Lighting and Flame Tops

[Pappy35]

I noticed something today that was interesting: LED lighting affects how one sees flame tops. Notice how subdued the top seems in one picture verses the other? I caught myself thinking "that top isn't as great as I thought it was when I got it." Then today I walked in the room with nothing but natural light coming in the window (I usually flick the light on by habit) and was like "Wow! There it is! Ohhh yeahhhh!!!"

Natural Lighting - > LED Overhead Lights

 

[bblooz]

"I'm just an Analog Man in a digital world" - Joe Walsh

 

[Skit]

LED lighting sucks! Just my opinion.

 

[dmac in SC]

It looks like the same guitar in both pics to me... Maybe it's just me?

Beautiful guitar regardless...How does it sound?

 

[Rds]

Cool guitar.

 

[JeffH66]

Complete difference pappy.

 

[Pappy35]

It looks like the same guitar in both pics to me... Maybe it's just me?

Beautiful guitar regardless...How does it sound?

Sounds great. It is the same guitar but shot in natural and then LED lighting. I was noting how just the lighting makes it go from a so-so top to a really nice top.

 

[Pappy35]

LED lighting sucks! Just my opinion.

It saves me a bunch of money. The electric part of my utility bill is around $70 a month for 2,500 sq. ft. house and I leave the porch and driveway lights on 24/7! Otherwise, I agree. I can't stand those ones with a high color temperature that makes the place look like it lit with white lights. I use 2700K bulbs inside the house but this showed LED lights had an unexpected affect.

 

[Gitter]

Ohhh yeahhhh!!

Lovely guitar!

The angle your eye catches it at makes a big difference too. The second picture looks slightly straighter on.

 

[Pappy35]

Ohhh yeahhhh!!

Lovely guitar!

The angle your eye catches it at makes a big difference too. The second picture looks slightly straighter on.

Thanks! It really does look that different. If anything, the effect you see is more dramatic in person. They were both taken from as close to the same spot as I could ( from the corner of our dining room table), though the phone no doubt adjusted the f-stop and shutter time for the different levels. I just took a quick pic to see if the effect would show up in an image.

 

[buckwild]

LED lighting is nothing more than another type of light source. It’s very precise and you can get amazing results. Refresh rate can be a issue...but that’s about it.

like anything its all about placement, light intensity, and camera settings. Oh yeah and if you didn’t already know...flame maple pops best using one directional light.

here’s a shot with a led light fixture...I use LED for lol my streaming video as well as indoor guitar shoots

 

[andersozzy]

Don´t use LED

 

[Pappy35]

LED lighting is nothing more than another type of light source. It’s very precise and you can get amazing results. Refresh rate can be a issue...but that’s about it.

like anything its all about placement, light intensity, and camera settings. Oh yeah and if you didn’t already know...flame maple pops best using one directional light.

here’s a shot with a led light fixture...I use LED for lol my streaming video as well as indoor guitar shoots

The lighting in that room is from four 6" recessed cans with LED bulbs. What you said makes sense in that they are spread out and thus are like four different sources. Maybe that's what's washing out the flame's appearance?

Oh, BTY, don't leave that guitar anywhere I can get to it 'cause if you do, I'm going to steal it! Day-um that's a beauty!!!

 

[buckwild]

The lighting in that room is from four 6" recessed cans with LED bulbs. What you said makes sense in that they are spread out and thus are like four different sources. Maybe that's what's washing out the flame's appearance?

Oh, BTY, don't leave that guitar anywhere I can get to it 'cause if you do, I'm going to steal it! Day-um that's a beauty!!!

correct 4 can overhead LED is not gonna be your friend with taking guitar photos unless you overpower them with another direct light source.

 

[Sct13]

Nice guitar....

My older video on light sources and Les Pauls ....

No LED's , just fluorescent vs incandescent ....

 

[Pappy35]

Nice guitar....

My older video on light sources and Les Pauls ....

No LED's , just fluorescent vs incandescent ....

That's an awesome example. I had no idea lighting type could have that dramatic an affect.

 

[Frethead]

This is why I always try to take pictures of my guitars during the day, because natural light will highlight the flames and show the guitar's true color better. That's also why many artists use daylight light bulbs (5000k plus), it shows colors more accurately

 

[Sct13]

That's an awesome example. I had no idea lighting type could have that dramatic an affect.

Yep...I "discovered" this quite by accident too....

I have been a hobby photographer for many many years, (I did weddings and other stuff semi- professional too) ....I'm also an avid Astrophotographer ....and I noticed that the reds in the types of dyes used by Gibson really stood out on digital sensors.

In the film world and astronomy , red really pop's. Its the hydrogen side of the visible spectrum that really gets picked up on film in long (low signal to noise ratio) exposures.....So when they developed CCD's, they wanted to mimic a film cameras settings... and in doing so digital cameras are very red sensitive. Red is a difficult color anyway.....

I could go into quantum efficiency, noise floor and a ton of other crap that would bore you to tears.....but just know that reds are hard to control in sunlight.

The work around in photoshop is de saturate the reds only in the "hue" menu.....I find that my camera is about -27 in Photoshop to get a ball park "accurate" color image of a les paul with lots of reds in full sunlight....

you can try resetting your white balance too.....but that too much work for me....

most of all have fun....

 

[Pappy35]

<snip>I could go into quantum efficiency, noise floor and a ton of other crap that would bore you to tears.....<snip>

I read books on Quantum Physics (the "for dummies" kind) for entertainment, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat was one favorite, so yes, please do.

I can't do the math but I do get most of it conceptually.

 

[buckwild]

Yep...I "discovered" this quite by accident too....

I have been a hobby photographer for many many years, (I did weddings and other stuff semi- professional too) ....I'm also an avid Astrophotographer ....and I noticed that the reds in the types of dyes used by Gibson really stood out on digital sensors.

In the film world and astronomy , red really pop's. Its the hydrogen side of the visible spectrum that really gets picked up on film in long (low signal to noise ratio) exposures.....So when they developed CCD's, they wanted to mimic a film cameras settings... and in doing so digital cameras are very red sensitive. Red is a difficult color anyway.....

I could go into quantum efficiency, noise floor and a ton of other crap that would bore you to tears.....but just know that reds are hard to control in sunlight.

The work around in photoshop is de saturate the reds only in the "hue" menu.....I find that my camera is about -27 in Photoshop to get a ball park "accurate" color image of a les paul with lots of reds in full sunlight....

you can try resetting your white balance too.....but that too much work for me....

most of all have fun....

Great insight! And As I always say, red is a fugitive color!