Photographing a finished Painting

sub-title: A whole new appreciation of photographers (upon failing at photo-capturing my finished artwork).

This appreciation is not wholly new because I realized a long time ago that I am not equipped OR good at it (if you are looking for a tutorial on 'how-to photograph your finished art', you have come to the wrong place).  I simply appreciate those artists who have taken on and mastered successfully photographing their own art; an art form of its own.

Believe me, I could present 3 dozen failed photographic attempts at capturing the size, texture, color, depth and 16 hours of work that went into creating this 48" x 48" abstract (acrylic) painting (propped up in front of a mounted quad panel piece). 

:

My lack of skill in photographing paintings is a key reason I really do not like to send 'previews' to people (in this case 1100 miles away). 

I can't even get a straight forward picture...and truly hope this picture is 100 times better in person than the reflective, static, plastic dull, glaring spectacle it appears to be in the photograph!

All this being said, I am determined to fix this.  So, watch for improvements, I welcome tips from my audience!


I'm throwing this one in to show how my attempt to present an artsy photograph of a couple of abstract studies...failed as well: