Re: [meteorite-list] Photos of Meteorites

[Mark Miconi]

Walter,   First off it is a great photo..especially of a metallic object which are the hardest to do digitally. I sell on ebay and have taken 19,081 photos with my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S50 since its purchase in 10/00. I have found that the Phillips Master Line Flood 28 Natural light floods work very well to initially illuminate the subject. You can get them at Wal-mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. You may remember the commercial for these bulbs, they feature a baby under both lights. It seems that photofloods for analog(film) photography is not to the liking of digital cameras.   I also take a color board from any art store that has the primary colors on it and place it on my background and then adjust the white balance and exposure level + or - EV by taking some sample shots of the color board. I mainly use spot metering mode and then meter against the brightest spot in the frame. When they look good on the LCD I then take the best and I view them on my PC, as I have found the the LCD is not as accurate for the fine tuning. I take pictures against most white or black backgrounds and find that even the time of day and amount of ambient light can effect the final results from day to day. Sometimes under exposing and relying on the flash to illuminate the object helps, other times the flash is off and I simply adjust the exposure with the EV adjustment.   I have to say I have had some training in analog photography, but am far from an expert. It took me about 4 months to adjust my way of thinking to get any good at all with my digital camera, I personally think film is much easier and much more forgiving. I will be glad to discuss any questions or problems with you if I can be of any assistance in the future I am all yours. That goes for anyone on the list that is getting into Digital Photography on the list. Again I am not an expert but in a sense I take ALOT of pictures everyday and am still learnin so I am taking suggestions also. Anyone know of a manufacturer that makes a loight meter for Digitals?   Hope some of this helps,   Mark Miconi ----- Original Message ----- From: Walter Branch To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 7:39 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] Photos of Meteorites Hello Everyone,   I have started taking an interest in attempting "nice" photos of the meteorites in my collection and I was doing some experimenting yesterday with a 600+ gram sikhote-alin.  Here is what I think is the best image:   http://www.branchmeteorites.com/temp/DSCF00111.JPG   Some on the list have done some amazing photography and I was wondering if some of you photo experts would take a look and give me some advice on lighting, background, positioning, etc.  For this image, I used the flash on the digitial camera and two high intensity photofloods on either side of the specimen.  Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks.   -Walter ----------------------------------------------- Walter Branch, Ph.D. Branch Meteorites 322 Stephenson Ave., Suite B Savannah, GA  31405 USA www.branchmeteorites.com