Art documentation using Spyder Checkr Photo

Datacolor Friends with Vision photographer Marcus Schwier focuses on two photographic genres in particular: architectural photography and art documentation. As different as both disciplines may seem, the step to art documentation was a very small one for the studied architect, because his colleagues from his student days at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf still like to turn to him for the documentation of their paintings, drawings and sculptures. His photographs of the works of art adorn art and exhibition catalogs, books, posters and magazines and meanwhile he is being requested by major exhibition houses, including, for example, Martin Gropius Bau Berlin at the ZERO exhibition. One of his photographs from this exhibition made it onto the cover of the catalog of the LWL Museum Münster, Germany.

We were allowed to accompany Marcus during the exhibition documentation of Renata Jaworska, a master student of Jörg Immendorf, and look over his shoulder at work. With the help of his pictures, not only the documentation of how the paintings were exhibited was created, but also an exhibition catalog and artist’s book, which are a popular medium even after the exhibition has ended.

Marcus, how do you go about creating photos for an artist book or art catalog?

In art documentation, it is incredibly important that the colors the artist has chosen for his works are reproduced exactly the same in all printed materials, because the colors have been chosen by the artist on purpose – they are an important part of the statement and the visual effect of his or her work.

Therefore, it is essential for me to work with a fully calibrated workflow with consistent color management.

What does that mean exactly? Please tell us something about the process.

For me, the process begins with the shot. In the case of Renata Jaworska’s exhibition, the pictures were already hanging in the perfectly lit environment of the museum room and all I had to do was align my camera in optimal symmetry in front of the picture. To avoid distortion and camera shake, I always use a tripod, centered at the optimal distance from the image. Camera shake can occur quickly with this type of photography, as one is often forced to work with longer exposure times in order to photograph at the lowest possible ISO values.

However, before I take the picture of the painting, it is important to calibrate the camera. So far, I have used the Spyder Checkr for this, which I have placed on a second tripod directly in front of the image. This is important so that the identical light that falls on the painting also illuminates the Spyder Checkr. This is how I take my reference shot with the Spyder Checkr in the image.

Only then do I photograph the actual artwork with the identical camera settings.

You recently started using Spyder Checkr Photo. Is the process identical and what are the differences?

Spyder Checkr (top left) & Spyder Checkr Photo (right) in comparison

I like the Spyder Checkr Photo because it is smaller than the Spyder Checkr and therefore even easier to take along. In its hard case, it is well protected in my photo bag and the color targets are convincing with their extreme mattness. It can be set up in various positions and remains reliably stationary, but I personally would like another tripod thread so that I can position it on a second tripod. Of course, I usually also have tables or stools available that I can use on location for placement, or I balance the Spyder Checkr Photo on a mounting plate on the tripod head, but a tripod mount would be a plus for me.

In terms of postproduction, the Spyder Checkr Photo works great and the application is identical to the Spyder Checkr.

Spyder Checkr Photo

What does your post-production look like?

When I start working on an important client project, my first step at the computer is always to calibrate the monitor with Spyder X. While I don’t think my monitor has changed much since the last calibration, two minutes to recalibrate is always time well spent. After all, my monitor is the only way I can judge the colors of my photos and I prefer to play it safe.

In post-production, I usually work with Lightroom and load my images into the catalog first. Then I dedicate myself to my reference shot and crop the image area that shows the Spyder Checkr Photo, so that only this part is visible. I then use the eyedropper to set the color temperature, this is easily done using the white, gray and black targets. The brightness should then be about 90 – 95%, the blacks of the histogram should have about 4%.

I then export the reference image and load it into the Datacolor Spyder Checkr software. Here the software automatically places color squares over the color patches, but the alignment can also be adjusted. It is important that the small squares are placed on the correct color fields, but it does not have to be exactly in the middle.

I select a mode (colorimetric for printing) and let the software do the rest, as it now creates a profile that compensates for the difference between the photographed color values and the target color values. I save this as a color profile for Lightroom and then, after restarting, I can easily retrieve it from the preferences in Lightroom and apply it to the photo of the painting.

It is important to be aware that this only works as long as the lighting conditions haven’t changed during the shoot, which is not a problem for me at all because I always work under controlled lighting conditions when documenting art. Also, if I were to use a different camera or lens during the shoot, I would have to redo the reference shot with the Spyder Checkr Photo.

In Lightroom, after applying the color profile, I now have a color-corrected photo where the colors in the file match the colors in the artwork. Now I can adjust minor nuances like contrast if necessary.

How do you ensure that the colors are also perfectly reproduced in print?

For this, I work with the ICC profile of the printing machine. A good print shop can provide the ICC profile and I can integrate it into my software and use it for the soft proof. With the soft proof, the software simulates the appearance of the printed result on the screen and I can judge whether there would be any color deviations and can still take corrective action here if necessary.

All photos: © Marcus Schwier