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)Lighting can drastically improve your images.
For some applications, the strong LED lights at the nose of your digital microscope can be too intense and cause uneven glare and hot spots. So you can make a very drastic improvement in your images by turning off your LED lights and using more even and balanced diffuse light. If your particular microscope doesn't have an "ON/OFF" light switch feature, you can block the light with a small cap with a hole in it fashioned out of plastic. We recommend reducing intense LED light on some subjects that are highly-reflective like coins and jewelry. Natural diffuse translucent lighting is the best so taking photos by a window can be helpful.
Professional photography studio light bulbs are the next best thing.
Soft daylight full spectrum color light bulbs can be affordable and practical for capturing quality images. A translucent light diffuser can be very effective at removing glare and hot spots from your images. You can purchase expensive diffuser material or simply make one out of a milk jug. White plastic is best if the light can get through it.
Backdrops: everyone uses white paper or sheets but you can place your target object on a clear or white piece of acrylic to allow light to enter the bottom of the target. For example, if you have light coming up underneath a gemstone, you can see inside the gemstone a little more clearly. You may want to use translucent diffuse light as well under your target.
Guide created: 07/17/08 (updated 11/11/09)
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