Great photography in the laboratory
We offer you insightful tips and tricks to improve your professional dental photography. Find out today what you need to know to take in-work photos that are so high quality that they can be published without any hesitation. The pictures could be used in a report published in a journal of specialist or online. You might also want to share the images with colleagues through lectures or talks.
Photographers share their knowledge
What are the most important aspects to remember when taking photos of dental restorations in the laboratory? Ivoclar Vivadent has interviewed professional photographers to find out some great tips.
These are three essential points to remember when shooting dental photography in the laboratory:
1. Place of work for Dental Photography
Set up a separate workspace to take your photos.
To ensure that every step is taken from the same perspective, mount your camera on a tripod.
Tips:
Choose the background color (light or dark) before you start your shots. This will depend on what purpose the photos are intended to be used for.
- For a black background, use velvet fabric.
- To avoid shadows from obscuring the background, leave some space between the workpiece & the background
2. Camera settings for Dental Photography
To achieve consistent and effective results, use Manual mode whenever you can.
Tips:
- Choose a small aperture (e.g. 22 or 32 depending on the lens. This will give you a larger area in which to focus your entire image (depth of field).
- Choose a brief exposure time, e.g. 1/125 sec. You can reduce the effects of ambient light on your photos this way.
- The ISO value should be kept as low as possible to ensure the best quality. ISO 100 is fine depending on the camera.
3. Keep dust out of your camera Dental Photography
Dark spots will be created by dust particles that settle on the sensor of your camera. The dental laboratory for Dental Photography has a high dust load due to sanding and grinding. You should take preventive measures to avoid this.
Tips:
- Keep your camera dust-free (camera bag, cabin)
- Always keep your SLR camera with a lens and body cap.
- In a dust-free area, quickly change the lens.