Photo tips for museums and exhibitions

If you want to take pictures in the museum or at exhibitions, there are a number of things to consider. Here you can read the most important tips.

Flash, tripod and Co. - what is allowed in the museum?

Before you set out, find out about the museum you want to visit. The use of a tripod and flash may not be permitted, or photography is prohibited.

• In most museums, for example, photography is only permitted without flash to protect the exhibits. Avoid trouble with the supervisory staff and switch the flash off completely if possible.
• Since there are always a lot of people crowding into museums on weekends, a visit during the week is recommended. So you can take good pictures in peace and quiet without people running in front of the camera; and maybe the supervisors are a little more relaxed and generous.

Museum image settings: white balance, aperture, and ISO

Many exhibits and paintings would suffer from daylight and are therefore displayed in special lighting - the normal white balance settings often provide inadequate results.

• For manual white balance, you should therefore always have a piece of white card in your photo bag.
• To be on the safe side, it's best to take your pictures in RAW format. This way you can make loss-free corrections to the exposure and white balance afterwards.
• Try to work with a closed aperture to get the greatest possible depth of field (e.g. F11). To do this, the sensitivity may need to be increased. Nevertheless, stay below ISO 800 if possible, because high ISO values ​​result in more noise. As a result, the images lose their sharpness and color.
• If you don't want or are not allowed to take a tripod with you, an image stabilizer does a good job: Be sure to switch it on, especially in low light.

Pictures behind glass - no problem with polarizing filters

Many exhibits are shown behind glass. This can cause annoying light reflections - so take a circular polarizing filter with you. However, keep in mind that this will slightly increase the exposure time. There is always a lot of audience in some museums, but you can even take good pictures overhead with the live view function on your camera.