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Problem with still photos with dirty background colors.

Started Nov 3, 2015 | Questions thread
BAK Forum Pro • Posts: 26,020
You nailed it.

You wrote >my lack of knowledge as to how to use my camera.<

Yes, that is the problem.

That can be fixed with a book or two and some messages here, and maybe a bit of Photoshop.

I'm busy doing real work, but I can send you down two paths.

1/ Raw has nothing to do with anything.

2/ The inverse square law has a lot to do with your problem.

To save you Googling, what it means is light gets dimmer as it travels farther.

So if the medal is properly lit, and then illumination flows past it to the background, and gets dimmer as it travels, it is normal that the background will be darker.

SIMPLE FIX ONE:

Can you use one lamp to light the medal, and another to light the background, both to the same intensity?

Set your camera on manual exposure, and take a reading of some mid-toned object at the spot where the medal will be. A photographic grey card is best, but a medium blue sweater would work.

Write down the numbers.

Repeat where the background will be. Write down those numbers.

Compare the numbers, and move the lights in and out until the levels match.

Put the medal in position, and try your luck.

Please report back.

BAK

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