# Outside vs Inside



## rjwolfe3 (Aug 26, 2008)

Just curious, if any of you know the advantages, if any, of taking a photo of a pen outside in full sunlight with or without a photo booth instead of inside with lights and a photo booth?

Thanks


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## Dario (Aug 26, 2008)

Sunlight is the best light...but it is hard to get consistent lumens (sp?).

Artificial light is consistent as long as you don't change your settings.

Just my amateur thought.


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## DCBluesman (Aug 26, 2008)

The technical answer is that our eyes are specifically designed to work across a portion of the *natural light spectrum*.  Any type of light bulb is, at best, an attempt to artificially re-create the natural light spectrum.  *None of them duplicate it!*  Therefore, the finest natural light photo will appear more realistic than the finest artificial light photo.


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## gketell (Aug 26, 2008)

Agree with Lou.  But must add that you want the light tent (or a white sheet) between the pen and the sun to soften the harsh shadows that will otherwise be created.  And once you put that up, you need to hope it is "True" white or your color will once again be off kilter.

Ain't photography fun.

GK


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## gerryr (Aug 26, 2008)

I agree with Dario, Lou and Greg.


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## fernhills (Aug 27, 2008)

Hi, what i have been doing is taking pic`s outside in not a dark shade but a light shade.
Because the sun will cast a shadow. Then i brighten it up on a computer just a tad. I would like to get a light tent so i can take advantage of full sun with out any shadows and see how that works out and not have to augment brightness on a computer. I like to take them outside because it is better then artificial light.  Carl


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## marcruby (Aug 27, 2008)

I don't necessarily agree with Lou.  As someone who spent time as a professional photographer sunlight is a slight source that has it's own special list of problems.

The first is directional glare and specular highligths.  The dynamic range of a photo is considerably less than that of open daylight.  To resolve that you put put light screens to reduce and diffuse the highlights and reflectors to open the shadows.  When you do that you aren't really working with sunlight any longer -- each reflective or filtering surfave modified the light color.

Worse, nothing is as variable as the actual light color of sunlight through the atmosphere.  You need to be conscious of light color and be prepared to filter it back to where you want it.

If you are doing serious product photography you will need additional light sources and and reflectors to provide dimensionality and depth.  Sunlight can complicate this as well.

None of this is to say that pen shooting in natural light is impossible or less than what can be done in a mini-studio.  Just a warning that 'natural' light might not be so natural by the time you've got what you want.


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## Daniel (Aug 29, 2008)

Cameras, film, and even digital cameras are made with sun light as the standard for color range etc.
Full sun has a lot of problems basically because it is to strong and harsh, causing strong shadows etc. the best landscape photos are taken in early morning to have a strong blue color or evening to have strong reds. 
the very best lighting is outside with cloud cover. the clouds act as the defuser, try it sometime.
recreating this situation inside is basically what you are trying to do in order to get the best looking photo of a pen. what light you use, the ability of the camera to focus, depth of field, and all the other issue are things that will cause you to come up with less than expected results.
By the way outside in the shade is not the same as outside with clouds. clouds scatter the light in different directions.


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## Bill Arnold (Aug 29, 2008)

I have yet to take any photos of pens, since I just decided to take the plunge into pen-making.  In fact, I just placed my first order which will be delivered next week.  However, I've taken a lot of photos of other items I've built.

For the photos of my furniture, I use an Arctic White seamless paper backdrop.  I made simple light sources using shop light fixtures with daylight fluorescent bulbs.  In most cases, I use the fixtures to provide light from each side and from above and slightly behind the item -- what might be called fill and backlight.  The "key light" is the camera flash.  I plan to do something similar when I'm ready for pen photographs.

I've used several different cameras over the years.  Most of the photos you'll see on my website were taken with a Sony Mavica 2.1MP w/10X optical zoom.  I place the camera on a tripod a few feet from the subject and zoom to get a suitable initial framing.  Final cropping is done on the computer.

At some point during the processing on my computer, I adjust the color of the photo simply by doing a white level correction.  I choose a point on the backdrop image that I know is "white" and apply the correction.  That takes care of any variation caused by having my light sources at different points for different subjects.  I never apply any modifications to my original image, so I can always start from scratch, if I want.

I'm no photography expert, but my process has worked for me.


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## Skye (Aug 29, 2008)

I think it's a matter of getting an artificial light source to look as natural as possible, with *consistency* being the key. That's something that you're just not going to get outside.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2008)

gketell said:


> Ain't photography fun.




_*NO!*__*     :frown: *_Well at least until I figure out why I can't take a pic of my pens worth a crap!:frown:


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## TellicoTurning (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm just beginning to learn a little about getting acceptable photos... not necessarily good photos, but acceptable and improving as I learn... I've found that the best pictures I get are taken on the back deck, actually a covered screened porch that faces north, usually between about 3:30 and 5 pm, with my light tent set up to shield any extra light or as it gets later, shielding from the western sun that shines in from the end of the porch.  I use the natural light, set my WB on the camera to shade, f3.2 at 40 and ISO at 400.  I still have to play with photo edit some... 

Best pictures I get, I have my step-son take them... he's a lot closer to a professional photographer than I ever will be.


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