and foremost. The best way to preserve your sculpture (unless you plan on keeping it in a glass case forever) and share it is to make images of it, so these pictures should be quality. Digital cameras are obviously the most efficient types as you can take hundreds of pictures and offload them quickly, but I have absolutely nothing against film cameras, a lot of film cameras are quite fantastic and produce pictures of a quality few digital cameras do. It is up to the artist to decide where they draw the line between quality, quantity, speed, convenience and so on.
I use a Sanyo Xacti, which is also a video camera with underwater capabilities, so it was about $450 a year ago. You can get great digital cameras that aren't underwater video cameras a lot cheaper.

Photographing for Documentation

Photographing as documentation is probably a lot simpler than photographing the sculpture in a scene. It requires very good lighting, and a relatively clear backdrop. Keep in mind that when you use a clear backdrop and photograph to document, you are leaving the invention of a story and a scene to the viewer, and what the viewer takes away may be different from what you intended for the work. This may or may not be what you want. That being said, the colour or texture of a blank backdrop might guide the viewer slightly, so they must be chosen with consciousness. Perhaps for a particular sculpture, also, a blank backdrop is an environment or scene. Different strokes for different folks- it's all up to the artist. When I do photograph in this way I like to use cloth. Cloth is fairly benign to the eye, but it breaks up the composition and perhaps ads some kind of motion to the image.

A popular method to photograph in this way is to have a black backdrop, which can create a very nice atmosphere that makes you focus purely on the sculpture. Naturally a black back background limits you to photographing light sculptures, as a dark one, even with good lighting, would tend to fade into the darkness.

Photographing in the context of a scene

The easiest way to photograph a sculpture in a scene is to go and find the scenery that matches your work and place photograph it there. This could mean a lake, forest, alley, bar, brick wall, factory, cliff, river, anything. In a way doing this is very similar to simply documenting the sculpture, but you as an artist are making an extra commentary this time. What are you saying about your sculpture if you photograph it in a dark alley? Or against grey clouds? Or in the sunshine? You are adding context to your sculpture, and guiding the viewer in how it should be interpreted, so choose wisely.

The problem with photographing out in the pre-made world is that things are big, and sculptures are usually small. You may counteract this using simple optical illusion (like placing it on a higher point above a meadow, or on rocks with only sky in the background) or you can simply ignore it altogether. However if neither of those appeal to you, or your scene doesn't exist (say, a creepy clone lab full of genetic experiments) You may decide to make a set, diorama, or scene. There are countless ways to do this, and I will go into a few of them in the following section.

Scene building

It may just be because as a kid I used to build theatres in shoeboxes at an alarming rate, but I like building scenes. Usually I don't do this for my work unless the scene can be used over for other pieces, as the time involved can make it impractical. But they don't have to take long! They can be fast, for example you could find an image of something like a brick wall or forest and river, scale it to fit with your sculpture, and then have it printed at somewhere like Kinko's, on 11x17" paper, and use this as a backdrop with perhaps a few rocks or twigs around. If a more direct approach is desired, one could consider painting a backdrop (or part of it) and placing relevant objects before it and around your sculpture. Super-huge craftstores like JoAnn etc, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and A.C Moore, have a sheer abundance of materials. Though it's worth trying local independent art and craft stores, as they are usually willing to order anything customers would like. If an artist lives in the sticks, the Internet is the largest superstore in the world, and if you're reading this you have access to it!
One can make a good semi-permanent setting easily and quickly; here is a step-by-step guide to making this:

Materials:
Sheet moss
Reindeer moss
Rocks, Twigs, a little dry earth
Train scenery Grass mat
Lots of fake foliage
Misting bottle
Spray glue
Big box
Trash bag/plastic lining
Plaster Gauze
Chicken Wire
Knife
Newspaper

