The camera doesn’t quite tell the truth in photography. Once you start getting the best possible results, you’ll realize you have to accept some small inaccuracies. For example, color film can’t render certain colors exactly, and certain film brands cope better with certain colors. A film that works best for all colors just doesn’t exist. Photography can only mimic the colors of real-life pigments.

These faults are not huge obstacles, but they do deserve mentioning for the sake of the artists who will encounter them. They are most apparent in photographs of artwork with pure pigments of high tints, such as Phthalocyanine, Cadmium and Viridian colors. You can correct the photograph in every other respect—exposure, tonal range, detail and even general color balance—but the specific pure colors simply might appear slightly off.

Don’t panic if this happens. If you’re working on an important set of shots that must be right—for reproduction in a book or magazine, for example—or if you use problem colors frequently, try other brands of film. You may find a certain brand particularly suited to the unique demands of your work whether in color, tonal range or contrast.

Also realize that images on film can be enlarged only so much without becoming grainy. For important items, such as books and exhibition catalogs, the first priority is to supply photographic material of the highest quality. Publishers and printers want slides or larger transparencies instead of prints or negatives. Make sure your slides are sharp, correctly exposed originals. If you want to reproduce your artwork larger than 8" × 10" (20cm × 25cm), have a professional photographer shoot medium- or large-format transparencies.

Photography is not a perfect art, just as brushes and paints aren’t perfect tools. Over time, though, you’ll learn how to get the best possible results that communicate what you want to get across with your art and photography.