Date   : Fri, 06 Jan 2006 12:52:20 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: Advice on digital photographs

David Hunt wrote:
> You need to set the camera focus to MACRO, often shown as a "flower in a
> pot" icon. Make sure the camera is firmly mounted, e.g. a tripod.
> 
> If you have a timer feature (or even better remote control or cable release)
> use that so the recoil of the button doesn't affect the image.
> 
> Use manual focus if you have it and if you have manual exposure and manual
> aperture, try for a small aperture and a longer exposure. This will increase
> the amount of "depth of field" - i.e. how much of the foreground AND
> background that are in focus. 

I'm still playing around with that - taking shots of PCBs where the camera is 
directly over the PCB and on a tripod proves interesting due to the shadows 
from the tripod legs hitting the PCB (machines and other bits tend to be 
easier as they lend themselves to being shot at an angle and hence away from 
any tripod shadows)

Long exposure should be the key, along with moving the light sources around, 
but so far results have been somewhat varied.

I'm not sure how the professionals would do it - I suppose I could always 
blu-tack boards to a wall and photograph them horizontally instead of 
vertically :)

cheers

Jules