1) Firstly you need to get your big box, turn it so the opening faces you and begin to cut a section out of the roof. Stop about a third of the way from the back and perhaps cut holes in it (these will replicate a canopy.) You can cut them in the sides too.
2) Spray the plastic evenly with the spray adhesive in a well ventilated area, and then apply the plastic to the interior of the box
3) Start bulking out your basic landscape shape using newspaper. You probably want to keep in mind where your sculpture will stand and develop this area more flatly. My whole scene rose up at about a 35º angle but you can do anything!  Cover this in plastic too. Then cover it in chickenwire and shape the wire, as the wire reflects what the shape will be pretty well you should take care here.
4) Tear off pieces of plaster gauze, dip them in warm water, and apply them to the chickenwire, smoothing it over as you go. It will dry in a few minutes.
5) Now the fun part! Get your sheet moss, apply spray adhesive to the underside and start applying it to everything in sight. Apply the train scenery grass to the special areas where you'll but your sculptures. This was the base or feet of the sculpture can be seen clearly (they'd be lost for half an inch if placed in the sheet moss)
6) Accent your moss farm with reindeer moss or moss you collected. Begin placing twigs and sticks around naturalistically. Add rocks too, or anything else of interest you happen to find.
7) You should have a big pile of fake foliage. Now this probably isn't 100% legal but what I do is buy the plastic foliage I'll use a lot of, and if there's a neat looking one that I just want a tiny bit of (instead of paying $3 for a foot of it) I'll just snap a little off and fill my pockets with random plant parts. The same can be done with tiny fake flowers. Otherwise the prices can get really high really fast. Take them from the underside or areas where they won’t be missed as to not destroy the merchandise. You can also use dried plants and flowers, or if you have lots of time you can make your own plants from clay or tissue or fabric. Apply your plants artfully and somewhat randomly around, with a daub of craft glue on the end, or you can just pin them in, the moss will hide pins. Apply some like vines from the dapple-holes in the roof, have them coming in from the sides like tree branches. Feel free to touch some up with acrylic or a matte medium if they're too shiny. The sky's the limit here!
8) You should be done! Your box should be stored in a dark place, like a closet, or in a light space covered by a blanket. Every time you want to photograph a sculpture in it, use the misting bottle to spray the interior to make it look more alive! Your box can be taken outside and photographed in natural light, or kept inside with studio lighting! Even if you photograph mainly outside in nature, it may be worth having such a box for winter, rainy days, and nighttime.

Lighting

There are many kinds of lighting, and they fall under the categories of natural and artificial or a mix. Natural light, being there all the time during the day and free, is naturally the easiest. Natural light also represents your sculpture best as it truly is. Natural light also comes in lots of moods. For dramatic fresh glorious light, one should photograph in the morning, probably an hour after the sun is risen, or until there are shafts of light around your area. Perhaps place the sculpture in a spot of sunlight for a really dramatic picture. As the sculpture will be highlighted, the background will fade to darkness. You can also place the sculpture so that it is in front of some light so that areas with hair glow. Or place it at an angle to the light to create dramatic shadows and highlights. This is my favorite time of day to take pictures; I believe it offers the most options. A morning Photo:

 Midday pictures are limited to either being in the shade which can be nice but a little boring, or in direct sunlight, which may also turn out well but the harsh glare of which may not match the feel you have for your sculpture.

Above box outdoors facing the sun midday in October.

 In the evening, when the sun is at a similar height to the morning, pictures are romantic and can be very colourful. Later in the evening the diffused light can make a spectacular moody scene for sculptures that may be of a slightly darker subject matter.

Late afternoon in may.

Other things to keep in mind when photographing outdoors are seasons. If one has a whimsical sculpture that would go best with lush greenery and blue skies, then photographing it on a ground of dead leaves surrounded by creepy dead looking trees and grey skies probably would be strange at best (though it might actually be pretty neat!) If you have such a sculpture and such a season, consider making a scene, instructions for which are above. This box can then be taken outside to catch any light, or used inside.

Overcast Day in October/November

   Artificial studio lighting isn't as expensive or as complicated as it sounds. It's actually very cheap! There is no need to get hundreds of dollars worth of lamps and switches and the like. One thing you certainly DO NOT want to do is place a sculpture under a poor bedroom lamp and photograph it. I use Sylvan daylight lamps, which give out a high Kelvin and are shockingly cheap.

These simple cheap lights clip easily onto anything, and rotate fully. They are placed high so as to diffuse the light in the box. The box is placed by a sliding door also, to let in  small amount of natural light.

They are only about $5 from Lowe’s. I use CFL energy-saving bulbs at a high temperature, 5000K. These by far give out the most sun-like light. Simply go for the daylight CFL's, the bright white CFL's, or a combination of both (avoid the soft whites, their light is too yellow.)

There are countless ways to use this lighting, and you can alter its nature by placing fabric, acetate, or textured/coloured tissues between the light and your sculpture. The possibilities are really endless! Lamp placement, type of bulb, just experiment! I don't use studio lighting often, so my setups are fairly simple, just a few lamps facing various directions, and with various bulbs. It might be worth acquiring a stand for your camera for studio lighting (or at least lean heavily on books or some other stand) as many cameras blur at the slightest movement in indoor light, especially if it is low.
Pictures

Photographing

Taking the actual photograph is probably easier than setting the scene. Keep the camera as still as you can to avoid blurs. There is nothing more upsetting than a fantastic photo that is useless because parts are blurred. Use a stand when possible. Take LOTS of pictures! On average I take between 100-200 photos of each sculpture and keep them in their own files on my computer. Having a ridiculously large card in your camera helps. I spend at least an hour photographing each sculpture, and a lot longer picking out the good pictures in Photoshop. As you take the pictures, don't be afraid to take pictures of particular areas of the sculpture, or hold the sculpture in your hand and photograph a part of it held against the sky. Make a silhouette against the sun, take an extreme angle, you're taking dozens or hundreds of photos and there's no reason you have to show bad ones to anyone but yourself!

