When Glare Can't be Avoided

At the DeYoung Museum, my husband and I were visiting the permanent collection in the New Guinea Gallery.  The carvings and artifacts were wonderful and I wanted to capture them so I could share the experience with my family, who don’t live near San Francisco.  We were on another mission that day, so I had grabbed my “little” camera as I raced out the door.

DeYoung Museum New Guinea permanent exhibit

The lighting in this gallery is quite bright, illuminated by dozens of ceiling spot lights.  Photographic glare is almost impossible to avoid.  I walked around this case, holding a wonderful sculpture depicting “the Mother of a Tree Kangaroo” from the 17th (or so) century, trying to get an angle that would show off the texture of the sculpture without obliterating the sclpture itself with lighting glare.

I had, of course, found the flash control button on the camera and turned off the flash.  Flash glare would make the problem worse, and flashing cameras is one of the reasons museums eventually prohibit photography altogether.  The gallery wasn’t crowded, so I didn’t need to worry about people in thebackground.  I found the light sensitivity controls on the menu button – labeled as the ISO Auto selection, and changed the light sensitivity reading to 400 ISO.  The light was bright enough in the casing and museum that I could use a mid-range reading and still get a sharp photograph.

As I walked around the case, I watched the light from the ceiling as it played on the sculpture.  After a couple of walk-arounds, I chose my spot, stepped back and use my telephoto lens controls to frame down on the sculpture, and shot.  The results weren’t bad.  I still have some ceiling lights, but the “Tree Kangaroo Mother” is still sharp and the side lighting shows off the textures and colors in the tree.