Photographing Art for Picture Books

We have a talented guest writer this week, professional photographer Stephana Ferrell, owner of The Inspired Storytellers. Stephana recently took the photos of the watercolor art for our upcoming book Joyride. She has some great tips on how to photograph art for children's picture books.

Five Tips for Photographing Art for Picture Books

Congratulations on being so close to publishing! You've got colorful illustrations in hand and there is one step between where you are and approving a layout- getting your tangible prints into digital form. There are two industry standards to making this happen, and this article will cover ways to ensure success when photographing your illustrations. Let's get into it!

Tip One: Even Out Your Lighting

Lighting must be evenly spread across the surface of the illustration (not pointed down as this can cause reflections or hot spots). It’s best to use a light source that is close to daylight or “white” color (4500-5500 Kelvin), so incandescent and fluorescent lights should be avoided. ​

Tip Two: Keep Your Position Consistent

Camera distance and angle should be as consistent as possible between pages to ensure you aren’t impacting the scale of your illustrations. Use a tripod when possible or observe your positioning and ensure you keep it the same.

Tip Three: Watch Out for Dust

Clean your lens (and sensor, if it applies) before taking the pictures. I like to test the cleanliness of the lens by taking a picture of a white wall or a blue sky. Dust and other spots that you need to address will easily show themselves.

Tip Four: Get Rid of Camera Shake

Nailing focus and getting an image free of camera shake and noise are key to producing a quality image. If you’re using a “fancy” camera or even a pro camera app on your phone like ProShot, you should be able to adjust your aperture (f-stop), shutter speed, and ISO. I recommend shooting at f/8, a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second or faster, and at the lowest possible ISO that your light will allow. If you don’t have a bright indoor space, you will need to supplement with extra light. Something like this is an easy setup and offers continuous daylight with umbrellas to help spread the light more evenly across the page.  
​https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1323079-REG/savage_led60k_r_savage_500w_led_studio.html

Tip Five: Editing is Key

Editing is just as important as the images you create. Keep in mind which pages will end up being full spreads and crop your images to the right bleed size, ensuring anything that needs to line up does. The final printing color profile also needs to be considered while when making any tweaks to your image files. Ensure your screen is calibrated. Contrast, Exposure, and Tone/Saturation changes you make on screen may not render the same way when it goes to print.

Now that you have all of this information as your guide, you are ready to get those illustrations into digital form. Here's a quick recap to follow as you're photographing:

1. Light Right
2. Consistency
3. Clean Camera
   
4. Still & Sharp
5. Edit for Print

Happy Shooting!

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Stephana is a professional photographer based in Winter Garden, FL. She owns The Inspired Storytellers and specializes in storytelling photography for families, vacationers, and small businesses. If you choose to work with her as a small business or creative, she will tailor your time together to ensure the images made convey your story in a way that will intrigue your target audience.