Hi Kostas, Actually your method is quite common, there have been several versions I have seen in the past. However most if not all attach the end of the cords to a hole in the middle of the lens cap to position the camera/lens. When using a copy stand I always used to keep a string attached to the center of the lens cap and a weight on the other end so that I could position the camera centered on the subject to be copied below. When I used your method to copy paintings on a marrion carrol copy system we also used polarized lights and a POL filter over the camera to reduce any chances of reflection off the surface of the paint. You can buy large pol filters for your lamps and of course for your camera as well. If it is possible to shoot the paintings so that they are on a flat horizontal surface you will find it much easier to make good copies than if they are attached to the wall. Walls are NOT straight, nor are they level. Take care Les -----Original Message----- From: owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of kpp@xxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 1:54 PM To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students Subject: Squaring a painting well here are my experience and ideas on putting a painting squarely in the picture frame... i had a case of photographing paintings for a friend and just yesterday i photographed some test charts, only to find that squaring the rectangular frame withing the pic frame is not that easy without instrument help... i lacked a bubble lavel but still that i believe is half the solutuion, cos one should point the leveled camera to the painting center... as often does i came with idea while showering (dont't you ever do?) and here what it is. find the painting center in the cross section of its diagonals. then point the camera there. but who says it is square too? in onother word, is the optical center as far away from all corners? so enter the strings... in order to find the vertical line (to the painting surface)that passes from the painting center one has to use isosceles traigles made from string. cut 4 equal lengths of string (2 for each axis and consisting from an actually one double length piece linking each diagonal points), fix them to the painting corners, and pull them until they all end in the same spot, which should be the camera lens center... it seems good enough, but then i had another problem...i was to use 6 different focal distances for the test chart, so then i would have to make six sets (one from each position)...and the under the running water i remembered the chord fictures most fleece jackets and parkas have to keep the elastic chords shortened. you know the spring loaded aperture in a cylidrical apparatus that keeps the elastic chord tout. in theory if one would pull the 2 strings length through the opening and tensioned, it is impossible to miss the painting center... well actually it was too late to test the idea... what do you think about it? any better idea? there's got to be one.. thanks, kostas ________________________________________________________________________ _____________ http://www.mailbox.gr ÁðïêôÞóôå äùñåÜí ôï ìïíáäéêü óáò e-mail. http://www.thesuperweb.gr Website ìå ÁóöáëÝò Controlpanel áðü 6 Euro êáé äþñï ôï domain óáò!
