My first ever jury booth shot (be kind!)

I'm a TOTAL noob at this, but I tried to get it as close to right as possible. I read everything about booth shots I could find. This is my first try. Booth%20Shot.jpg

What I think I did right:

Following Larry Berman's advice, I cropped most of the top canopy to eliminate the distracting light source, and I cropped the sides to eliminate background and sideground imagery. I digitally erased seams, hanging wires, and canopy ripples for a cleaner, crisper look, and took out some of the visible fastening straps and connectors on the canopy and display hardware itself. I also digitally erased daggers of bright sunlight down the walls. I moved the table out of the foreground so the booth has an open, unobstructed look. I showed the print display, but kept it very simple with just one example of a print so it wouldn't look cluttered. I set up on a "clean" patio surface, not grass, to reduce business and to not have a green bottom competing against the neutral colors of the display system (but is this a good idea or a mistake? Does it leave me with too "bland" a slide?). I also chose only finer examples of my work as if this were just a portfolio rather than using the whole catalog of what I might sell, but it does represent an accurate body of work--there's nothing I would bring to a show that would be out of context to the subject matter and styles you see here.

Did I do good?

Do you want people to be kind or do you want critique that will help to get you into shows?

Shoot so it looks like clean grass or use a brown or gray floor covering. As long as it looks natural with no distractions.

Raise the camera to about 5 feet in height and remove whatever lights are there. Fix the right wall in front where the panels end.

Remove the top extension panels in the middle. They are for showing larger work that is too tall for the height of the panels without them, not for showing smaller work that people have to look up to see. Why do you have two desks? For the jury picture, no more than one placed where it doesn't block what's hanging on the wall, and do not put a painting on the front or top of a desk for the picture. Between that and the two extension panels, it's telling the jurors you are trying to fill up every inch of space.

The bin needs to look natural. Add about 6 to 10 more pieces.

Your framing looks like you can't decide on a style. No matter what frames you use, some people will like them but most won't. So stick to one style throughout the booth. It will make the booth look more uniform and add to your style. And cost you much less in materials. Separate your two broad styles, nature and work with people. I think color is secondary for your body of work. Random placement of work within a booth is death in a jury room.

When I work with artists walking them through a cleaner booth image, it's all done continuously by email, back and forth until it looks really good.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Replies

Larry Berman August 25, 2013 at 5:38am

Do you want people to be kind or do you want critique that will help to get you into shows?

Shoot so it looks like clean grass or use a brown or gray floor covering. As long as it looks natural with no distractions.

Raise the camera to about 5 feet in height and remove whatever lights are there. Fix the right wall in front where the panels end.

Remove the top extension panels in the middle. They are for showing larger work that is too tall for the height of the panels without them, not for showing smaller work that people have to look up to see. Why do you have two desks? For the jury picture, no more than one placed where it doesn't block what's hanging on the wall, and do not put a painting on the front or top of a desk for the picture. Between that and the two extension panels, it's telling the jurors you are trying to fill up every inch of space.

The bin needs to look natural. Add about 6 to 10 more pieces.

Your framing looks like you can't decide on a style. No matter what frames you use, some people will like them but most won't. So stick to one style throughout the booth. It will make the booth look more uniform and add to your style. And cost you much less in materials. Separate your two broad styles, nature and work with people. I think color is secondary for your body of work. Random placement of work within a booth is death in a jury room.

When I work with artists walking them through a cleaner booth image, it's all done continuously by email, back and forth until it looks really good.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
- Matt Atkinson > Larry Berman August 25, 2013 at 11:20am
  
  Thank you!
  
  As for being kind versus helpful critiques, there doesn't have to necessarily be a difference, right? You did a great job advising me kindly and helpfully.
  - Matt Atkinson > Matt Atkinson August 25, 2013 at 2:21pm
    
    I thought of a follow-up question.
    
    I'm going to redo the shot on grass, and rearrange the art according to subject, and fix the inconsistent frame problem (thanks for that feedback in particular; that's a detail I hadn't actually considered, and totally overlooked!).
    
    Do you think it would be a good idea to keep the taller panels, but to use them properly--that is, to showcase a larger work of mine, rear and center, for the sake of including an impressive piece, or would you do away with them completely and just keep a level top edge?
    
    Thank you again for your help! I'm very encouraged and committed to getting this right.
Judith St. John Peterson August 25, 2013 at 1:27am

It's a little unsatisfying, and I'm not sure why. I didn't look at it and say Wow! Maybe a darker floor color? Or a more random organization of paintings?
On the other hand, it looks very professional.
Judy
- Matt Atkinson > Judith St. John Peterson August 25, 2013 at 2:36am
  
  Thank you. I know what you mean, and I can't put my finger on it. I think the art is already hung rather randomly, so I don't know how to get more random than it is; I was actually careful to combine pieces of different sizes, genres, and even value/color so there wouldn't be darker or brighter paintings in clusters.
  
  I played around with some color on the ground. The digital work here is still clumsy so don't judge it by "pixel artifacts" and such--this is just a quick trial to see if other floor colors work. What do you think?

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