Copyright © 2005 Howard Coleman
USING AVAILABLE LIGHT ONLY USING FLASH
It is not easy to capture the beauty of my latest guitar in a photograph. The top has a one-in-a-million appearance only seen in perfectly quarter-sawn wood. It isn't the fairly common cross-grain figure I am thinking of - that's easy to capture - it's the 3-dimensional light effect that seems to come from below the surface. The problem in photographing it is that if I use available light alone the pearl looks great but the wood looks unremarkable. However, if I use flash I can capture the 3-D light effect but not the beauty of the pearl. I have tried combining flash and available light but to no avail. Are there any photographers out there with suggestions or better still answers? It's like trying to light a hologram and iridescence both together.
E-mail me at Howard<AT SIGN>acousticnotes.org.uk