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Taking Pictures of Cabinet Screen?

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LedFinZep:
Greetings,

  I'm trying to document my arcade cabinet and I wanted to take some photographs of my arcade screen running some games. Unforunately, I don't have a digital camera and the pics I already tried to take using a regular camera didn't come out very good. Can someone tell me what type of lighting to use, whether to use a flash or not, how far away you need to be, how to avoid a reflection, and anything else that you think will be helpful in getting good shots. Thanks for any and all help.

-LedFinZep

dgodwin:
I would definitely not use the flash, as that will reflect off the monitor.  Also turn off the lighting behind you, so no light will reflect off the monitor as well.  You might want to use a tripod, since many cameras  with the flash turned off will use a slower shutter speed.  By using the tripod, you'll minimize the chance for camera shake.  You can further reduce this chance by using a cable release, remote, or even the self timer.  By doing this, you don't have to actually touch the camera to fire the shutter.  Another thing to be careful of is the minimum focusing distance.  This is the minimum distance away that your camera can focus on.  It will tell you this information in the manual, but most point and shoots are usually around 2 ft when set at the widest angle.  I would suggest shooting a bunch of pictures and having them processed.  Move your camera and zoom lens (if you have one) and see what kind of results you get.  Hope this helps.

Daniel  


--- Quote ---Greetings,


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Malenko:
low lighting, NO FLASH. I have a tendancy to take the pictures "dark" and then touch up/lighten them in Photoshop. dgodwin's advice is dead on IMHO

cant wait to see the cab, and good luck

mw:
Figuring you have a low cost point and shoot camera. --

You can create a bounce flash effect by using a white card or paper angled in front of the flash. Usually works pretty well, depends on the flash power, creates a soft fill effect. Standing at a slight angle to the screen will help decrease the reflections.

Turn the flash off and setup by a sunny window, use a white posterboard to reflect light to where it's needed (an assistant comes in handy with this). The exposure will be longer so you'll need to hold the camera steady but you won't have a glare. You can also use a 500w halogen lamp,  arrange it to cut glare or use the posterboard to reflect it. You can use a normal household bulb but it will cause a yellowish tint to the pictures, the 500w halogen lamp, if I remember correctly should come close to matching the color balance of normal 35mm film.

JustMichael:

--- Quote ---Figuring you have a low cost point and shoot camera. --

You can create a bounce flash effect by using a white card or paper angled in front of the flash. Usually works pretty well, depends on the flash power, creates a soft fill effect. Standing at a slight angle to the screen will help decrease the reflections.

Turn the flash off and setup by a sunny window, use a white posterboard to reflect light to where it's needed (an assistant comes in handy with this). The exposure will be longer so you'll need to hold the camera steady but you won't have a glare. You can also use a 500w halogen lamp,  arrange it to cut glare or use the posterboard to reflect it. You can use a normal household bulb but it will cause a yellowish tint to the pictures, the 500w halogen lamp, if I remember correctly should come close to matching the color balance of normal 35mm film.
--- End quote ---


I think you missed the poster's original question.  He wants to take pictures of the screen running games.  Having a flash will not increase the light put out by the screen.  The flash will tend to lighten or wash-out the monitor image depending upon the intensity.  The tripod, low ambient light and longer exposure times will help make a much clearer and brighter image though.

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