Lighting for Cue Pictures
- Thread starter zeeder
- Start date
I have experimented with different lighting, both indoors and out, and had some success. In both cases I hold the cue by hand to eliminate background at the same focus.
I found that pictures taken outside on a clear bright day, either early morning or late afternoon so that I can position the sun behind the camera, record the most detail. For these pictures I used a 3.2 mega pixel Canon Power Shot set to macro mode, and shorten the exposure time to help eliminate blur. I also tilted the cue in order to eliminate, as much as possible, glare from the finish. The attached images are compressed, but the originals show an impressive amount of detail.
I found that pictures taken outside on a clear bright day, either early morning or late afternoon so that I can position the sun behind the camera, record the most detail. For these pictures I used a 3.2 mega pixel Canon Power Shot set to macro mode, and shorten the exposure time to help eliminate blur. I also tilted the cue in order to eliminate, as much as possible, glare from the finish. The attached images are compressed, but the originals show an impressive amount of detail.
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Freeman said:
Thanks Freeman! Actually, there is really no trick to the photos. The background you see was the actual background; the sky for the outdoor shot and my ceiling for the indoor. The trick is to hold the cue in the air so that the background will be out of focus and diffused. I attached another outdoor photo where you can see a treetop in the bottom corner. Try it yourself on a nice clear day!
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Vinman said:
Very nice photos Vinman! I'll have to try it and see how it works out. I don't know if it is within my capabilities to hold the camera and the cue still to get a clear picture, but I guess we'll see. The sky for the background is pretty awesome!
Hal said:
well gee,,,,,i beg deference to iconcue. he of the humongo megpixel beast. however, i will disagree with his assertion of indirect light. you need to light the cue from either or both ends. lighting head on will reflect the source light. indirect light will still bounce off the walls, so if you choose indirect light, make sure the backdrop behind you is dark. the joint protector was done in macro but that is too close for an overall cue shot. i use a 4 megapixel at large size, on a tripod.
also,,,things to consider...if the background is light, it will reflect on the cue as the cue curves away, and thus wash out the edges of the cue. if you lay the cue down and it casts a shadow, the shadow will blur the cue. keep the camera on an even plane with the light source, so that you photograph the cue without shadow. in an ideal setup, i would float the cue. there have been situations (when shooting the whole cue)when the background was too close to the cue and focusing became a problem. seperating cue and background with increased distance allowed the camera to focus easily on the cue. shoot with a high f-stop(mine is f-8) this will make all details sharp even as the cue curves away.
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Vinman said:
vinman...the glare you're getting is because the cue is still reflecting ambient light behind you. you need something dark behind you. even though you tilted the cue away from you, the reflection still exists at its very end. essentially, you cannot get away from it.
i think this is the best setup,,,and doesn't require you angling the cue. what you want to do is stay away from reflections of any kind. the "bad zone" is the area you will get source light reflection, no matter how extreme to the side the lights are, if the camera is placed within that zone.
the dark backdrop eliminates ambient light which is everywhere. since my studio walls are light, my backdrop is kind of more like a hood of black cloth that i hover over the cue to eliminate as much ambient light as possible.
of course, if you shoot small portions of the cue, it all becomes much more manageable.
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Vinman said:
grey overcast days like today, tuesday, in nyc is great because grey is relatively neutral. of course if you have manual white balance on your camera, it doesn't matter what kind of day it is.
also, when the lights are positioned as shown, sharply angled and IN FRONT of the camera, you might need a lens hood to prevent flare off the camera lens.
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