Art Glass, Lighting, Photography and Display...

First I want to thank everyone here for all the great comments and compliments on my contributions. I have been asked many questions about how my pieces are displayed and how they are photographed. There are really too many variables to address to give appropriate and very specific advise to you. It would have to address your home, your cabinet, its exposure to natural and display lighting and so on...

For me, low and natural light when possible really seems to work best when it comes to displaying art glass. So much of older display case lighting is halogen but its being replaced as we speak, by LED lighting. Be careful though, as LED comes in different temperature colors and can ruin or work havoc on your display. Photographing art glass is tricky as well. Today's "daylight LED" lighting in the 5500K-6000K range seem to work best for display and photography.

The other issue is something most of us refuse to do...reading your camera's owners manual. Most of todays point and shoot cameras can give you a nice image capture, if you know what your doing. A simple issue that will improve your ability is whats called "white balance". In most cameras, it defaults to "auto" which doesn't mean correct. Auto is determined by your cameras manufacturer but it cannot help you make every shot in every situation. Read about white balance and you will see how normal household lighting called incandescent, can turn your photos yellow when shot in "auto". So turn off the AUTO and learn what your camera can do. I promise it won't hurt and you may even enjoy it. And better cameras will give you better shots only if you learn what it can do first.

I wish I could be more helpful but there is a solution. There are some great books on the market like "Digital Photography for Dummies" if you want to get serious about documenting your collection, no matter what that might be.

Reference the photos above: all shot with a very non point and shoot Sony a77 digital camera and a few specialized lens made for low/ available light shooting

Loetz Texas shot at night, in a dark room within a display case lit with 5500K LED set at low output, using a Minolta 85mm f/1.4 lens.

Loetz Phen.Genre 377 and 6893, same cabinet shot during the daylight, same Minolta 85mm f/1.4 lens

Loetz PhenGenre 7499 same cabinet ambient room lighting only, NO display lighting at all, Minolta 50mm f/1.4 lens

Loetz Ausführung 102 same cabinet ambient room lighting ONLY with an additional front door open to the right, Minolta 50mm f/1.4 lens