It’s In The Detail
I can’t help it. When I walk into a museum or gallery and spot a piece that is of interest to me, I can’t help but study it. Usually I walk around the room quickly looking at a piece then move on to the next and the next and the next. And then one will catch my eye, my imagination, my interest. I’ll stand there and gaze at it, study it from a distance. As a shark moving in for the kill, I walk up to the piece and get as close, as close as I can to study the technique; texture is always of interest, detail in a section of the work, color and brush stroke. I’ll step back a few inches or move in with my nose almost touching the piece. The beauty of a piece is in it’s full composition but for me, the interest is in the detail.
It shouldn’t be any different when presenting a piece to a gallery, show or competition. Whenever possible, I always include detail of the work. I include details of mixed media painting work as well as individual photographs if possible. To prepare, this always starts at the time I’m shooting. I set up the lights, camera on tripod, adjust for exposure and shoot as tightly framed as I can. I usually shoot 3 bracketed shots; one at exposure and then one full stop under and one full stop over. But next, I remove the camera from the tripod, step up and start shooting detail, at exposure, one full stop under and one over. I just select areas of the piece that are of interest to me and shoot. Later I edit out the ones I don’t like.
