Photoshop

Photographing artwork may be one of the most difficult jobs for an artist. Luckily, I have a fabulous husband that knows everything about cameras, lights and computers. Not so lucky, he is super busy and enjoys seeing me figure things out for myself. So, I thought that I would share my process with those of you who are not very computer literate (like me).

I love Photoshop. It makes it so easy for me to correct my photography errors. I know that light is the key to getting good photographs but I do not have a professional lighting set up yet. So, I have fallen in love with a few simple tools on Photoshop.

Once I pull an image into Photoshop, I try to keep the touchups to a minimum. I would rather be in my studio than stuck on the computer. First I crop, then I go to Image, Adjustments and adjust the Levels to get rid of empty information.

Then I tweak the color by using Image, Adjustments, Color Balance. I push up the Blue in the Shadows, the Green in the Midtones, and the Red in the highlights. This gives my work a richer look, more true to the real-life colors.

Then I tweak the Image, Adjustments, Brightness/Contrast if necessary. That is usually it. I shrink the image size and Save to Web. It usually takes only a few minutes to make a dramatic difference.
Here are some before and after shots.