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| Ugolino, Carpeaux |
Photographing sculpture is challenging. It would seem to be simple, because hey, the sculpture is just sitting there. It's not going anywhere. But you have to be careful not to flatten the forms with too much light, while you also have to have enough light to see the details. You need good contrasts to make a good photo, but you need to accentuate the shapes and textures of the sculpture, not the photograph. Using a flash doesn't work.
The best light is always daylight, but direct sunlight outdoors on a bright day can be blinding on a white or light sculpture, washing out most of the detail. While bronzes with dark patinas photograph well outside, they also lose detail and texture in bright outdoor light. In both cases, direct sunlight overhead can produce unintended cast shadows that are disruptive. Spotlights can do the same thing and I've never liked the results of using spotlights for sculpture photos. Bright light bleaches out colors, forms and textures. The best light is diffused, soft light. I've had the best luck with putting small sculptures near a sunny window, with some large sheets of white foamcore reflecting light back onto the sculpture. For large sculptures, I take pictures outside very early in the morning, or on an overcast day. I'm probably the only person taking pictures outside at 5 AM muttering, "Dammit! The sun came out."
Many photographers are not good at photographing sculpture unless the sculpture is in a museum where the light is all set up and all the decisions have already been made for them. Even then, they blow the shots half the time by shooting from the wrong angles. Sculptures have good sides and bad sides, even Michelangelo's. You have to find the best angles and the good sides. And adding insult to injury, most photographers of sculpture don't credit the sculptor. It's infuriating! What arrogance! What intellectual laziness! I doubt whether they'd like to have their photographs published without credits.
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