Your Artwork Expertly Captured
We have extensive experience capturing a variety of original art. We will professionally photograph it, colour-manage the digital file, and optimize it for print. Our client list includes professional and amateur painters, artists, educational institutions, conservators, governments, museums, commercial/public galleries, and art foundations.
We professionally photograph your original artwork using a FujiFilm GFX100S II Medium Format Digital Camera in a critically controlled lighting studio setup. A single shot from the FujiFilm will result in a native capture size of approximately 36 inches (at 300 pixels per inch) on the long side. Multi-shot captures are also available for large scale works or for larger than life output.
Some of the varieties of original art we can expertly capture include:
- oil and acrylic paint on canvas or board
- watercolour painting and illustrations on paper
- fabric arts and textiles
- mutlimedia pieces (including 3D elements)
- art with high gloss or highly reflective elements, such as varnishes, metallic paints, gold leaf, and glossy films
- Super oversized art (larger than 6 foot)
Please see below for some process photos.
HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK?
We’ve worked with hundreds of artists, galleries, and collectors. Here’s how the process usually goes:
1. Drop off your artwork
Bring your piece to our studio in Calgary. We’ll need the painting for a couple of days.
2. Studio capture
We photograph your artwork on location in our studio using our medium format camera and controlled lighting setup.
3. Colour matching & proofing
We use fancy colour checkers to ensure the colour is just right. Everything is calibrated for colour accuracy and tonal range. Every capture includes 10 minutes of colour correction. Optionally, we can also sit with you in front of our calibrated monitor to ensure the file looks exactly the way you want it to look.
4. Final files or prints
We deliver your files in high-resolution TIFF and optional web-ready JPEG formats. We can also prepare print-ready versions or make archival pigment prints in-house. The files are yours. We don’t hold them hostage.
5. Picking up your artwork
We take care to package up the artwork with either the original packaging it arrived into the shop with, or we package up the artwork with our own packaging materials. We ensure it is packed to get back to your location safely.
Capture conditions are carefully controlled through the use of:
- High quality Kaiser LED lights or high quality Broncolor strobes
- Multiple lights and multiple angles
- Light modification
- Lighting polarization and lens polarization (cross-polarization)
- Laser alignment and lens cast calibration
Digital post production includes:
- Digital colour calibration
- Colour matching to original artwork
- Creative colour rendering based on output and artist intent
- Digital stitching and exposure blending for super large scale reproduction
The Capture Process
Placing an original painting by John Will on the reproduction table.
Our dedicated repro studio with three foot soft boxes installed.
Fine-tuning camera placement to ensure the artwork is placed perfectly.
Testing and adjusting lights for perfect even lighting.
Creating a custom camera ICC profile to ensure accurate colour of the painting.
The image is captured using Capture One raw processing software. Here we take one photo with the colour object target, another step for accurate colour.
The result. John Will’s painting on screen faithfully reproduced.
