Good Lens for photographing indoor mural paintings

[midhunlalg]

Hi folks,

I am planning to shoot indoor mural art paintings. Which lens should I use for the shooting?

If I am going for 50mm F1.8 lens and if I shoot at aperture at 1.8, will I get good depth of field across the whole painting?

And what all things have to kept in mind to get the exact color of painting in the photograph?

Thank You,

Mlg

[sk66]

You are probably not going to be able to use anything wide open and get a deep DOF. Might be deep enough if you are perpendicular to the mural, but then if it's very wide you'll need a much wider lens.
I would be thinking something like a 10-20mm and tripod....

You'll probably never get 100% accurate color, but setting the right white balance will get you close.

[Sweetlifephoto]

Agreed that the color reproduction is more about the WB than the lens. Use whatever lens you need to get the mural in the frame.

Making sure your camera is level and the film plane is perfectly parallel to the wall is also very most important to avoid getting distortion; both focus distortion and elongation/compression.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by midhunlalg

Hi folks,

I am planning to shoot indoor mural art paintings. Which lens should I use for the shooting?

If I am going for 50mm F1.8 lens and if I shoot at aperture at 1.8, will I get good depth of field across the whole painting?

And what all things have to kept in mind to get the exact color of painting in the photograph?

Thank You,

Mlg

Your question and answers might be better addressed by doing a google on this than what you might find here. Here's but one example:
Rick_Lee: How to Photograph Flat Art (1 of 7)
Lighting is obviously critical to get good color, however, reflections off the piece can create headaches. Shooting wide open on your 50 is probably not the best setting on your lens. A good solid tripod is a must. Being square to the piece is also important, or you may wind up with distortion if you are shooting from a slight angle. Curious...what is the purpose of doing this? Were you hired, or is strictly for your own use? Depending of what you're doing will dictate how critical your technique has to be

[Matthias099]

Originally Posted by autofocus

Your question and answers might be better addressed by doing a google on this than what you might find here. Here's but one example:
Rick_Lee: How to Photograph Flat Art (1 of 7)
Lighting is obviously critical to get good color, however, reflections off the piece can create headaches. Shooting wide open on your 50 is probably not the best setting on your lens. A good solid tripod is a must. Being square to the piece is also important, or you may wind up with distortion if you are shooting from a slight angle. Curious...what is the purpose of doing this? Were you hired, or is strictly for your own use? Depending of what you're doing will dictate how critical your technique has to be

Great tutorial autofocus...thanks for finding it for us.

[sk66]

If I were shooting murals I think I would probably *want* some angular perspective and distortion...

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by sk66

If I were shooting murals I think I would probably *want* some angular perspective and distortion...

Why? we don't know what the OP's planned use of the photos are. If they were going to used in a brochure or catalog, or for possible re-prints, they probably are best done with little, or no distortion. If it's strictly for the purpose of cataloging a collection for record keeping, than it doesn't matter.

[sk66]

I said *I*. As in, for my purposes....

If we are getting into "reproduction" of murals.....well, it just got expensive because the best tool is going to be a T/S PC lens and quite possibly a bit of pano stitching.