Taking pictures of LDs?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to take
some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some to
lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what is the
best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds of lighting
but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight would be greatly
appreciated.

Aaron

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Aaron R. Schnuth" <aaron@DONT.schnuth.SPAM.com.ME> wrote in
news:ILGdnXF4GP9saRrdRVn-sw@buckeye-express.com:

> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to
> take
> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some
> to lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what
> is the best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds
> of lighting but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight
> would be greatly appreciated.
>

Probably 2 lights pointed at the cover at a 45 degrees angle. Remember
that you can see the reflections from the viewer so you should be able to
move it around and or the light to see there are no glares before taking
the picture.



Barney

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 18:57:21 GMT, Barney <NoSpam@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>"Aaron R. Schnuth" <aaron@DONT.schnuth.SPAM.com.ME> wrote in
>news:ILGdnXF4GP9saRrdRVn-sw@buckeye-express.com:

>> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to
>> take
>> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some
>> to lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what
>> is the best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds
>> of lighting but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight
>> would be greatly appreciated.
>>

>Probably 2 lights pointed at the cover at a 45 degrees angle. Remember
>that you can see the reflections from the viewer so you should be able to
>move it around and or the light to see there are no glares before taking
>the picture.

Draw a line from light source to laserdisc jacket. Invert that line to know
where the glare is going to and perhaps add +/- 15 degrees to that arc.

Don't stand where the glare is going and you won't photograph any.

Consider using a difuse light source. Block the light from directly lighting
the laserdisc jacket and only use reflected light from elsewhere in the room.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Aaron R. Schnuth" <aaron@DONT.schnuth.SPAM.com.ME> wrote in
news:ILGdnXF4GP9saRrdRVn-sw@buckeye-express.com:

> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to
> take
> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some
> to lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what
> is the best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds
> of lighting but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight
> would be greatly appreciated.

Outdoors on an overcast day provides quality soft lighting without the
need for flash.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

In article <ILGdnXF4GP9saRrdRVn-sw@buckeye-express.com>,
aaron@DONT.schnuth.SPAM.com.ME says...
> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to take
> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some to
> lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what is the
> best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds of lighting
> but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight would be greatly
> appreciated.

A flatbed scanner can do a pretty good job, I know you can't scan a whole
cover on an A4 scanner but there's freeware software that can stitch two
scans together so well you can't see the join down the middle:

http/62.188.32.182:1453/~rid/LD-LicenseToDrive.jpg

I know bits of the top & bottom are missing as that was a quick example
test, but if you scan the cover in four quarters - join the top two &
bottom two then join those two images together you should end up with a
high quality perfect scan. The software I used to join those together is
the freeware V1.6 of the Panorama Factory:
http/www.panoramafactory.com/download.html


--
Rid

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Aaron R. Schnuth" <aaron@DONT.schnuth.SPAM.com.ME> wrote in message news:<ILGdnXF4GP9saRrdRVn-sw@buckeye-express.com>...
> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to take
> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some to
> lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what is the
> best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds of lighting
> but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight would be greatly
> appreciated.

S'funny, I asked the same question a month or so ago and Matthew responded
with "document stand". The funny thing is I forgot I bought one some 20 or
so years ago; found it in a closet and now it's back in service. You can
see a pic of mine here:

<http/thadlabs.com/PIX/doc_stand.jpg>

One needs to experiment with lighting for LD jackets; so far I've had the
best results outside (in the shade) on a sunny day, but the same effect
can probably be achieved using diffused lighting indoors. You definitely
don't want to use a flash -- causes "hot spots" and/or glare.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Thanks for all the tips guys. I'll give it another shot! I really
appreciate the replies.

Aaron

 

[T]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Aaron R. Schnuth wrote:

> Hi all. I recently got myself a digital camera and would like to take
> some pictures of my LD collection for my website, and to submit some to
> lddb.com. Those of you with experience in this sort of thing, what is the
> best way to go about this? I've tried in a few different kinds of lighting
> but still get glares off the LD jackets. Any insight would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Aaron
>


Aaron,

I'd recommend one of those small desk top tripods for cameras. They
(some) come with weighted feet and bendy legs so your pictures can come
out smear free.

You can play around with a long exposure under low(er) light which might
help with the problems you are having. Still life is a very forgiving
subject.

Also, many smaller sources of indirect (bounced off something) will
lessen glare than a single, direct source.


TBerk

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

In article <4VXic.41126$fN6.32592@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com>,
tberk@sbcglobal.net says...

> Also, many smaller sources of indirect (bounced off something) will
> lessen glare than a single, direct source.

I found if it's too late to use daylight for photographing things (eBay
mostly for me) then a 500watt halogen light shining at the ceiling works
well, or use the flash and hold a small mirror or something white in
front of the flash at 45degrees so the light then bounces off the
ceiling.
The result is that shadows are diffused (no sharp edges) and the object
you're photographing gets a more even light on it from several angles.


--
Rid

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

While it is true that you can use a scanner and stitch the images together,
they do make scanners that will scan a whole cover in one pass. I have one.
Check the following and see what a cover can look like.

http/cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3378953986

Or

http/cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4185236388