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ISO – low (ISO 100)
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Mode – Manual
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Flash – off
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Lens – Most zoom lenses have
some barrel or pincushion distortion when set to wide
angle or telephoto extremes. Midway between is likely to
give you the straightest edges on your photos.
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Manually focus
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Lighting –
don't use on-camera flash.
Ideally, one large light source on each side of the art,
splashing across it at a 45º angle
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Avoid
getting reflections of yourself and the camera gear on
glossy art or oils. This may mean you have to be far
enough away that the light doesn't spill on you.
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White Balance should be
matched to the color of the light source. Consult your
camera’s instruction book and learn how to do “custom
white balance” so that your images match the color of
the art.
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Use a tripod
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Use a self-timer or cable release so you don't shake
the camera.
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Back of the camera
must be exactly parallel to the art, to avoid
keystoning (one end bigger than the other)
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Aperture – sharpest results
are when the lens is closed down about 3 f-stops from
the largest opening. So if your
camera's lens has a maximum aperture of f4, set it to
f11 for best results.
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Bracket your exposures -
take one exposure based on what the
light meter says, take another with less exposure and a
third with more exposure.
