Photographing Your Work

If you’re comfortable with a digital camera, photographing your original artwork for print is easier than you might think. Before photographing your artwork, it should be removed from any frame or mount and if necessary be fixed to a backing board to keep it flat and straight.

Depending on the type of camera that you own, the settings you should use to capture our artwork will vary, the photograph should be taken using the highest possible resolution on the best quality of image (usually referred to as Fine).

The ideal conditions to photograph your work is in natural daylight, your artwork should be positioned on an easel and upright, your camera should be on a tripod to keep it still. Position your camera so the artwork is straight, the camera should be central in height to the artwork – it should not be angled up or down. The artwork should be close enough to the camera so it fills as much as the preview screen as possible; this will allow you to capture the largest possible image of your artwork.

Take more than one photograph so you have a selection of images to choose from.

The resolution of your digital camera will determine how large the image will print, a good, sharp image that’s in focus will also help your image to be able to be printed as large as possible. If you’re unsure whether your image will print to the dimensions you want – you can send the image to us and we’ll let you know the optimum size of print, you can also upload your image and use our Image Check tool.