My digital photos have benefitted a lot.

Like sunlight, only portable: OTT-LITE shines an honest beam

Aug. 5, 2001


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   White light isn't always white. Sometimes it's "warm," like the reddish light of a sunrise, and sometimes it's "cool," like silvery moon beams. This keeps poets and star-crossed lovers happy but can drive photographers nuts when they're trying to judge their color photos.
   That's why many photographers like to work in offices with a large windows that let in a lot of midday sunlight. They need to see their photographs in the most neutral light possible.
   You might be able to do the same thing when you're working on your digital photos, whether they're displayed on your computer screen or printed out on your ink jet. Placing your computer in a room well lit by diffuse sunlight is a good idea for another reason, too: Sunlight is a balm for the soul. It encourages the production of hormones that calm us down.
   But if you're like me, you spend most of your daylight hours at the office keeping the bills paid. In my case, I seldom get any of the photo editing started until long after dinner. If this also describes you, listen up. You can bring that sunshine indoors and shine some natural white light on your work area.
   My secret? It's a lamp called the OTT-LITE. There are many versions, from goose-neck designs that clamp on a table to small lamps that sit on a base. They all pour out an incredible white light. Within five minutes after I turned my OTT-LITE on for the first time, I was an OTT-LITE fan. Now, many weeks later, I am OTT-LITE fanatic.
   OTT-LITE lamps -- yes, they're spelled that strange way, in CAPITAL letters -- are named for John Ott, an expert on the benefits of natural light who designed their bulbs. They're made by Environmental Lighting Concepts Inc. of Tampa, Fla.. It's on the Web at www.ott-lite.com. The model I've been using is part of the Vision Saver line.
   You might be thinking that the folks at OTT-LITE have simply repackaged an old idea familiar to house-plant fans -- the so-called "grow light," which shines a blue-white light on your precious African violets -- but OTT-LITE lamps use a much different kind of bulb.
   First, unlike any drug-store grow light, the OTT-LITE lamps are rated to last for 10,000 hours -- something I haven't had a chance to verify yet, since it would take 14 months of running the lamp night and day to find out. Second, the light that shines from an OTT-LITE would make a grow light blush. The OTT-LITE beam isn't blue or blue-white at all. It's as close to sunlight as you'll find. It's as white as midday sunlight could ever be.
   I placed my OTT-LITE crane lamp so that the business end of the lamp is about two feet above my color printer. Pictures that come out of the printer are bathed in pure OTT-LITE, making it absurdly easy to see any color flaws. Light that's less direct floods my keyboard from about three feet away. The lamp is above and slightly behind my monitor, so that the screen is kept out of direct light.
   My digital photos have benefitted a lot. I no longer have to wait until morning to hold them up to natural sunlight to judge them. And the light from my OTT-LITE has helped my mood, too. I haven't yelled at the cat in weeks -- and he still walks all over my keyboard any chance he gets.
   You can find OTT-LITE lamps in department stores and lamp specialty stores. Use Google to locate stores on the Internet that carry OTT-LITE lamps if you can't find them locally. Discount prices start at about $50 for a small lamp to $120 or so for a floor version.