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Raleigh Rockhound
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Lighting source
Oct 12th, 2012 at 12:33am
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right now i am using a standard fluorescent bulb from a fish tank for my main light source.  I however notice the flickering of the light inhibits the ability of the camera to focus at times, are there any ways to over come this?  Do LED bulbs work well?

Also the backdrop color that you place your specimen on, how do you know what color to pick? I have been using a light blue or just the plain wood surface. I think the light blue is yielding higher results though and it provides a nice contrast.


Alright last question, should the light be focused above or in front of the specimen? When i put it in front i am getting a lot of reflection but when i put it above i am not always getting enough light it seems.

Any suggestions would be helpful, here is my latest batch of pictures.  http://imgur.com/a/AvH8v
  
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Scott LaBorde
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Re: Lighting source
Reply #1 - Oct 12th, 2012 at 9:00am
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First I would like to say your photography is improving very quickly, keep it up.  As for the lighting I just use plain cfl's (compact fluorescent bulbs).  I use only the white variety, which may have a very slight bluish color but it does not seem to affect my pictures negatively.  Also, I use up to 7 lights at once, but most of the time 2 or 3 is all I need.  It is when specimens have crystal faces that I use multiple lights.  Sometimes, I want to light up particular crystal faces on a particular specimen and it cannot always be accomplished with one or two lights.  A very important detail is that you use the same color, manufacturer, lumens, model, etc. bulbs when you use multiple lights.  Different bulbs will produce different colors and this will not display your specimens in their truest colors.  I know people use led lights with success -- as a matter of fact I'm trying to experiment with converting my entire lighting setup to led lights.  I think led's will be more flexible as far as placement or arrangement around the specimen goes.  They would be smaller and easier to maneuver.  I usually end up placing my light slightly in front and above the specimen.  If the light is placed directly overhead you might get exaggerated shadows.  Shadows are needed however so you get depth perception of the specimen, but just not too much shadow.  A very important aspect of lighting is also exposure.  You might have the perfect light set up on your specimen but it might be too dark.  This is where you can set the exposure (time the shutter stays open on your camera) to "brighten" up the picture.  And this is more desireable since longer exposures create sharper images.  An entire book can be written just on lighting itself so I'm leaving out tons of details just for brevity.

Background

Neutral colors like blue and wood color work great.  You just don't want to use a blue background with a blue specimen as the blue in the background might mix with the specimen and again not show the specimen in its truest color.  I can get away with using blue most of the time since I'm usually photographing quartz.  But I'm prepared to change the color when needed. 
  

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Raleigh Rockhound
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Re: Lighting source
Reply #2 - Oct 12th, 2012 at 11:09am
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Thanks Scott, I was pretty happy with how a few of those pictures turned out.  I figured I would need more lighting but I didn't realize how much. 

When you photograph your quartz crystals are they directly on the colored surface?  I was thinking of building a glass shelf so I could provide illumination from the bottom.
  
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Re: Lighting source
Reply #3 - Oct 12th, 2012 at 3:34pm
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My place my specimens above or on a mirror which reflects the background of my choice.  I'll have to take pictures of my set up soon as all will be explained when it is seen.  It is when pictures are taken into a mirror that you can achieve the nice black backgrounds.
  

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