Photograph your art

Once you start painting, it's nice to be able to take photos of your unmounted work. One disadvantage to Chinese/Japanese style of papers is that they wrinkle up after painting, a problem that Western watercolor papers don't have. Cameras with built in flash are well suited for this.

1. Temporarily pin or clip your art to a plain, white or off-white non-reflective surface.
2. Darken the room as much as possible, especially any lights that strike your painting sideways.
3. Set your camera to its lowest ASA if it has such a setting.
4. If your camera and space allows for it, take the picture at about 1/3 zoomed out.
5. If your camera is a tablet or phone, don't fill the entire frame with your picture, leave about 1/3 of the frame empty.
6. Photograph away! I often use Picasa for straightening, cropping and any other adjustments.

Nasty wrinkle

Same area with flash, better!