Amiga Photographs
4 messages in this thread
Stephen,
I will offer my suggestions to go with those you've already read.
Darken the room, use a tripod, use a lens (true macro if available) of about
100 mm. and don't "crop" too tight. If you can get some black masking tape, use
it on the inside "lip" of the monitor (near the glass) to cut down on the
reflection from the monitor.
Now the best part. With Deluxe Paint II, I created a "grey card" to set
my camera's exposure. DPII allows you to "create" your own color – and uses a
16 step slider scale (0-15). Set the R G & B settings to "7" and use the "fill"
gadget to create a full screen of "middle grey". Use that to get your exposure.
You can make it the first "slide" of your "slideshow" and pause it to get your
exposure set up. If you use a manual camera – use that exposure for ALL of your
pictures. Graphics with LOTS of DARK or LIGHT areas will through the exposure
meter off – giving less acceptable pictures. IF you use your "grey card"
exposure for all of the graphics, you will get good results. Once you learn
what that can give you, you might want to try a "bracket" with some of the
trickier graphics that I mentioned. But this method works well, and quickly.
Lloyd
Didn't get a chance to read your photography tips until after I took my test
photos, so I'll try them out next time. I was quite pleased with what the
results from my first experiment, though. By the way, what did you mean by
"don't crop too tightly". Do you mean I should allow some margin around the
actual screen image when taking the photograph, and worry about cutting out
undesired images afterwards, when developing the pictures?
Stephen,
Yes, that is exactly what I mean. It is a judgement call, however. If
you use the standard "fast print" type of place where they print almost the
full frame, then you might want to experiment with your cropping – to get it as
close as possible. Most camera's viewfinders don't show 100% of the image – so
it is often best to do your camera setup with a bright room light on so you can
see exactly where the edges of the monitor are. You want to end up with each
exposure centered in the frame. The image on the monitor isn't 35mm proportion,
so you will end up with the edges of the monitor showing on the left and right
– hence the black tape. You also want to make sure you don't crop the top or
bottom of the monitor off.
Lloyd
Thanks, Lloyd. By the way, did you ever attempt to have any of your photographs
enlarged? I'm curious as to how objectionable the scan lines would appear in a
medium-sized photograph, say 11×14". The horizontal striations are evident
upon close examination of a standard 3×5, but aren't really noticeable even at
arm's length.