Lucky you! :-) If you don't have a tripod that can tilt 90 degrees (and become a type of copy stand), you'll be the tripod, and handshake in low light levels can be a problem. I've found that in those cases, I hold my breath while I take the photo, which doesn't always work so well, because I've found that if I fully inhale and hold, I start to 'bounce' with my heart beat. So it's back to years of shooting training and I inhale and very gently and slowly exhale (but not all the way). You can also breath just very lightly and gently (not panting, though) - that might help with the 'bounce' effect if you notice it.
IF you are allowed to use a flash, you might want to consider taking along a tissue to drape over your flash to diffuse some of the light if you are shooting glass cases (and be careful to only cover the flash). You may not be allowed to use a flash, in which case you'll either need to be able to manually adjust your F-stops for a larger aperture setting to a setting to allow in more light and therefore have a slower shutter release OR find a function on your camera that shoots indoor or dusk or night settings. My digital SLR has macro and super macro - at super macro the flash is automatically disabled, but I can enable it on macro function if I want. My kids both have point and shoots that have more choices of settings, but no super macro, so I can still get decent shots with their cameras, and I can turn off the flash if I want (and they have different ones so I'll borrow the one that can give me the selection I need - one can shoot party/indoor shots and the other can do fireworks, for eg). If you have a small ott lite or some other portable craft light you might want to take that along in case you can plug it in, and it will help with the light on the lace, and reduce (hopefully) the need to use your flash. Flash's can wash out the details of the lace if they're used in macro mode - not always, but can. You might also want to take along a dark cloth in case they don't have anything for the lace to be put on. Take several shots of each piece on each setting (and with and without flash) so that you can at least have a chance of having some close-ups that are clear. To the naked eye it might look like good light, but as you start to hover over a piece or get close in, it can change the available light and make it much harder to shoot at good photo that you can use - and it would be a shame to go to all the trouble of going there and having a day of lace, and then your photos are a disappointment. And have something to record your notes on - which piece and what features, etc. I have found that I'll try to get a shot now with an accession tag or label on it, so that I can see what the piece is labeled as, for future reference (doesn't matter if you agree with it or not - it's their reference that you're going to be going by). Have a fun day, and good luck with the photos. Hope this helps. Helen, Duvall, WA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
