Instructions for Photographing Instruments and Bows
The following are some guidelines for taking professional quality photographs of instruments and bows with suggestions and tips we have learned from years of taking pictures for our catalogs and photo archives.
Sending Photos for Evaluation
When sending photographs to us for evaluation, the most helpful shots are those done “straight on” such as the traditional reference shots found on our site-back, head, top for instruments and frog, tip for bows. Details of the scroll, f’s, ribs, edgework, etc are helpful as well.
Equipment
Lighting:
There are many different lighting systems that can be used to shoot violins-flash, florescent, tungsten “hot” lights, etc... We have tried several systems and have found that “Tota” lights made by the Lowel company work best and are fairly common and inexpensive (see photo at right). A complete set (4 Tota lights and bulbs, 2 light stands, and 4 umbrellas) can be purchased from most photo supply stores and will cost around $600. If this is above your budget (or if this is the only time you will ever need to take violin photographs) a set of common household incandescent bulbs should do just fine.
Camera:
We use a medium format film camera for our printed catalog photographs and a mid-level digital camera for our web photographs.
The film camera is a Hasselblad 500C with a 150mm lens. (For 35mm cameras, try a 105 or 135mm lens). We use a 16mm extension tube for scroll shots and close-ups but a macro lens would work just as well. A cable release is necessary for slow shutter speeds and a lens hood is essential to eliminate flare. The film we use is Kodak 64T. The “T” for Tungsten is essential when using "hot" lights otherwise the color temperature won't match. For an exposure, we stop down the lens as tight as it will go (f:22 or f:32), meter in several places over the violin or bow, and then bracket an exposure or two on either side. 64T is a very slow film with very fine grain which means you will often need exposure times of 1 and 2 seconds.
We have tried several different digital cameras — an early Olympus, a Nikon 950 — but the camera we have been using for the past two years is a 5 megapixel Sony DSC-F707. You will need a lens hood and possibly a macro adapter if your camera does not have a built-in macro setting. In our experience, more important then megapixels and resolution is the lighting you use and the ability to use a custom lighting setting in the camera. Most digital cameras now have several settings for “white balancing” — fluorescent, incandescent, sunlight, etc. What you need is a camera with a setting for “manual” or “custom” white balance. This lets you tell the camera precisely what type of light to expect. The color temperature spectrum from the Tota lights is so narrow that the camera must know precisely what to expect. To white balance our camera, we turn all the lights on and focus on a large white board (the background). With the white board filling the viewfinder, we hold the “manual white balance” button until the new settings are registered. Metering is different than white balancing and you will need to find the right setting for this as well. We use the “aperture priority” mode and find that a “point” or a “center-weight” meter setting works best. Cameras that average the entire frame to get a meter reading will often produce dark or muddy images. Even once you have found a meter setting that works, you may need to manually adjust it +/- a half stop or more depending on the particular item you are photographing.
Other things you will need:
Bulbs — The Tota lights use Tungsten bulbs. We use the 750 watt variety. These bulbs get very hot – be aware that cords and umbrellas can catch fire very easily. They should never be left on unattended.
Light stands — To be tall enough for cellos, these will need to be 8 feet.
Tripod — Anything sturdy will do, but a tripod with a ball-head is extremely useful.
Umbrellas — (See photo at right and below) we use these for the tops and heads of violins to “diffuse” the light and therefore eliminate bothersome shadows from the bridge, strings, and pegs.
Background — We use a 10% medium gray but white will work just as well. Although an attractive background for violins, black tends to be difficult to meter with for both film and digital cameras. If you want a black background, it’s much easier to drop it in later digitally.
Taking Photos of Instruments
Stand:
We use a wooden block with thin Plexiglas supports (see photo at right) but we’ve heard that a wide mouthed water glass can be used as well. In our 5 years of taking violin photographs we have shot over 3,000 violins and bows and never once have we had an accident (knock on wood). However this is a very precarious situation to have a very valuable and fragile instrument balanced on two Plexiglas pieces on its lower rib and for this reason we always slip a noose of thin transparent fishing line over the A-peg to support the head. Although this does not bear any weight, if the violin were to slip, this noose would prevent it from falling.
Lighting the back:
The flame of maple is best illuminated from one direction; light from all sides tends to deaden the flame but light from one direction (in our case, the top) can make the flame deep and bright.
We use two Tota lights high above the back, one per side. The lights should be as far out and away from back as possible without seeing glare in the C bouts. (Two incandescent bulbs (regular bulbs) can be used here in place of the Totas if necessary.)
We use two extra lights for the backs that are not essential but can eliminate the problem of the upper bouts of the back being brighter than the lower bouts (because the lights are coming from above). These are also made by the Lowel company and called "Pro-lights" but any light that can be focused on a particular area will do. We use two Pro-lights again coming from above, one per side and we focus the beam on the lower portion of back. We use an accessory called "barn doors" to restrict the light from the upper half of the back.
The challenge is to carefully eliminate all hot-spots and glare on the arching while still fully illuminating the flame. See photo and diagram below.
Lighting the top:
Here we use four Tota lights, one in each corner. We use umbrellas on all lights for shooting the top. This eliminates distracting shadows from the bridge, fingerboard, tailpiece, etc. See diagram below.
Lighting the head:
We shoot the bass (right) side of the scroll with a Tota and umbrella in the lower left and upper right corners. It is important not to have shadows or hot-spots on the pegs, pegbox, or in the fluting of the volute. See diagram below.
Framing:
It is very important that all shots are “straight on” — meaning shot perpendicular to both axes of the violin and shot with the camera as far away as possible to minimize distortion.
For tops and backs, use the center seam or button and end button to keep the instrument vertical. Looking through the camera you should sight on the REAR corners; when you see an equal amount of each rear corner in the viewfinder, the instrument is perfectly “straight on.”
For heads, we like to keep the line where the fingerboard joins the neck to be perfectly vertical. Again shoot from as far away to minimize distortion and be careful that you don't see the back edge of the pegbox on either side--this will mean the angle is not straight. For violins, try looking straight down the A-peg axis.
Taking Photographs of Bows
Bow stand:
We use the same stand as with instruments but with two v-shaped leather-lined stanchions to support the bow.
Lighting the frog:
One Tota light in the lower left corner. Two Tota lights on the right side (one high, one low). All without umbrellas. You'll find that the light in the lower left leaves a hot-spot on the upper half of the throat of the frog. This is actually useful and does not need to be avoided. See diagram below.
Lighting the tip:
(We flip the bow and shoot the tip upside down in order to use roughly the same light set-up. If you shoot the tip right side up, these directions should be reversed.) We use one Tota light in the lower left corner. One Tota light in the upper right side-both without umbrellas. Some people prefer to see a glare on the front curve of the head — we try to avoid it — if you prefer it, use a Tota in the lower right corner.
