Guide
How to photograph your artwork for a gallery-quality mockup
A wall mockup is only as good as the photograph you feed it. Fix the input and the output looks like a gallery install shot. Four things matter — light, camera position, white balance, and crop.
1. Use diffused daylight
The single biggest jump in mockup quality comes from soft, even light. Photograph the piece near a large north-facing window on an overcast day, or bounce two identical lamps off white walls at 45° to the artwork. Avoid direct sun (it flattens saturated pigments) and avoid a single ceiling spot (it produces hot spots and glare on any varnished or glossy surface).
2. Square the camera
Put the camera on a tripod exactly perpendicular to the artwork, centered on the middle of the piece. Even a small tilt causes trapezoidal distortion — parallel edges start to converge — that no mockup composition can hide. If you can only shoot handheld, stand back further and crop in later; a slightly zoomed shot is more square than a close one.
3. Lock white balance
Auto white balance shifts frame to frame and often over-corrects warm paintings into a green cast. Set a custom white balance from a white sheet under the same light, or shoot RAW and correct in Lightroom or Photos afterwards. The rendered wall in detailshots is neutral; if your artwork is yellow-tinted, it reads as poor color reproduction.
4. Crop to the edges
Crop tight to the artwork's edges before uploading — no wall, no easel legs, no shadow, no fingertips. detailshots composes the wall, frame, floor, and lighting for you; your job is to deliver a clean rectangle of pigment.
A note on phone cameras
A modern phone in a well-lit room is enough. Turn off flash, turn off portrait mode, hold the phone parallel to the piece, and use the built-in level guide if your camera app offers one. If the piece is behind glass, shoot at a very slight angle and then correct in software — pure straight-on shots catch your reflection.