Tips for documenting work
Lighting
Bright, indirect natural light is ideal (outdoors in shade or right next to an open door, and cloudy days are great for diffusing the light). Be sure the piece is not backlit, that no shadows fall on the work, and that the light hits the front of it evenly. If you can’t use natural light for any reason (if you have to take photos at night, for example), you can set up at least two bright lamps at a 45 degree angle from the piece you’re photographing.
Photographing
Set the piece straight against a flat surface (ideally the surface should be white or neutral-colored). You can hang it on a wall or set it on the floor, depending on your lighting situation. Use a tripod if you have one (or you can set the camera or phone on a steady surface) to prevent blurry photos. Be sure that the piece is centered and that the edges are parallel with the camera’s lens. When photographing, capture at least an inch outside the image so that you can leave some space around the edges and have some room for error when you crop.
Editing
When editing the photo, always look at the actual piece in good lighting as your reference. Try to keep edits to a minimum, enough to make the photo look as much like the original as possible. Don’t use a filter. If necessary, you can use the straightening and vertical/horizontal perspective tools to be sure your image is straight and that no sides are warped before you crop. You can then adjust elements such as the exposure, temperature, tint, cast, saturation, and contrast, as needed to make the image look like the original. Usually, the better your lighting is the less editing you’ll need to do after photographing.
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