Article by Chris Groenhout. © 2006. Visit Chris' Website for more articles.

Step by Step Checklist

1. Determine film type

Colour Transparency (slide) - E6 process:

* ideal for magazine, book and card reproduction

* most accurate colour for documentation purposes

* make slides for presentations or grant applications

Colour Negative (print) - C41 process:

* personal record of your work for the album

* make small print-runs using mini-lab prints

* easiest to get a ‘result’ though difficult to get exact colour / density

Black & White:

* where final reproduction is in B&W

* or where work is essentially tonal in nature

* expensive unless you’re printing it yourself

2. Determine lighting method

Natural light (simplest and cheapest, but often inconsistent):

* direct sunlight

* diffuse sunlight

* light ‘tent’ for 3D objects

Flash light (quick and accurate colour possible with normal film):

* On-camera flash for quick and easy results and shadows

* Off-camera flash to minimise reflections

* Professional flash units with umbrellas or a softbox for 3D work

Tungsten light (requires tungsten balanced film or 80A filter over camera lens):

* A couple of halogen security lights for doing it on the ‘cheap’

* A matching pair of professional tungsten lights for accurate colour

3. Choose your film

FujiChrome Velvia - Most vivid colours possible, quite warm 50 ISO

FujiChrome Provia - Still very saturated but a little more ‘real’ 100 ISO

FujiChrome 64T - Tungsten balanced and quite neutral 64 ISO

Kodak Ektachrome - Neutral, general purpose film (yawn) 100 ISO

KodaChrome 64 - Neutral colour but takes ages to process 64 ISO

Kodak Ektachrome 64T - Tungsten balanced like Fuji 64T 64 ISO

AgfaChrome 100 - Very neutral, even a little cold colour 100 ISO

For B&W work try AgfaPan 25 for finest results (definitely on a tripod).

General rule - test your film with appropriate lighting conditions before doing anything important or unrepeatable.

4. Set up your lighting

For 2D work, placing two lights, each 45 degrees to the work is a good starting point. This minimises unevenness in illumination and cancels out shadows by filling them with an equal amount of light from the opposite direction. Test the evenness of light with a pencil, observing the darkness of each shadow falling onto the surface.

For work under glass or with a glossy texture (eg. oil paint), you may need to move the lights even further out and minimise the light falling on the photographer, camera, tripod etc... Remember to check the evenness of exposure both visually and with the lightmeter. Use of umbrellas can help, as can bouncing the light of a white roof or wall.

For work in a deep frame, the lights might need to be moved to minimise the shadow caused by the edge. This is always a compromise between reflection, evenness of illumination and the inevitable shadow intruding into the work. Adjust to taste.

For 3D work, you can either go for the ‘safe’ option and light the subject evenly and softly using a reflector on the light (eg. umbrella) or a diffuser (eg. softbox / bounce-light) or use the light as a vehicle to accentuate the interesting nature of the subject, bringing out texture and form thereby creating another work of art in the photography itself. This works best with B&W, though can be used with colour film provided the contrast of the subject it kept down using reflectors or additional lights.

If lighting is unavailable, try to work outside on an overcast day (sunny blue skies can cause a nasty blue cast in your photos particularly if they’re shot in the shadow of a building). Keep an eye on surface reflections and in the case of 3D work, shadows filling them using a reflector where necessary.

For small 3D works (especially highly reflective ones such as jewellery), a small light tent can be constructed using a white sheet over a frame, inside which the work is placed on a platform and photographed in just about any light with superb results!

5. Choose your lens

Normal (50mm) to short telephoto (85mm - 100mm) lenses are best for 2D works as they minimise the distortion caused by wide angle lenses and allow reasonable working distances to minimise reflections and shadows of the photographer.

For small 3D works a normal lens is generally ideal (especially with macro capability). Slight wide angle (35mm) lenses can give an interesting perspective and additional depth of field to improve sharpness while short telephoto (85mm) lenses allow the photographer to accentuate a small section to make a point about the work.

6. Determine exposure

* For 2D work, use grey card and set camera to f8 or f11. Under and over expose from the initial reading to ensure at least one ideal frame.

* For 3D work either use grey card or meter directly off subject and set lens to f22 for maximum depth of field.

Again, do several exposures to ensure one accurate frame.