A
Anonymous
Guest
OK, I'm sure that most of you are getting bored with my museum photos. If it makes you feel any better I'm getting bored as well. But the museum is warm and dry and it allows me a place to practice different aspects of photography. Today I wanted to just work on lighting. So the composition may not be great and some of the subjects are rather boring but they all presented different challenges for lighting. Please feel free to offer comments and suggestions on how I could have handled these lighting situations better.
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This first photo was a nightmare to get. The plane is very dark with uneven lighting across the fuselage, the fake snow gave off a harsh glare, the lighting was a mixture of florescent and tungsten, and the background was covered in Plexiglas so I had a lot of glare to deal with. After much thought and a few practice shots I was able to come up with the photo below. I struggled with depth of field and exposure settings. Overall I am pleased with it except the snow is somewhat overexposed.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2byrd.jpg">
This one is a small mural on the side of an 1840's hand pump fire engine. Again, very poor lighting. It was in one of the darker corners of the museum yet I had windows in the background and some tungsten causing shadows to over come. I white balanced for the sunlight as I thought that was the predominant light source but as you can see by the orange tint that I guessed wrong. Also, the shadow had to stay as my fill flash caused major glare on the mural.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2fireman.jpg">
These next two I never figured out and would like some help from the forum with. The first photo is using a timed exposure with the available tungsten lights. As you can see the colors are weak and there is an orange tint to it.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2quilt1.jpg">
This second shot was using the external flash. The colors are much better but the whole photo flattened out horribly. Any suggestions on how to get better color yet not have it come out so flat looking?
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2quilt2.jpg">
This is a re-take on a photo I did before. I just wanted to see if I could get a more natural color on the statue than on my last attempt. I think I succeeded.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2statue.jpg">
This was in an extremely dark section of the museum. These shots are both with a timed exposure using available light. I believe that the shots were about 20 second exposures.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2wheel.jpg">
I was pleased with the soft, warm effect I got in this room. Usually my timed exposures tend to be very grainy rough looking.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2wheel2~0.jpg">
Again, a very dark, poorly lit exhibit. There was a light shinning on the white table cloth that made a very sharp contrast between it and the black stove. Finding an exposure balance was a bit challenging but I think this shot turned out pretty good.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/21800kitchen.jpg">
And last, I tried my hand at a mini-panorama. The diagonal line from the cupboards through the stove is actually a naturally occurring shadow and not a merge point. I was actually very happy with the results.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/21920kitchen.jpg"></CENTER>
<CENTER>
This first photo was a nightmare to get. The plane is very dark with uneven lighting across the fuselage, the fake snow gave off a harsh glare, the lighting was a mixture of florescent and tungsten, and the background was covered in Plexiglas so I had a lot of glare to deal with. After much thought and a few practice shots I was able to come up with the photo below. I struggled with depth of field and exposure settings. Overall I am pleased with it except the snow is somewhat overexposed.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2byrd.jpg">
This one is a small mural on the side of an 1840's hand pump fire engine. Again, very poor lighting. It was in one of the darker corners of the museum yet I had windows in the background and some tungsten causing shadows to over come. I white balanced for the sunlight as I thought that was the predominant light source but as you can see by the orange tint that I guessed wrong. Also, the shadow had to stay as my fill flash caused major glare on the mural.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2fireman.jpg">
These next two I never figured out and would like some help from the forum with. The first photo is using a timed exposure with the available tungsten lights. As you can see the colors are weak and there is an orange tint to it.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2quilt1.jpg">
This second shot was using the external flash. The colors are much better but the whole photo flattened out horribly. Any suggestions on how to get better color yet not have it come out so flat looking?
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2quilt2.jpg">
This is a re-take on a photo I did before. I just wanted to see if I could get a more natural color on the statue than on my last attempt. I think I succeeded.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2statue.jpg">
This was in an extremely dark section of the museum. These shots are both with a timed exposure using available light. I believe that the shots were about 20 second exposures.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2wheel.jpg">
I was pleased with the soft, warm effect I got in this room. Usually my timed exposures tend to be very grainy rough looking.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/2wheel2~0.jpg">
Again, a very dark, poorly lit exhibit. There was a light shinning on the white table cloth that made a very sharp contrast between it and the black stove. Finding an exposure balance was a bit challenging but I think this shot turned out pretty good.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/21800kitchen.jpg">
And last, I tried my hand at a mini-panorama. The diagonal line from the cupboards through the stove is actually a naturally occurring shadow and not a merge point. I was actually very happy with the results.
<image src="http://www.findmall.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10325/21920kitchen.jpg"></CENTER>