Hi, Some of the folks working on their photography may wish to check
out the article I wrote for SNAG News a few years ago, which is
posted on the site for Society of American Silversmiths. I have had
“thank you” e-mails from folks who found it very helpful.
Society of American Silversmiths - Photo Tips for Metalsmiths There are many other useful
articles about photography, and metalsmithing on the site.
Cindy
The Quartz-Halogen lights, I have been told, are very close to 5500
Kelvin (the same as daylight). I have had good success (with color
daylight film) using one or more 500 watt lights, along with a white
paper towel (for very short periods of time) as a diffuser to
diminish shadows. These lights get hot, so one has to keep that in
mind and be careful of the light housing temps, but they have
dropped quite a bit in price from what they sold for 30 years ago.
Attached is a reference link where the 300 and 500 watt lamps were
evaluated for color temperatures.
Hope this helps!
Mark Fant
[November 6, 1997 1 of 5 Quartz-Halogen Lamp Color Temperature
Analysis Prepared by Gary Gaugler, Ph.D Optical Reflections This
report was prepared to document … ]
Hi David,
Re. your comment about needing a high resolution digital camera to
match the results from an SLR, this is only part of the story.
Whatever equipment you use to photograph the items, the results will
only be as good as the device used to print them. A 3 Mega pixel or,
in some case even a 2 Mega pixel digital camera will produce and
image of 2048 x 1638 pixels which is usually quite sufficient for
publication. However, if you try to print it out on an average
inkjet printer to a large size and using the ‘standard’ settings of
maybe only 72 dots per inch, the picture will look indistinct. In
effect, you can directly compare the number of pixels in the picture
to the ‘grain’ of film and, for a high quality print, you need a
printer that can print a large number of ‘dots per inch’, a graphics
program that will, if necessary, interpolate the original image to
’fill in’ the gaps in the image caused by stretching the available
number of pixels to match the number of dots, and a high quality
paper which will not allow the ink to smear and run like blotting
paper.
Best Wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
Ian, you are correct that the printer is a MAJOR factor in photo
accuracy. In a previous lifetime, I was a graphic arts cameraman, and
was assuming that everyone knew all about resolution. My bad.
David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157