Too much light ?

G

GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
Hi Y'all.
Another photo problem, concerning lighting and S setting.
So far I get the best picture quality using a S setting of about 1/4 second, good clear pics, nice color, no noise, etc.
But it seems to give too much light, my blue/grey backdrop fades to white, I lose some edges,
and the overall colors go too light. If I augment the shutter speed to about 1/8, which seems to give a good balange, the pic lose a lot of it's sharpness.
Question is, do I use too much light ? I have 3 reveal 60W bulbs. And what would be the best options to get good clear pics, without them having too much light?
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
Depends what you mean by too much light. If your images are over exposed, stop the lens down or use a faster shutter speed (or both!).

Might be that you need to diffuse your lighting. Slap a few layers of tracing paper over your lights and see what that does. 3 lights is massive overkill IMO. If you diffuse your lighting properly and bounce it if needed, 2 should be plenty.
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
S setting is usually equated with Shutter speed, which may not be the best option for your needs.
Aperture setting usually the A reduces the aperture of the lens diaphragm reducing the amount of light and increasing the amount of apparent sharpness. Consequently the shutter speed should be automatically adjusting to increase the exposure time allowing longer exposures but with better visible detail.

However as with all things its not quite that simple; finding the balance between the best exposure setting and the best (or most effective) position of lens to miniature is the trick.
What most people fail to realise is that while their camera does have a Macro setting which will allow them to get to 0.0000001mm and focus, this is not the best use of the lens. Lenses are designed with such a broad range of usage needs that for some things they will be better than others.
So in order to achieve the best out of your camera it wil be a matter of trial and error to find the "Sweet Spot" combination of Exposure and Camera Focal Plane distance to miniature to get the best picture possible.

Remember though that the camera only has one true Point of Focus and that needs to be on or close to front of the mini to allow the Aperture to create an Apparent Depth of Field of Focus sharpening the rest of the miniature. The "rule" of Depth of Field is 1/3 in front, 2/3 behind the Point of True Focus.
 
A

aon14

New member
If you already have the 3 lights and a tripod then I would think making a light tent is worth considering.
There's an article out there on making one out a cardboard box.

I've been experimenting with using a windowsill and natural sunlight.
I know next to nothing about photography but I can get reasonable pictures.
You need to filter direct sunlight with greaseproof paper or white bin liner or something taped to the window. Nature provides us with natural diffusers in the shape of clouds all to frequently here in liverpool.
For best results you want a small tripod with solid legs. The wire ones move a bit and are a pain to adjust.
Raise the level of the piece up on books.
White reflector on the room side - plasticard or car or whatever you have.
Set the camera to sunlight white balance and iso 80 or 100.
Setting the ISO was a pain on my camera because just finding how to do manual settings was a bore.

I also tried with using a single light above the camera.
That works reasonably well actually - but the light I use is one of those task lights with the long light rather than a point source.
 
G

GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
I didn't want to learn stuff... I just wanted a magical answer
LOL

I do use a lightent, but that's not magical either, why is nothing magical ?
I don't do much painting during daytime so I have to depend on artificial lighting, sounds like a nice trick tough.

@Spacemunkie: I use 3 lights, top and sides, if I use only two, won't a side of the mini be left in shade ? How does that bouncing thing work ?
 
G

GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
Thanks Space Munkie, I removed the top light and put the two side one at angle, it's a lot less glary now.

On a side note, is there a corrolation between the shutter speed and sharpness ?
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
Yes - faster shutter speed equals less time for camera shake (or subject movement). Use your self-timer to take shots so you're giving the camera time to settle before the shutter fires. If you're using a DSLR it's worth checking to see if you can lock the mirror up too.

And switch in-lens image stabilisers off if you're on a tripod. The motor can actually cause unwanted vibration... ;)
 
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