One thing you’ll notice in the pictures above is that the LEDs are rather well balanced with the rest of the picture. One of the advantages of using the lighting method presented here is that there is plenty of illumination available to light up the rest of the PCB and components, allowing them to “match” the brightness of the lit LEDs. There’s an added advantage in the above example because the LEDs on the Game of Life board are diffused, which cuts down on their output a bit. That said, every LED is different — some are diffused, some are clear, and they have different levels of output. If you’re trying to shoot a project and the LEDs are just too bright, there’s a few things you can try:

1. Try using brighter bulbs in your light sources. If you’re using 250W bulbs, for example, try switching to 500W.
2. Move the lights a little bit closer to increase the brightness of the scene. This will have an affect on the shadows and contrast too, though, so don’t be too extreme in your adjustments.
3. Add another light. It might surprise you to learn that two lights is brighter than one light!
4. Reprogram the circuit to put out a lower LED level. This only works if you have PWM control over the LEDs, but it works quite well.