Can't get a good lume shot

[Anopsis]

:arghh:

I either get the generic all-black-except-for-lume where you can't see the watch at all, or it gets light enough that the lume doesn't pop. Howzabout someone do a nice tutorial on how to get good lume shots? Please?

This was in very subdued lighting, pre-charged with a 65 lumen flashlight and a four second exposure. Then I cleaned it up, which I know reduced the apparent lume but made the watch easier to make out. Tell me the secret to this!

 

[fakemaster]

Here's the secret....

PHOTOSHOP:cute:

 

[takashi]

That does not help... Here is what I would do:

Find a perfect focal distance from your camera to the watch. Enable auto focus (to do this, you need enough light). Disable flash. Set your camera to manual focus.

Turn off the lights and you should see your watch glowing and snap that picture. A stable tripod/surface is recommended for the camera.

 

[Pix]

What I'm doing :

- normal step for the lume shot : charge the lume, set your camera with a medium aperture (F5 ?) as too large might make a blurry shot and too small will not bring enough light. Then set your camera on long exposure (I use 15s which is the max my camera allows). As Taka said, the camera must be steady (either a tripod or just put it on a pile of CDs)

- Take the shot in a dark room (you should use the remoteless or delayed release)

- and the "magic touch" : swith a light on during half a second or a second during the 15s exposure. So you'll benefit of a real lume shot and see the details of the watch.

Then you can adjust all parameters and the "magic touch" to your tastes.

Photoshop is a good tool to slightly increase the colour strength, but I find the results very "fake" for the lume.

Examples with various "magic touch" lengthes

 

[Anopsis]

Thanks guys. Pix, I REALLY like #2. I'm going to try it later today.

 

[JellyJoe]

Fake lumes

 

[guru]

thx PIX, good to know your secret

 

[rarebear]

Here A pix of my watch with super duper lume hehehe