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----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Reese <pcacala@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
.>
> You really need two lights, at 45 degree angles at either side of the
> copy. I'd go for photofloods over flash. Auto flash exposures won't be
> correct. They will underexpose due to the white paper, or overexpose if
> you are copying an illustration which is dark. Much better to manually
> meter with a grey card, then shoot at that exposure. .
Gary's advice is good; here is another approach. If you have a couple of
T-32s and cords with the TTL multi connector, I prefer TTL flash for this
sort of work. You can use daylight film and not worry about color shifts
due to aging photoflood lamps. Finding tungsten balanced film is not as
easy as it used to be. And the exposure time will be so short you needn't
worry about aperture prefire. The trick is to determine how much exposure
compensation you need for each different sort of page (check it out once for
a page filled with text, then all text-filled pages will be the same).
To determine how much exposure compensation for a TTL flash exposure, meter
the page in ambient light, then lay a gray card on the page in the same
light and see what exposure the camera reads for it. The difference is the
exposure compensation required. Dial it in on your camera, remove the gray
card, and start flashing. Typically, a white page with text will want about
two stops plus compensation. A page that is mostly a dark photograph may
need some minus correction. If you run out of compensation on the camera
knob, you can change Exposure Index (film speed dial). Doubling the speed
gives -1-stop compensation, halving it gives +1-stop.
Oh, and set the two flash heads up at 45 degrees to either side just as Gary
R. suggests. There are brackets available from Bogen and others; I use a
couple of wooden sticks, spring clamps, clothespins, and some 500 mph tape
<g>. I have used this setup to document the works of one of the most
brilliant young artists of his generation, my 7-year old nephew.
Gary Edwards
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