1. Good slides
a. Correct colors -- Film choice. I use Provia 100 for outdoor and Velvia 50 for indoor. These films, the colors are rich.
b. correct light condition to see the image of painting. Before I have my studio flashes, I normally brought paintings to outdoor in shadow to take the slides (Provia 100). Now I use Velvia 50 with my simple studio lighting.
I bought 2 slave flash and one adjustable flash. The adjustable flash is fixed on my camera and it is pointed towards the ceiling so that there is no direct flash light on the painting. The slaves will react with the adjustable flash and flash simutaneously.
b. Mask slides properly so that no irrelevant content appears. I use metal mask tape. And check your slides with projector before sending out. Some colors look quite different in projector. The focus is critical too. So only actual projection can tell.
2. Selection is subjective. As far as possible, find some catalogs of national or international shows juried by the same artist. Normally the artist will have a piece of message written in the catalog. You will get the information how artworks are selected. The juror will talk about the scopes he/she looks into.
3. DON'T send slides to some gallery base juried show that has no history. Those are there to make money from entry fees. Good shows generally have good history. Most not for profit societies / clubs / associations have wonderful history and well organized shows. More than enough to join for the whole year. These shows runs yearly. Some good shows here : American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Oil Painters of America....
4. Other good shows are by important art magazines and big cash awards shows. e.g. Art for the parks, Artist magazine yearly, Salon International....
6. Some people send digital files to develop slides. I saw the results before. I am not comfortable with the results. Unless I have a high end 12meg pixels digital camera, I will not send this type of slides in.
Good luck. Feel free to add your suggestions too.
Woon Lam Ng
