HELP!!!: I'm going to be in a Gallery Art show

As in, photos of my work.

I have to matte them, frame them and have them off to the gallery next week.
I've NEVER done this before. Ever.

The piece all have to have henna in them (as it's about tattoos) so I am using pieces that had non-traditional henna and some ink stains combined.
They also, if available, want sketches of the pieces next to the finished photographs.

I have to have 5 ready by June 30th.

1. I'm so excited!! *squee*

2. I was asked if I want to sell the prints. Would people really buy them?

3. Should I frame the sketch beside the finished photo in one big frame?

4. Should I actually frame the sketch or should I scan it, make a copy and frame that?

5. Do I need to photoshop the background "noise" out of the photos?


The dark parts are henna. The colors are stains.


The leaves are actually mica powder glued on freehand style. All the rest is henna.


Is this too dark?


For this one I have the sketch, this and then the finished stain photo. Should I matte all 3 together?


And I can't decide on the last one:
This?


Or this?


Or the before and after of this? (with the background cleaned up- no one wants to see my decades old carpet!)



I am freaking out so any help is appreciated and all suggestions will be considered!! Thank you so much in advance!

Unless it was on a model and photographed by a photographer with good light I don't think it would be sale-able...but I'm no expert.

You know what I THINK would sell would be henna on canvas, fabric or objects like wooden boxes. I love that art form.

That being said, I think the pictures would be better as advertising for your henna business instead of art pieces. Definitely crop down and try to remove backgrounds. I love the dragon and the lovers tree.

I tend to agree with Denise on this one,,Professional photography makes ALL the difference especially when transferring an image to be blown up or reduced on to canvas. So exciting! Give it a go though, and this will give you an incentive to work towards.

This one actually said they didn't require pro-photography. I honestly had no intention of selling, they just asked, which I thought was weird.

Thanks, ladies. Any suggestions on the other questions?

I would try to crop into just showing the designs if possible... the backgrounds are quite distracting, and the poses don't say 'professional' to me... mainly because some are at weird angles or off-centre.

The designs are lovely (I especially like the peacock), so highlighting them by removing distractions would really help them pop more! If you can, also try messing with the hues/brightness in a digital art program so the skin looks nice and warm-coloured.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the sexy elf lady. The tree (?) she's against looks kinda slimey-brown... I've personally never done henna before, and I'm sure it's super difficult to get a smooth-shaded look, but it looks kinda like chocolate pudding to me, and your other designs are soooo much better!

Anyway - good luck! It sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

Selling in a gallery is the ultimate for any of us in my opinion. Having the opportunity is huge and my suggestion would be to take full advantage. I'd do new pieces with the best photographer I could find and split the commission. You never know what could be the start of something HUGE for your business, so no matter what it is, you should always put your best foot forward. I mean the big artists in this industry are selling prints for like $6000! Of course it takes time to get there, but you have a door open. You never know who will show up at that gallery and jump start your career selling prints? Also, even if they don't sell, you'll have really professional pieces to help you walk through the doors at a different gallery.

Beautiful work!! Honestly, I think prints of the Henna work on a model would be amazing, and I think people WOULD buy them. Nice black backdrop, organic pose. The hand work is what comes to mind specifically. Even just 2 hands on a black backdrop with beautiful artwork Henna would probably be something someone would hang. Lovely job. I agree. With the pictures you have, crop in to ONLY the pictures. GIMP is a great program for that.

Just an idea...

The leg pic is a little blurry, so unfortunately, even adjusting the constrast doesn't sharpen it enough to see the intricate work. Do you have a larger jpeg of the hand? I can't see it, but it looks lovely!
oh... and I would definitely frame the actual sketch. More valuable that way.

Thanks so much for the help and suggestions!

Whitney, if I'd had the time I would have done the new/pro thing but with only a few days before everything is due and my two photogs being unavailable, I have to work with what I've got.
Next time though.