Lesson 14
Computer Screens
Objective
Create on-site set to illustrate computer design facilities. Computer
screen detail is critically important.
- Shot on location. Back "wall" is two runs of black seamless.
Black gives a rich color when used with color gels on the lights.
- Light #3 is covered by the computer monitor in the foreground.
- Metered and polaroid to establish a 4 seconds @ f8 exposure for
the foreground computer screen.
- Adjusted background computer screen to supply a 6 second @ f8
exposure. (A slight underexposure to focus attention on the
foreground screen.)
- The hand in front of the screen is braced for the 4 second exposure.
Lighting
- #1 A single bank light, positioned high and "feathered" to
equalize the light falling on the side of the computer monitor
with the light falling on the men in the foreground. f8
- #2 A fill light to open up shadow on the chair back. f5.6
- #3 Lights the operator in the background. f5.6½
- #4 Red gel on black seamless. Metered f11½ ambient.
The light must be brighter than f8 or the black background
will remain black. Refer to Metering and Reproduction.
Cool Trick!
Remember our discussion of 18% grey. Have the client give you a
grey or white screen on the computer. Meter the screen by
placing your reflective meter face down on the screen. If you
were working with grey, this will give you the necessary
exposure. The better the resolution of the screen, the longer
the required exposure.
Most people are aware that you require an exposure of 1/15th of a
second or greater to photograph a screen. Otherwise you will get an incomplete
picture as the computer needs this long to draw the screen. Increasing
the exposure time results in a better image as there are more scans
to draw the detail. I like a minimum of 1 second.
If color of the computer monitor is critical, be aware that most computer
screens are about 50cc Cyan in color. You will need a 50cc Red filter
over your camera lens.
Lesson 15
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