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Old 17th Nov 2018, 7:58 pm   #1
Bazz4CQJ
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Default How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Can anyone offer some guidance as to the best approach to taking pictures of radio equipment which has a lot of reflective metal within it? I took some pictures of an RF power meter consisting of 'three silvery metal tubes" running parallel to each other. None of them were 'easy' to look at.

Same can be true of PCB's if they got a reflective lacquer on them.

Thanks

B
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Old 17th Nov 2018, 8:06 pm   #2
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Hi B, try taking pictures outside. Worked for me photographing a clock to use the dial picture on another clock.

Peter
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Old 17th Nov 2018, 8:06 pm   #3
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Diffused natural light normally works best.
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Old 17th Nov 2018, 8:13 pm   #4
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Another vote for diffuse daylight. I wrote a series of articles with plenty of photos for a magazine a few years ago and I found daylight (but obviously not direct sunlight) to produce the best results.
A close second is 'daylight' LED strip lighting. I have a couple of these above my bench and they produce a very natural look.
If you want to bring out any sparkle from chrome trim etc, a bright point-source in addition.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 12:04 am   #5
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Use any diffuse natural light indoors, but set the camera on a tripod and use the self-timer to eliminate shake if necessary. Don't use flash. Keep an aperture of f8 or tighter to get most things in focus, especially if you're quite close.

You can use a few white sheets of paper as reflectors to 'fill in' the shadows. I usually photograph against a white background for a distraction-free pic.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 10:00 am   #6
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

The purpose-designed kit for this is like a plastic igloo made of translucent plastic. The object is places inside, the camera lens can look in through any of a few holes, and photo lights on stands are fitted with big diffusers and shone on the outside.

Set up properly, it's almost as good as a grey day outside

I bought a Bowens setup for some product shots. We get enough grey days, but grey dry days are rarer. Their igloo unzips and packs flat. Sadly, Bowens are no more.

David
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 11:30 am   #7
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Chas makes some comments on this topic in the latest Radiophile/RadioBygones.
One of his remarks concerns the clear reflected image you sometimes get - of the camera/photographer.
In the dim-and-distant, I seem to recall, that a telephoto lens is a good choice as you can be quite a distance away but still off-axis to avoid the above.
Graham
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 4:16 pm   #8
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

A trick I read was to use milk, painted on to dull the shine of chrome objects. This was from an article on photographing musical instuments to dull bright guitar pickups under studio lighting.

I have never tried it so cannot really comment, other than milk does give an easily removed coating.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 4:23 pm   #9
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Relating to this, I have a faint memory of my father telling me that dabbing linseed-oil putty onto shiny cutlery was a good way of muting the shine. I have never tried this either, but it sounds plausible.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 4:42 pm   #10
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

The pros used to use a proprietary aerosol spray to dull the sheen.

There were/are lots of tricks to studio shots, i.e. food was brushed with cooking oil to make it look appetising. However, the problem with any coating technique is cleaning up afterwards.

Depending if you are doing a lot of this work there are some very reasonably priced (non-flash) lighting kits available that come with large diffusers. A tripod will be necessary as a slow shutter speed will be required when the lens is stopped down to get the appropriate depth of field.

All the tips mentioned above in the thread are good. I've used diffused daylight through a window with large white polystyrene sheets saved from packaging as a reflectors.

A very old trick to get diffused light, if you have a flash gun that is separate from the camera, is to bounce flash off the ceiling.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 10:30 pm   #11
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

I used to use bounce flash with film cameras, unfortunately not practical with compact digitals. My original digital, a Pentax 330, now unfortunately lost, used to take excellent close-ups. The one I am using now seriously overexposes macro close-ups, but I fixed this using a hint for closeups from the instructions that came with the Kodak flashgun that dad got for his box Brownie. This was to put four layers of a white hanky over the flash. I actually use kitchen roll, but it does prevent overexposed closeups and produces slightly diffused light.
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Old 18th Nov 2018, 11:13 pm   #12
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

A conservatory, if you happen to have one, is a handy weather-independent source of diffuse daylight.

Martin
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Old 19th Nov 2018, 1:09 am   #13
Bazz4CQJ
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Default Re: How to Photograph Radio Gear?

Thanks for the replies. Yes, now I think about it, I recall previous times when natural daylight proved to be the simple way to get much better shots. I also recall a friend who was a trumpet player mentioning the use of "dulling sprays" his brass band had to use when pictures were being taken. It totally went against the grain for people who normally tried very hard to shine things up.

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