← OG Academy · Show your work at its best · 6 min lezen

Photograph your art with just a window and a phone

A blurry, yellow-tinted photo can make a masterpiece look like a garage-sale find. You do not need a studio — one window, one phone and ten minutes.

Find your window

Look for a large window that does not get direct sunlight at this moment — north-facing is ideal, or any window on an overcast day. Direct sun creates harsh shadows and burnt-out highlights; soft, indirect daylight is what professional studios spend thousands to imitate.

Place your artwork at a 45-degree angle to the window, so the light falls evenly across the surface. For paintings with texture, this angle also brings out the brushwork beautifully.

💡 Glare on varnish or glass? Move the work further from the window and angle it a few degrees away until the reflection disappears from your screen.

Hang or prop it straight

Photograph the work vertically on a wall whenever possible — flat on the floor introduces distortion and odd shadows. Use a nail, an easel, or simply prop it on a shelf against a neutral wall.

White or light-grey walls are safest; they keep the colours honest. A coloured wall bounces its own tint onto your painting.

Set up your phone

Stand directly in front of the centre of the work, camera at the same height as the middle of the piece. Hold the phone parallel to the artwork — the four edges should form a neat rectangle on your screen, not a trapezoid.

Clean your lens with a soft cloth (the most skipped step of all). Turn the flash off. Tap the artwork on screen to focus, then lower the exposure a touch if it looks washed out. If your phone has a 2× or 3× lens, step back and use it — it distorts far less than the wide lens up close.

💡 Shaky hands? Lean against a doorway, tuck your elbows in, and use the volume button as a shutter — or the self-timer with your phone propped on a stack of books.

Shoot more than you think you need

Take the full frontal shot first — that is your main image. Then add the shots collectors love: a close-up of the texture, an angled shot showing the sides of the canvas, and the work in context on a wall.

Three to five images per work is the sweet spot: enough to build trust, not so many that the page feels cluttered.

A gentle edit — and no filters

In your phone editor: crop to the edges of the work, straighten the horizon, and nudge the white balance until white areas look white — not yellow or blue. Compare the photo to the real work beside you. When they match, stop.

Filters that make sunsets prettier make artworks dishonest, and an unhappy buyer is far worse than no buyer.

💡 Fill in the exact centimetres of each work on Online Gallery. Buyers can then see it at true scale on their own wall with View in room and AR.

In het kort

Indirect window light, work at 45°, hung straight on a neutral wall, lens cleaned, flash off, phone parallel and centred, zoom lens from a distance, main shot plus detail plus context, then crop, straighten and check the white balance.

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