Taking photos of your workstation and computer screen

[VirtualRain]

What are some tips and tricks to taking nice photos of your workstation with computer screen(s) not over-exposed yet not having the room too dark?

Posting some samples and your suggested tips/tricks would be great!

TIA! :)

[panoz7]

It's going to be very difficult to get both the screen and the environment exposed properly and have the white balance match in a single shot. What I tend to do is take two shots, one exposed for the screen, and one of the environment slightly under exposed. It's pretty easy to composite them in photoshop. A similar effect can be obtained by using fill flash or dimming the screen but I find that to be more difficult.

I'd also recommend just playing around. This is an image I shot for a presentation using my laptop's screen as the only source of light. It wasn't possible to expose the screen properly and have the laptop bright enough so I used the two exposure trick and merged them in photoshop.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/4210087986_a6c0183dff.jpg
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/gryffindor8387/4210087986/)

[Kronie]

Exposure bracketing.

[NathanCH]

I've never had to go that far. All I do is turn off the flash, put my camera on a tripod or stool or anything and that's it. Unless there is no light in your location, it should not be over exposed. If it is, just turn down the brightness a bit.