You may capture something spectacular without realizing it from the tiny preview on your screen, so don't delete anything in the field! Get down to the level of your Sculpture; lingering over it will give the impression that it is out of proportion. Get low and take a picture looking up at the sculpture to make it monumental. Don't have the sculpture in the centre all the time (I think I do it too much really) If you're photographing in an area with an active background, place the sculpture on one side and balance it out with activity in the rest of the image. The artist Pieter Bruegel balances images very well, and is worth studying to learn more about composition. Use naturally occurring shadow lines in your compositions. Curvy compositions imply sensual and calm feelings, and harsh diagonals imply movement and drama.
That's a lot to take into consideration! But where your photographing skills fail, Photoshop can pick up the slack so don't worry too much.

Picking your Pictures

After you hook up your SD card, choosing which of my hundreds of pictures to use can be hard, take a long time, and cause grief. Sometimes an entire photo shoot produces only a few decent pictures, and sometimes I'm hard pressed to find even one that is decent. Other times the entire shoot is full of amazing pictures and I can't choose the best. No picture ever does the sculpture justice, so try to pick those that exemplify its best points. I usually pick around ten pictures from a shoot (sometimes more, sometimes less) If you're having a lot of trouble, it's useful to ask someone in the room or a friend to look at the pictures and help you pick the best. Two opinions are better than one, after all. And what appeals to you may not appeal to anyone else.

Editing

At a certain point, ethics enters into your editing. There are many levels of editing a sculpture, from simply resizing and cropping it all the way down to completely changing the nature of the sculpture. Remember, your image is a picture, not a sculpture, and you are free to do to it whatever you like. I'd like to be completely upfront here- I do not heavily edit pictures. I will crop, adjust levels and colours, blur backgrounds, select backgrounds and make them darker, intensify colours, and sometimes add little lens flares. I will also use the healing brush tool in situations where I perhaps got a piece of dirt on the sculpture that I could get back off (I may only have realized after the shoot was completed) or perhaps a strand of hair got into the face of the sculpture, went over the eye AND caught the light to make the eye look freaky. In cases such as and similar to these, I see no issue using the Healing took to fix the area. None of these edits change the nature of the sculpture and as I sell many of my sculptures, it is empirical that I represent them how they really are. However it is something very personal to the artist, and you may wish not to edit or enhance your pictures at all, or to go further and edit them to make them appear much better than they are in real life. I can only say that if this latter path is chosen, I believe it is only fair and ethical to disclose the information. It is not fair on viewers and other artists to be shown a work that is of a standard impossible to emulate. It's similar to the situation that occurs when it is discovered a popular digital artist's pictures are in face photo-manipulations or paint-overs. You are an artist, you are free to do whatever you like in your art, but when you purposefully mislead and deceive your viewers, well, what that means to you personally is up to you.
That being said, here is what I typically do to a picture (the healing tool I wanted to demonstrate for its usefulness, though I don't use it often, I picked a bad photo in order to show how it's used)

My raw image. It’s leaning slightly so firstly I rotate the canvas arbitrarily to the correct position.

Once the image is rotated, I crop it.

This image is a little blurry, but I picked it because it was poor. I’m going to correct the face so that the stray hair is no longer in the way. Usually I would pass over a photo like this, but if it was a bad shoot, then it could have been I’d have had to use such a picture.

Using a colour picker, I grab the colours from the areas near the messed up areas and use a brush to paint roughly over them. I have the healing tool set to sample textures and not colours, so if it went over a black area with white on it, it would use the white and make a sort of grey. So replacing the colours is necessary.

To use the healing tool, alt+click on an area of the sculpture that is clear and has a texture similar to the area I’m repairing. In this case I used his chin. I apply the brush over the painted areas, and the textures are replaced with other textures from the sculpture. Done right, it’s undetectable. This is why you must take great care not to go overboard and start editing every single flaw out of your sculpture. Determine the areas (if any at all) that need fixing and stick to them. In most cases the healing brush is not needed at all.

The healing completed.

I want to emphasize the unicorn, so I select it at about a 30 feather, inverse the selection, and lower the brightness.

I unselect the image and open up the colour balance. I want the image to be a little greener as my lighting encouraged it to  be on the red side. I fiddle shadows, highlights, and midtones to do this.

I almost always mess around with the levels. They control contrast, lightness, and brightness.

Photoshop tends to wash out the image when saving (or displays it too saturated in the program) This can be counteracted by increasing the saturation between 10-20 points, raising the contrast, and lowering the brightness.

It can be seen here how less saturated the image is from the above one, but as I counteracted it, the saturation seen here is what I wanted. I save at a good quality as I don’t like grainy images, and most people these days have fast Internet connections.

That’s it!