Photographing your artworks like a pro with a smartphone

01Natural light is your best ally

Light is the single most important factor in the quality of an artwork photograph. More than your phone's sensor, more than resolution, more than any editing software. Professional art photographers such as Prudence Cuming Associates, who photograph works for auction houses like Christie's, use sophisticated studio lighting. But diffuse natural light, the kind you get on an overcast day or from a north-facing window, produces surprisingly similar results.

Place your work near a large window, ideally without direct sunlight. Direct sun creates hard shadows and reflections that distort colours. The light from a cloudy sky, by contrast, is naturally diffuse and even. If you do not have an overcast day, you can hang a thin white sheet in front of the window to soften the incoming light. The photographer Todd Hido, known for his work on domestic light, demonstrated that simple light sources, well positioned, can create images of great finesse.

Turn off all artificial lights in the room. Mixing natural and electric light creates unwanted colour casts: tungsten light is warm and orange, fluorescent light is cold and greenish. By using natural light exclusively, you ensure a consistent colour temperature across the entire image.

02Positioning the work and the phone

The geometry of the shot is the second pillar of a good artwork photograph. For a painting or drawing, the work must be perfectly vertical, and the phone must be placed exactly facing the centre of the work, at the same height. Even a slight offset creates a trapezoidal distortion that warps the piece and gives the image an amateur look.

If possible, use a smartphone tripod. They are available for a few dozen euros and they transform the stability and precision of your shots. Failing that, lean your phone against a stable object, a stack of books for instance, and use the two-second timer to avoid shaking the device at the moment of capture. The timer is an underestimated tool: it eliminates micro-vibrations caused by finger pressure on the screen, and these micro-vibrations are the leading cause of blur on images taken with a smartphone.

For three-dimensional works, sculptures or ceramics, walk all the way around the object and choose three to five angles that reveal different facets of the work. The three-quarter view is generally the most informative for a sculpture, as it reveals both volume and profile. Place the object on a neutral background, white or light grey, to prevent the backdrop from distracting the eye. The sculptor Anish Kapoor has his works photographed from multiple angles to capture the play of light and reflection at the heart of his practice. Even for a small ceramic, multiplying the angles gives the collector a complete vision of the object they are considering acquiring.

03Smartphone settings you need to know

Most recent smartphones offer advanced shooting modes that artists underuse. The first setting to master is exposure and focus lock. On most phones, pressing and holding the screen at the point where you want to focus locks both parameters. This prevents the device from automatically readjusting between shots.

The second setting is white balance. If your phone allows it, set it manually to "daylight" or "cloudy" depending on conditions. This ensures that whites appear white and that the colours of your work are reproduced faithfully. A white balance shift can turn a Prussian blue into a cobalt blue on the image, which is unacceptable for a collector buying online.

The third setting is file format. Choose the widest format available, at maximum resolution. Some phones allow shooting in RAW format, giving you greater latitude for post-production editing. If your phone does not offer RAW, simply ensure that maximum resolution is selected in the camera settings.

The fourth setting, often forgotten, is grid mode. Activate the composition grid on your phone screen. The grid lines help you centre the work in the frame and verify that the edges of the canvas or paper are parallel to the edges of the image. A slightly crooked framing is one of the most frequent defects in amateur artwork photographs, and it is immediately perceptible to a trained eye. The grid eliminates this problem at the source.

04Background and environment

The background against which you photograph your work considerably influences the perception of that work. A cluttered background distracts the eye and diminishes the visual impact of the piece. A neutral background highlights the work and gives the image an immediately professional look.

For small and medium-format works, a roll of seamless white or grey paper, like those used by studio photographers, constitutes the ideal background. You can find them for a few dozen euros at photographic supply shops. Unroll it from wall to floor creating a gentle curve that eliminates the junction line between wall and floor. This infinity background, as photographers call it, gives the image an impeccable visual cleanliness.

For large-format works, a clean white wall suffices. Make sure there are no distracting elements in the frame: no electrical outlet, no skirting board, no visible nail. The viewer's eye must go directly to the work.

Wolfgang Tillmans, who revolutionised contemporary photography, is known for his hangings where images interact with space. But when it comes to documenting a work for a catalogue or a sale, the rule is absolute background neutrality.

05Sober and honest editing

Photographic editing is a necessary step but one that must remain invisible. The goal is not to transform the image but to bring it as close as possible to what the work looks like in reality. Three adjustments suffice in the vast majority of cases.

The first is cropping and perspective correction. Even with careful positioning, a slight geometric offset often remains. The perspective correction tools in most editing applications allow you to straighten the image in seconds.

The second adjustment is white balance correction. If the whites in the image lean slightly towards yellow or blue, adjust the colour temperature until the whites appear neutral. Regularly compare the image on screen with the physical work to verify colour fidelity.

The third adjustment is contrast and brightness. A slight increase in contrast and a brightness adjustment compensate for the loss of dynamic range inherent in digital capture. But remember this rule: if the editing is visible, you have gone too far. The image should resemble what a visitor would see standing in front of the work, not an artistic interpretation of the work.

06Shooting for web and for print

An image destined for a website does not have the same requirements as one intended for a printed catalogue. For the web, a width of 2000 pixels on the longest side generally suffices, in a compressed format that does not visibly degrade quality. For print, you will need the image at maximum resolution, at 300 dots per inch minimum for the desired print format.

Always keep the original image at full resolution. You can extract versions adapted to each use from it. Never edit the original: work on a copy. This is a professional habit that will prevent you from losing irretrievable data. Organise your files by date and by work, with a consistent naming convention: this discipline will save you hours when you need to find a specific image for an application file or a magazine.

Andreas Gursky, whose photographs sell at record prices, devotes obsessive attention to the technical quality of his images. At your own scale, this rigour translates into a simple gesture: taking the time to do it properly, every time.

07Detail shots and context shots

In addition to the frontal photograph of the complete work, two types of complementary images enrich your documentation. The detail shot shows the material, the texture, the gesture. A close-up of paint impasto, a brush stroke, the grain of paper or the patina of a bronze gives the collector sensory information that the overview cannot convey. Lucian Freud, whose paint impasto is a signature, benefited enormously from detail photographs that revealed the physicality of his touch.

The context shot shows the work in an environment: hung on an interior wall, placed on furniture, installed in a garden. This type of image helps the collector envision ownership. It answers the question every buyer asks: where am I going to put this work in my home? Online furniture retail platforms have long understood that lifestyle staging multiplies the conversion rate. The same principle applies to art.

08Your images on Artedusa: first impressions count

When a collector discovers your profile on Artedusa, they spend a few seconds on your first image before deciding whether to continue or move on. Clean, well-lit, faithfully coloured photographs signal a serious and professional artist. A blurry or poorly lit image, even if the work behind it is magnificent, creates doubt. The quality of your images is the first filter you must pass before the quality of your work can even be evaluated. Invest thirty minutes per work for a careful shoot: it is the best investment you can make for your online career. Show your work at its best on artedusa.com.