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The Manteca show was well laid out and perfect for viewing, but the lighting was a little low for photographs.  In order to get some of the shadows out of the picture, I (Capt'n John) snapped it again with a flash (picture on the right).  Not only did it get rid of the shadows. It changed the color.

We took the problem to expert quilt photographer, Gregory Case aka Photo Man.

"When you go to a quilt show, remember that your eyes will see it differently than the camera.  You can see 1000s of levels of brightness and cameras can see just in the low hundreds.  If the lighting is coming from different sources, such as natural light from windows and artificial lights overhead, your camera will get confused on the colors while your eyes think it is pretty clear what the colors are. "

This is a problem for professional photographers also.  We make sure that all of our light is coming from the same source.  Then we test the colors, adjust them with software and then hold the prints right next to the quilt to make sure we are getting an accurate color.

Cameras were made to record pleasing color not necessarily accurate color. There is not a hard and fast rule I can give you like always shoot without flash.  You are going to have to test what the camera sees versus what you see.  I suggest that you photograph the quilt with and without flash, but you can also use your "scenes" like "beach", "snow", and "underwater" etc.  Each will give you a color and brightness that may bring you closer to the original color."

The color (purple) is closer to the original as I remember it.  Have you had these problems?  Do you have a solution?