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Course Information
Here is some information about techniques and methods that you may find very helpful. This information has been compiled by the CSI Art Professors.
Keeping A Portfolio | Shooting Slides
No matter what your goals are in Art it is a good practice to keep evidence of your accomplishments. Job opportunities, exhibition opportunities, as well as grant and scholarship opportunities all require portfolios in order to judge your merit. What you should keep is listed here in four categories.
Actual Work
Hang on to as much of your original art work as possible. On a regular basis select the very best examples of your work and keep them separate in a continually updated portfolio that should not exceed twenty works. Regular updating is important.
Copy Slides
It is a good idea to document all of your work on a regular basis by shooting photographic slide copies. Slides are especially important for work that will get out of your hands over the years. It is advisable to shoot more than one slide of your best works.
Inventories and Records
Good record keeping will benefit you. Keep track of you work with information such as date of completion, title, media, and dimensions. You will need this information to enter competitions and juried exhibitions.
Exhibitions and Competitions
Also, keep accurate and complete records of all exhibitions, competitions, awards, and honors in regard to work. This will come in handy for completing a resume when you need one and as a part of many application processes.
— Compiled by Russ Hepworth
Shooting copy slides of your completed works on a regular basis will come in handy for entries to competitions as well as for portfolios that you will need for applications, grants, awards, employment, scholarships, and prospective affiliations.
Recommended Film
Try Ektachcrom 100 daylight. This film is designed for use with natural sunlight outdoors and electronic flash indoors and at night. Do not use this film with any other artificial light source.
Helpful Equipment
A tripod to help keep your camera steady and properly framed. A cable release to trip the shutter without shaking the camera. A gray gray card to help determine correct exposure.
Location
I recommend that you set up outdoors on the north side of your house or the north side of a fence or garage or in a room with a north-facing window allowing for a generous amount of inside light to pour in. Avoid direct sunlight. Infirect or "diffuse" light will give you better results without reflectinos or color distortions.
Time
On a bright day between 10:00 AM and about 3:00 PM. Early morning and late evening light carries too much color and wil lgive you inaccurate color reporduction. Do not use artificial lighting with "Daylight" film and avoid using a flash unless the flash can be "bounced" off a wall or ceiling to prevent "hot spots".
Set Up 2D
A plain neutral background or backdrop will give you better slides. White is best. Off white or blacks and grayswill also work. Avoid bright or competing colors and especially avoid textures and patterns (like wallpaper). A sheet, a blanket, a piece of canvas, or drawing paper will work just fine. A plain white wall works good too. Use a nail or a screw to hold framed work. (Remove glass from framed work to avoid surface glare.) Drawings, photographs, and work on paper can be shot inside a hinged window mat pinned to the wall (framing the shot to crop out the pins and the white mat board will form the margin around your work removing the need for a backdrop). Note: A mat with generous margins will help you frame up if your work is not proportional to the rectangle of your camera's frame. Making a mat with outside dimensions having a 1:1.5 ratio would be ideal. Small, flat work may also be shot on the floor or on the ground.
Set Up 3D
Draping a backdrop down a wall and over a table against the wall works fine for smaller 3D work. Larger 3D work should be shot against the plainest backdrop possible or in the context of an appropriate environment for the work. Shoot more than one view of 3D work. And make close-up shots of important areas to show significant "details" of your work. Be sure to label these slides as "detail".
Framing
Get as absolutely close as you can to the work yet leave a slight margin of mat or backdrop completely and evenly as possible all the way around it. Always keep the longest dimension of your work parallel to the horizontal axis of the cameras frame or in the direction of the film travel (i.e. if your work is taller than it is wide, shoot it by tipping the camera up sideways or laying the work over sideways). Check the margins before shooting and avoid hands in the shot. Keep the film as parallel as possible to the art work to avoid distortion.
Exposure
For best results simply use diffuse natural lighting without flash or additional artificial lighting. Meter off of a gray card pressed flat against the work in the center and near all four corners. Use an average exposure if these readings vary. Also, it would be a good idea to bracket your exposures. That is shoot at waht you consider to be the best exposure and then shoot once more slightly over-exposing and one more again slightly under-exposing. Allow for this when you buy your film so that you have enough film to bracket each work you shoot. You should shoot to end up with about six slides of each piece in your portfolio for future reference and for various applications that do not return your slides to you. Also, 3D works should be shot from more than one direction and larger works with fine or important details should be accompanied by at least one detail shot.
Processing
Have your slides done at a good lab and ask for plastic mounts. One hour labs can give you quick but less than desirable results. Ask for recommendations on a quality lab near you. Note: Other services that a good lab can offer include the duplication of slides and transferring slides to diskette or CD Rom for a digital portfolio.
Labeling
Begin by throwing out the slides that are too dark or too light, so that they do not get confused with your good ones. Use a black and a red permanent ultra-fine tip marker such as a "Sharpie". Include the following information:
TOP
title (or untitle if there is none)
medium (oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas, etc.)
* detail (if appropriate, indicate a "detail" shot)
BOTTOM
name (your name as it appears in an exhibition)
Left Side
dimensions of the work (2D = h x w / 3D = h x w x d).
red dot in the lower left hand corner of the mount.
Right Side
top of the work written and draw and arrow to indicate top of the work
(as it should look when projected on the screen).
— Compiled by Russ Hepworth
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