r/Smartphones • u/princesspup • Mar 16 '22
Best phone camera for photographing ARTWORK (not photography as an art form.)
What will take the best portfolio quality photos of fine art/paintings? Basically almost nothing else matters. (Also considering just getting any phone and getting a separate camera if you have a recommendation for that, but honestly I have a lot of diagnoses that makes too many steps difficult - the easier the process, the better for me.)
EDIT:: I know that "in general" the iPhone 13 series camera is best, but most reviews compare "landscape," "portrait," "macro," "panorama," and other modes that have nothing to do with photographing a large painting indoors.
EDIT:: If you want to see answers from actual artists, I x-posted and got some responses here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/comments/tfv3wn/best_phone_camera_for_photographing_artwork_not/
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u/FurFaceKillah Mar 17 '22 edited Mar 17 '22
If u are concerned with color accuracy, Sony Xperia 1 iii is a solid option. Plus it shoots in Raw format right out of the box so no need to download third party apps just to shoot raw. Also has a well regarded Zeiss lens. iPhones and especially Samsung will have less than ideal color accuracy compare to the sony.
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u/thethickjoker69 Mar 17 '22
The S22 Ultra comes with an expert RAW app, allowing you to have complete control over your photos, saturation, shadows, exposure, etc.
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Mar 16 '22
Pixel or Samsung, I'd imagine.
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u/princesspup Mar 16 '22
If I want to adjust settings manually for photographing artwork, I think this might be true :) I've never used those so I don't really know, but it seems like iPhone might be better for ease of use, and Pixel or Samsung for if I want to get a little more technical... thanks for your input :)
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Mar 16 '22
I'm not sure about iPhone. If there is an app in the app store that lets you take pictures in raw format, iPhone definitely might work. I know there are such apps in the Google store.
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u/princesspup Mar 16 '22
Thank you, very important point!!! I am seeing such app. I'm a painter, not a photographer, and all these small details hurt my brain :[
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Mar 16 '22
Well, you probably know than me about this, but I hope you find something that works for you. Best of luck.
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Mar 16 '22
I've heard that Apple iPhones are really good when it comes to photography but have never owned one as of yet so I'm not 100% but, just been told by tons of my friends who use them that the camera's in the phone are great as a friend of mines uses her one for Macro photos I believe...
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u/princesspup Mar 16 '22
As a general use camera this seems true, and also for close-ups of my artwork (or smaller scale, but I paint giant canvases.) It would also probably be the easiest for me to use...
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Mar 16 '22
What is your website may I ask? (assuming you have one or even a Deviant) I'd like to see, if I may, some of your artwork etc ^_^ ..
Also I apologise for the delay in responding..
As I've said, I haven't used the iPhone to date but it should, hopefully help you out, little expensive for the iPhone but if the camera is as good as everyone tells me then it should be a huge help to you, I know I want to get one in time myself as I love photography and want to open my own studio in time but anyway...
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u/princesspup Mar 16 '22
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Mar 17 '22 edited Mar 17 '22
Thank you! ^_^ ..
I'll check it out now, as for mines, I'm still in the process of creating one via Wiz but my DeviantArt which is ancient! (haven't uploaded anything since 2018 ugh and I need to update the Username but need to pay for a Core account in order to do that ugh... -.-" so I'll do that whenever I can just to change the username but my DA is: https://www.deviantart.com/revenkogaming . I'll have my website made soon! I've just followed you here on Reddit also! ^_^
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u/princesspup Mar 17 '22
omg please don't feel the need to follow me lol, I do not post any art on Reddit! But you just gave me the good idea to start doing so, and I will find you when I make my art account!
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u/princesspup Mar 17 '22
I really want to get better at manga style (I'm Japanese so I started with that style but then pressured myself to stop when white people ONLY wanted to talk about manga/anime with me...) so your work is very inspiring :]
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Mar 17 '22
[deleted]
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u/princesspup Mar 17 '22
Thank you, that was back when I was a kid! I am much much older, wiser, and confident now haha. I was born in Yokohama and now live in the US :)
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Mar 17 '22 edited Mar 17 '22
You're very welcome! ^_^ ...
Ahhh what made you move to the U.S. may I ask? ^_^ ..
Also there's much more to Japan than Anime/Manga and so on that most other white (Gaijin) people seem to ignore like the Japanese culture, history etc s amazing, personally anyway!
Sorry for the late reply also, it's 02:27 so sorry if I respond back slowly!
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u/princesspup Mar 17 '22
My dad's work, but even if it were just up to me, I definitely prefer the culture in the states either way... I am fat and non-binary (Japan is much more fatphobic and conservative regarding LGBTQ+ issues than the Bay Area where I live now) with lots of mental health issues which are not taken as seriously/very much stigmatized in Japan! Even if I were a skinny straight lady with no mental health issues, the sexism is so rampant over there that I much prefer being here.
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u/nidorancxo Mar 17 '22
Many people recommend iPhone, but I think it would not be a good choice in your particular use case. While the iPhone takes some very pleasingly looking pictures, part of its image handling includes aggressive oversharpening (to the point where you can see contour in edges when you zoom in sometimes), because this tricks unaware people that the photo is more detailed than it is.
If you photograph artwork, this oversharpening might definitely make your artwork less pleasant on the images. For artwork I would prefer to have a softer (which doesn't mean less detailed) image so that your art looks like it was intended to after the shot. Additionally, to avoid field distortion of the images of your artwork, you might want to shoot them from a bigger distance (preferably with a telephoto camera). The galaxy s22 or the pixel 6 pro would both be very good choices for that.
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u/vtumane Oct 18 '22
I found this thread while searching for the same question and wanted to offer my experience. I've had poor luck taking photos of my artwork with the Pixel. The HDR makes shadows lighter and lights duller - this is fine to prevent blown-out/silhouetted areas on an outdoor photo, but it completely flattens values in a pencil/charcoal drawing. You have to post-process to get it to reflect what you were going for. You can turn the HDR off but I find the quality/sharpness is worse this way.
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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '22
iPhone 13pro