How to photograph art piece (oil on canvas)?

Question: How to photograph art piece (oil on canvas)!?

I currently have a 12!.4 MP DSLR and want to shoot high res!. pictures of a friends' art to post on a website!. I have a D300 and two SB-800 and wanted to know what the best way to shoot his work would be!. Where should I bounce light and or would using ambient light be better than flash!? He may want to sell these images as prints so I'm looking for the best way to transfer all detail, hues and tones from the painting onto a DSLR jpeg!. ThanksWww@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

If you had studio lighting already, you would not be asking this question, so I'll tell you how to do it with free lighting!.

Go outside!. An overcast day is better!.

Put the canvas on an easel in outdoor shade, facing north, assuming you are in the northern hemisphere!. (Adjust for other continents!.)

[Yeah, Yahoo!, I am prone to using punctuation as I was taught in school!. How 'bout you!?]

Put your camera on a tripod!. Adjust things for as near parallel orientation as you can!.

Select the cloud icon for cloudy dayight white balance!.

Use center-weighted reading and aperture priority so you can select something like f/5!.6 or so!.

Use a remote shutter release or, if you don't have one, use the delayed shutter release setting!.

Voila!.

That's how I did this one: http://www!.flickr!.com/photos/samfeinstei!.!.!.

I see I also underexposed by 2/3 stop to cut out the highlights!. With oil paintings, there are a lot of tiny ridges that can catch the light and become burnout areas, so check for them after your first shot!. The D300 will let you zoom in on the LCD like crazy to check for this!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not wanting to get too technical, because I don't know what kind of art work it is, but I find ambient light is much better to avoid hotspots!. I lay the work flat, and get the camera over the middle of it!. 3D work is a whole different ball game!.Www@QuestionHome@Com