Guide to photographing molecular graphics images directly off the screen

In general, better quality images can be obtained by printing images on paper or with a film recorder, but in a pinch, good pictures can be made by photographing directly off the computer screen. Always darken the room to avoid reflections off the screen and be sure to use a shutter speed that is longer (preferably twice as long or longer) than refresh time for the computer monitor. In practice this means that an absolute minimum would be 1/30s.

Normal exposures for	ISO
	50	100	400 (generally not recommended)
structures and dot surfaces	4s@f4	4s@f5.6	1s@f5.6
white text on navy background	1s@f4	1s@f5.6	1s@f11
Setor images on a grey background	1s@f4->1s@f5.6	1s@f5.6->1s@f8	1s@f11->1/2s@f11
SlideWrite postscript graphs displayed with Ghostview	1s@f4	1s@f8	1s@f16

To make negative images from O,

Setting	Gives
density = maroon,	-> green (with a bit of blue)
carbons = white,	-> black
nitrogen = yellow,	-> blue
oxygen = cyan	-> red
sulfur = blue (or purple)	-> yellow (or green)

1. Save image at 1/2 size,
2. use imgworks to negate,
3. then zoom
4. then increase contrast (decrease shadow intensity by 50% or so)