Introduction

Having some basic skills in the fields of repro photography can be a lifesaver. In this article I’ll give you a few essential guidelines for reproducing (relatively) flat artwork (e.g.photographic prints, polaroids and paintings).

Once you have a high quality digital file, it can be easily shared with press, curator or social media. It also opens up a relatively inexpensive way to reproduce artwork for public displays, where the original might get damaged or stolen.

Reproduction 101

Gear

Depending on the quality you want to achieve, you’ll need a fairly high megapixel camera. My rule of thumb is to use a 12 mpx camera for a 1:1 reproduction. With a 36 mpx camera, an enlargement of approximately 3 times is possible. I recommend something like a

Nikon D800 (36 mpx)

Having a superior quality lens is even more important than the camera body. I’d only use a high-end, distortion-free macro lens, like the

AF Micro Nikkor 105mm F2.8D

Next thing on the list is a sturdy tripod with a horizontal column. My workhorse for all my jobs (not just repro):

Manfrotto MT055XPRO3

At least two high-power, colour consistent flashes are needed.

2x Nissin MG10 (+ light stands)
Air 10s Commander
(optional but recommended) Nissin Light Shaping Kit for MG10

Light Meter

Gossen Sixtomat F2

Setup

Preparing the Print

As you are working with precious originals, it is important to protect them from dirt and damage. I have a roll of acid-free recycling paper in my studio which I cut to pieces and tape to the ground with gaffer tape.

The prints have to be placed on the surface as flat as possible. I use coated metal pieces to weigh down the edges if necessary.

Lighting Setup

If you are not an absolute expert in lighting (for repro and product photography) I recommend you to stop reading right now and order the book “Light, Sience, Magic - An Introduction to Photographic Lighting”. It is the one book you have to read if you really want to know how to use lighting.

Now that we got that out of the way, here are the things to consider

Place the lights opposite of each other.
Family of angles - you want to keep the flashlights out of the lens’s family of angles in order to avoid reflections. Usually you just keep the lights as low as possible.
Distance between the artwork and the flashes - the inverse square law has to be taken into account as well. Keep the flashes as far from the object as possible to get even lighting. The distance between the flashes has to be precisely equal.
Make sure that there are no objects in the room that might bounce light onto the artwork itself.

Camera Setup & Exposure

Once the camera is mounted on the tripod, you want to set the camera’s base ISO and make sure that it is perfectly level. I use a small Kaiser spirit level to achieve that.

When determining the exposure, it is not only necessary to ensure precise measurements but also consistency from corner to corner. It might take some time and moving the flashes around to get things perfectly right, but this is the only way to achieve high quality results.

Final Preparations

Before taking the picture via remote cable release or self-timer, it is crucial to remove each and every particle from the artwork. Only use high-quality cleaning utensils that don’t damage the surface. Apart from special brushes and darkroom anti-static clothes I recommend Green Clean air dusters.

Post Processing

I could write a whole article about the post processing workflow itself, so I just want to highlight a few things you’ll always want to consider.

Black Point & White Point

Depending on the RAW converter you use, the black and white points are interpreted differently. Carefully examine which parts of the original appear to be pure white / pure black and adjust the file accordingly. My RAW converter of choice is ON1 Photo Raw.

Retouching

Even if you work with maximum care, you might find some dust on the repro photograph. Use something like the “Inpainting” tool of Affinity Photo to correct these imperfections.

Results

Here is a sample darkroom print from Austrian artist Raffaela Bielesch I recently digitized.

Reproduction Photography Basics