Can you take photographs in museums

There are various things you can do to avoid reflections. Never use flash. For display cases, push the lens directly onto the glass without any gap, if this is permitted. This way you are bypassing any kind of reflective quality from the glass — but DO give it a wipe to eliminate fingerprints beforehand. If you can use a polarizing filter; it will reduce reflections. You may need to push the ISO up since many artifacts are in extremely low light conditions; ISO is more than adequate.

If you can get close to the object then you can use a macro lens to pick out the details. If you are far away, use a zoom lens to get in close. The High Museum may photograph or video visitors for educational and promotional purposes.

Personal photographs may not be published, sold, or otherwise distributed for commercial purposes. Photography Policy and Guidelines ,. Visitors may: Take casual photos for personal use only. Use handheld cameras, cell phones, and tablets with the flash turned off. Post images from their visits on personal social media sites as long as they are not used for profit. Visitors may NOT: Use tripods, lights, selfie sticks, or other external equipment.

Sell or publish the images. Use the images to promote any outside product or service. Visitors must: Remain behind stanchions and maintain a safe, non-touching distance from all artwork, cases, platforms, and pedestals.

Respect other visitors enjoying the galleries. News Media Members of the media must make arrangements for all photo and video shoots in advance. Eliminating flashes, even inadvertent ones, keeps paintings in pristine shape and reduces expensive restoration costs.

Second, eliminating cameras improves the visitor experience. Visitors who enjoy a museum are more likely to come back, join as members and recommend the museum to friends. It is hard to enjoy a painting when people are crowding in front posing for selfies using sticks, which occasionally hit both artwork and other patrons. People stopping to take pictures also create bottlenecks and traffic jams. Ensuring more people can visit safely and have a good experience boosts revenue.

Lowering the chance of injury makes a museum cheaper to run. Third, preventing photography ensures the gift shop maintains a monopoly on selling images. Fourth, banning photographs is believed to boost security by preventing thieves or terrorists from visually capturing and pinpointing weaknesses in alarm systems and surveillance cameras. While there are relatively few major art thefts , those that occur are headline news.

However, one could argue that uploading digital photographs to the internet is more likely to boost museum security than to compromise it. The more often a picture or object is recognized, the harder it is to sell after being stolen. The widespread sharing of images online means picture taking should be encouraged to reduce theft, not banned.

The fifth reason cited is that taking photographs often violates copyright protections. Please email filming britishmuseum. Not all objects in the Museum's collection have been photographed, and some images may not be of commercial quality. Requests for new photography — carried out by our in-house photographers — should be directed to sales bmimages. Skip to main content Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience. Read more about our cookie policy Accept and close the cookie policy.

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