Here is my Saikano art book photography project that I’ve been working on.
There may be scans online of this art book somewhere. But my goal for projects like these is to get the highest quality version of these images as possible and share them online for all to see; and really showcase some of my all-time favorite artists.
This article will also not be monetized or will display ads, this is solely to showcase Mr. Shin Takahashi\’s art work (best known for his work Saikano). You can purchase the art book by searching for “Shin Takahashi Love Song 2002” on google, it may still be on amazon.
Please support his current projects on his website http://sinpre.com/wp/ (Japanese w/ Google Translate to English).
Equipment & Set-up
I used my wife’s D3200 Nikon DSLR camera, although being an older camera now, it still takes amazing photos. It took a while to figure out all the settings, and I had to upgrade the firmware. Afterwards, I had no issues with it.
Now I have next to no professional training with photography, so please keep that in mind, but I took meticulous steps and research to make these images perfect. It was definitely a fun learning experience. I first started by setting up my rig for the camera. I don’t have a steady hand and I had seen this kind of rig before for animation and similar photography.
A little crude, I’ll admit, but I think it got the job done.
One of the trickiest parts was how to position the camera directly above the art book. I used boxes, a window mount for an AC unit, and a t-shirt to position to the camera to achieve this. The next problem was how to use the remote feature of the camera to snap photos.
Lucky my phone, the Huawei P30 Pro has a built in IR sensor and app.
The Results
All things considered, I think these turned out pretty well; photographing a book is not an easy task!
I also did not photograph the whole book, I just wanted to pick a few favorites and I may add more at a later date.
Take a look for yourself: