Gear & Lighting Checklist — Art Work Process Shoot

Project: photographing an artist at work (process shots) plus clean shots of the finished art piece.

This is a starting-point checklist — compare against your actual gear list once you send it over.

Two Shot Types, Two Needs

• Process shots — artist moving, working, hands in motion. Needs flexibility, quiet operation, freedom to move around the space.
• Product/final-piece shots — the artwork itself, static. Needs accurate colour, even lighting, sharper control.

Minimum Camera Gear

• Camera body (ideally one with good high-ISO performance for available-light process shots)
• Standard zoom (24-70mm equivalent) — main lens for process shots, works in tight studio spaces
• Fast prime (35mm or 50mm, f/1.8 or faster) — low light, shallow depth of field on hands/detail
• Macro or close-focus lens — texture, brushwork, tools, material detail
• Extra batteries + memory cards (process shoots run long and burn through both)
• Tripod — for product shots and any fixed-angle process sequences

Lighting Setup

For process shots (artist working): - Prefer available/ambient light where possible — flash is disruptive to a working artist and kills candid moments - If supplementing: one continuous LED panel (daylight-balanced, ~5600K) as fill, diffused, off to the side - Reflector (white/silver) — cheap way to bounce existing light without adding a fixture

For product/final-piece shots: - Two-light setup minimum: key light + fill, both diffused (softbox or shoot-through umbrella) - Or single light + large reflector if only one strobe/panel available - Consistent colour temperature between lights — mixing daylight LED and tungsten will show in the art's true colours - Polarizing filter — cuts glare off varnish, glossy paint, or protective glass

Camera Settings Starting Points

Process shots: - Aperture: f/2.8–f/4 (enough depth for hands + surroundings, still separates subject from background) - Shutter: 1/125 s minimum to freeze hand movement, faster if the artist works quickly - ISO: auto, capped around 3200 depending on body's noise performance

Product shots: - Aperture: f/8–f/11 (full sharpness across the piece, minimal depth-of-field falloff) - Shutter: whatever ambient/lighting requires, on tripod so no handheld limit - ISO: as low as possible (100–200) for max detail and dynamic range - Manual white balance or grey card — colour accuracy matters most here

Other Essentials

• Grey card or colour checker (for accurate product-shot colour correction)
• Lens cloth — art studios mean dust, paint dust, spray fixative in the air
• Backup storage plan (second card slot or end-of-day offload)

---

Your Actual Gear (from Owned lighting gear.md, reconciled 2026-07-18)

Camera & lenses: - Sony a7R III — covers the camera body requirement for both process and product shots (note: updated from earlier a7M3 mention). - Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS — covers the macro/close-focus need (brushwork, texture, tool detail). - Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM — fast wide prime, strong for available-light process shots and environmental context. - Sony FE 50mm F1.8 — covers the fast-prime requirement for low light / shallow depth of field on hands and detail. - Sony FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 — covers the standard zoom requirement, though it's slower (f/3.5–5.6) than ideal for available-light process shots; the 24mm F1.4 GM or 50mm F1.8 are better choices in low light.

Lighting accessories: - Godox V1 Speedlight Flash + AK-R1 accessory kit — flash, not continuous. Keep off/minimal during process shots (disruptive to a working artist); fine for product shots on a stand. - Godox iM20 Flash + Godox S2 Speedlite Bracket — second flash unit, useful for a two-light product setup (key + fill). - Godox X3-S wireless trigger — fires the Godox flashes remotely, needed for any off-camera flash setup. - Aputure MC LED Light (3200-6500K, battery, 5W) and SmallRig RMO 1 mini LED — covers the continuous-light need for process shots; both are small/portable, so best as fill or accent rather than a primary light source given low output. - Neewer translucent white umbrella — shoot-through or bounce, works for both process fill and product key/fill. - Neewer 20" lantern softbox — small, portable diffusion source for product shots.

• Reflector + Selens Reflector kit — covers the reflector requirement for both process and product shots.
• Grey card — covers the colour-accuracy requirement for product shots.
• Polarising filters — covers the glare-cutting requirement for varnish/glossy paint/glass.
• Tripods (3) — covers the tripod requirement for product shots and fixed-angle process sequences.

Gaps against the checklist: - None remaining — full gear list now covers every item on the minimum checklist above. - Only soft note: the two LED lights (Aputure MC, SmallRig RMO 1) are both low-output (5W, mini) — may be underpowered as a primary continuous key light for product shots; likely fine as process-shot fill given available/ambient light is preferred there anyway.

Apple Notes connection timed out last session, so this comparison is built from Owned lighting gear.md rather than a live Notes pull — worth re-checking Notes next session in case there's more recent gear info there.