Better Light 7 manual Lighting

The philosophy of stopping down to f/32 (or smaller) that was often done with film and strobes is not the best practice for high-resolution digital capture. Most lens manufacturers say that the best overall image quality is obtained 2 f-stops below “wide open” (e.g. f/11 is best on a f/5.6 lens). As the lens is stopped down to small apertures (f/22, f/32,...) optical diffraction will reduce the optimal sharpness that the scan back is capable of recording.

It is also possible to move the camera farther from the subject or change to a shorter focal length lens to make the image smaller in the frame and consequently increase the depth of focus. You can often crop into the frame and increase the resolution setting to capture an equivalent file size. This technique also reduces bellows extension and will increase usable light from less “bellows factor”. This can be especially helpful with close-ups of small prod- ucts, such as jewelry. A shorter bellows extension also makes the camera more stable and reduces the possibility of any camera shake artifacts in your images.

Lighting

Lighting is the basis of all photography, of course, and is not a digital camera adjustment. Light- ing is usually set up for a desired mood and emphasis, sometimes without much regard for the image capture technology. Digital cameras prefer plenty of light, and can produce exactly the mood and emphasis desired in the final image, even though the set itself may appear “too bright” to the pho- tographer. Adding additional lighting can significantly decrease the required exposure, which should indirectly reduce background noise. When possible, moving the lights closer to the subject will also increase the light level at the rate of 1/2 distance = 2 EV (f-stop) gained (the Inverse Square Law). Fluorescent sources, or the new ceramic HID lamps, are beneficial since the lack of radiated heat allows the lamps to be used closer to the set.

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