# Light  issues



## Daniel (Jun 6, 2004)

from having looked at many pen photos on the web for the past couple of years. I have began to beleive the single greatest handicap the average penturner has for getting a good photo of there pens, is lighting. 
  Many penturners take there first photo by laying the pen on a table or desk adn shooting the picture withthe built in flash of there camera. this they get there first lesson in digital photodgraphy. the onboard flash wreaks that picture. they say to themselves, "TO MUCH LIGHT" and grab the nearest 75 watt lamp. shut off the ondoard falssh, or worse, cover it up. and shoot again, this time the results are dork, usually have a bright spot in the middle of the picture withthe edges darker. adn no detail. Well that what photo editors are for right. by the time the struggle through making that underexposed image anything near viewable they are pretty much either ready to give up or willing to settle for anything at all. there si nothing wrong with a bright center with dark edges photo. If that is what you wanted to get. But it is frustrating when you didn't. Maybe they add an additional lamp or two or five. now the light is starting to improve. but he colars are starting to fade. in fact it is starting to look like they are shooting through a fog. the shadows are to dark, the detail is lost again, and end up with the belief that DIGITAL CAMERAS SUCK!!!
  In fact your camera is recording exactly what you are putting into it. 
Do yourself a favor. Walk away from that pen picture. take your camera for a walk. and take some pictures with it. lots of pictures. take them on a cloudy day. take them in the sun. shoot from a sunny spot into the shade. take them from the shade into a suny spot. pick out an object that you can walk around. take one picture withthe sun behind you and one with it facing you. the object of this walk is light. know for each shot what the light was doing, where was it , where you in it or sheltered from it. was it at your back, side  front, find a backlit scene and see how strong backlight effects you picture. do not aim your camera straight at the sun it can damage it as well as your eyes.
take a picture of soemthing that reflects alot of light. 
then do the same thing with pictures indoors. your shop, your livingroom, your family and pets. Use the flash inside I don't care how much light you think there is. there isn't enough. 
Now look at those photos. Does the Camera still suck?
I bet it tool alot of those pictures pretty well. so why doesn't the camera get a picture like that of a pen.
 A small pen light is not very bright. Unless the Doctor is holding it right up to your Pupil. and then it is so bright it hurts. this is a good example of what you are doing to your camera when you are taking a macro Photo. and expecting it to see clearly. In short you are taxing the camera beyond it's abilities to adjust. you have to give it some shades. 
Much of the light that would travel off into the cosmos for a regular photo. pores right down the lens in a macro shot. Lens hoods. dark paper surrounding your subject, filters, and reflectors go a long way in sending this light away from your camera. If you actually taek the walk I suggest you will learn alot aout what the light traveling away from the camera will do for a photo.
But be fair to yoru camera give it a good test drive under the conditions it was designed for. then decide if it is a good camera or not.


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## Scott (Jun 6, 2004)

Hi Daniel,

This is good advice on the light.  Light is what cameras and pictures are all about, after all!

I also like the advice of taking a walk with your camera.  Take lots of pictures of the same thing, use different angles relevant to the light, shoot at different times of day, and in different weather.  This is something so essential to learning photography, but few people do it.  With film cameras you just can't afford to waste that much film.  I don't know why people couldn't do it with digital cameras - maybe it doesn't fit their life styles!

Scott.


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