A great many artists are waking up to the importance of needing a good booth picture before they spend their hard earned jury money on applications. I've worked on or taken over 30 booth pictures since Christmas. Just last week I had a local artist come to my house and set up their booth in the snow for the picture. And it was only 24 degrees that day.
JJ Reichert, whom I had previously written about photographing her handbags, now has a great booth picture to go along with her great jury images. Here's how she set up to photograph her booth.
You can see the finished booth pictures in this article:
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/booth-picture-in-snow/
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Replies
I thought I was the only one cutting it this close, this is making me feel better. I'm changing my work quite a bit for next year and am trying to get enough work framed/mounted to get a decent booth shot in the driveway. No snow in Washington, but it's rainy and so dark it looks like twilight all day long. I might have to shoot lights up into the top of the canopy or something. I do like the idea of renting an inside space & setting everything up in there, that might be worth the cost.
With a Trimline, you can rig an extra ten foot pol that runs from the front roof bar to the back, and clamp lights to that. They'll be high enough that you don't have to worry too much about them showing, but you do want to aim them at the roof, rather than down at the ground. It's called bounce lighting, and the rounded canopy makes a pretty good bounce. You can use high powered CFL's or LED's, but you need at least 200W of light, or more to get the light down to the ground.
If you dress the lights nicely, you can leave them in the shot.
Steph- have you looked outside? Yep, seeing snow in WA, or at least we are south of Seattle, today. However, we all know it's short lived, thank goodness. Saw more snow on our Christmas family visit than I cared to see and certainly more than enough to get me through this winter.
If you can get your booth shot on an overcast day, when it's not raining, that will give you much better lighting. We tried to take a new booth shot last summer and of course we did it in that sunny period, 81 days without rain, and we had way to many reflections to even think the shot was worth trying to make look good. So, at least for the apps we've done thus far this year, we're sticking with last year's booth photo.
Overcast is one thing, but here in Portland anyway it's been downright dark. Last time I looked the forecast said it was supposed to brighten up the middle of next week. I might try to take a new booth shot then. Otherwise I'll use last year's.
If the camera is set up on a tripod, it will compensate for the lower (hopefully more even) lighting conditions.
Larry Berman
In this light it has to be on a tripod :).
In any light it has to be on a tripod.
Larry Berman
Of course one should always use a tripod when taking a booth shot.
Let me add that it's not as simple as just setting up a booth and photographing it, snow or not. A great many artists I work with can go through at least a dozen variations or changes in placement of the items in the booth. JJ Reichert lives in Columbus. She set her booth up on Friday and sent me a picture. I went over it with her but she had to wait until Sunday to reshoot because it snowed again on Saturday. Sunday we went through many changes and reshoots until it gave me something I could make perfect. A tripod is mandatory as is the will to keep working to get it the best it can be.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
I rented one of the studios at the Indiananpolis Art Center one year to set the booth up and do the photos. It was inexpensive and a lot easier setting up in a warm building. Last year I was able to borrow some space in a large storefront that also gave classes in their facility. The peak of the tent pushed one of the ceiling tiles up out the grid above by a couple of feet, but otherwise just enough room.
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