Date   : Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:51:00 +0000
From   : darren.grant@... (Darren Grant)
Subject: 32016 + 32082

On 13 Dec 2011, at 01:37, Tom Seddon wrote:

> I wondered this too... but then suddenly a really obvious way of making
nice-quality closeups occurred to me. I suspect this is what John did. I
had a quick go myself to see if it would work, and I think I'm on the right
track :)
> 
> John has the edge in quality of equipment, subject matter, and skill at
overall composition, but here's my attempt anyway:
> 
> http://www.tomseddon.plus.com/files/CL542x.jpg
> 
> N.B. large JPG  (6316x2948), 1.5MBytes
> 
> --Tom


Your camera is underexposing because it sees all the white in the background 
and compensates for it as being over exposed. You can get pretty good PCB 
pictures by putting them in a scanner as long as it is a CCD type. If using 
a camera then you need to ensure the subject is well lit with a soft white
light from both sides and set the exposure manually on your camera or set
exposure compensation if it doesn't let you manually set exposure.

Darren