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You've decided to enter an art competition, but are you serious? If you want your painting to be considered for inclusion into a show, it is important that you enter the most accurate and clear image of your painting that is possible. You want the judge's first impression of your work to be a good one!

As I mentioned in Entering Art Competitions Part 2 (see link at bottom of page), the show prospectus will explain the image format and file size requirements*, orientation, and how to name your file.

I sometimes use a local professional to capture my paintings. If you are serious about getting into the big shows, the expense is worth it. There are, however, less expensive ways to do it yourself.

With a cell phone. (I'm using an iPhone 8, so your editing program may be slightly different.)

Here I've photographed my painting under my studio lights flat on my table (with cell phone). Never enter a photo like this!

Show entries should display only the painting itself, never the matting, frame, and especially not the mess behind the artwork! The above photo is also skewed. Let's see what we can do to come up with a better image.

I clicked on the photo on my cell phone and selected the Edit option from the top right corner. Then I tapped the Crop icon on the bottom right. (I added the word CROP in red above the symbol. Do you see the yellow dot below indicating that I'm using the crop function?)

There are three symbols below the photo that you can use to straighten and adjust perspective: Straighten, Vertical, or Horizontal. Simply tap the effect you want to edit, then drag the slider to make precise adjustments. You will probably have to manipulate all three before returning to the Crop symbol to remove the excess from around the painting.

The level of adjustment you make for each effect is displayed by the outline around the symbol, so you can see at a glance which effects have been increased or decreased. Tap Done to save your edits.

Above, you can see the new version of that skewed photo after making adjustments on my phone. Much better, yes?

With my Nikon D7100.

There are many types of cameras and photo editing software out there, but this is my go-to way to capture the best possible photographs myself:

In the photo above, I photographed my painting with my Nikon D7100 in my basement under good lighting (I use daylight 6500K, but I'm no expert, and I usually have to make color and lighting adjustments when editing).

I have a 2018 Photoshop Elements program on my desktop computer which I update every several years. You can use whatever program you possess to crop your photo and make adjustments to perspective, color, lighting and more. I just keep playing around and comparing my image to the original painting until I'm satisfied that I've produced the best representation possible. (It's never perfect...if I want perfect I take my original painting to Velham Giclée printing for Fine Art reproductions.)

Do you see the Pixel Perfect card to the left of the painting? It is a color correction tool. In my Photoshop Elements program I can correct the color temperature by clicking the white square. I'm sure there are more uses for it, but that's all I know!

The final result after editing the Nikon image on my computer.

Don't give up! With time and practice, you will be able to edit your own photos, providing a good first impression for the juror. When the time comes, if you still have trouble with sizing or uploading your image for the exhibition, contact the exhibit chair. I've found they are always happy to help. (Just don't wait until the last minute!)

Paint. Love. Repeat.

*Terms used to describe the resolution of an image: DPI refers to the number of printed dots contained within one inch of an image printed by a printer. PPI refers to the number of pixels contained within one inch of an image displayed on a computer monitor.

UPDATED 4/1/2024: I now use an Epson Perfection v370 Photo Scanner to scan my artwork quickly and easily with professional results!