Chapter 2: The Kölner Dome
Besides the Highlight method (H-RTI), you can also use a specially contructed dome. Hence, let's call it the Dome method (D-RTI). There are commercial domes you can buy or freely available instructions to build yourself online. I myself stuck to the free option and constructed domes myself. As I was doing this during my time as an assistant in Cologne, I called it the Kölner Dome (get it?).
The functionality of the domes is pretty simple, but utilising them can pose a challenge, when not trained. In this chapter, I want to give an overview of how they work and how to use them. Once this is all internalised, working with the domes is a lot of fun and can yield stunning results.
The gear
As with H-RTI you need a bit of gear. You still need a camera, the spheres, colour chart and scales. You don't need a tripod anymore, no weights, no lights and no remote triggers. All is more or less integrated in the dome, so you simply set it up and start taking photos. Concerning the gear you need, you can simply head over to chapter one and read about the camera, spheres, colour chart and scales there. What is important here are the domes. In Cologne, we have two kinds: a smaller 50cm dome that is more or less usable right out of the box and a large 100cm dome that needs to be assembled first.
The small Kölner Dome
So the small dome is pretty simple to set up. You basically open the box and store away the lid. You then need to unscrew two security bolts that keep the dome attached to the base of the box. You find both bolts at each side of the dome. Just unscrew them by hand and put them aside for later. You can now take the dome out of the box and place it on a table. You can simply grab the metal bars of the dome, as they are pretty stable. When the dome is securly put on a table, you can remove the last security bolt at the front of the dome, that is simply holding its upper part in place. When you have removed that, you should be able to open the dome from the front. Sometimes the lid stucks to the base, so an easy trick here is to put your hand into the dome from the top (where the camera should go later) and press against the base while your other hand should open up the lid.
The last step is to set up the camera holding system. To do this, detach the H-shaped metal bars from the top and store the white plastic holders with the security bolts. You should be able to stick the H-shaped metal bars into the metal holders of the metal frame. If not, there should be a small imbus tool in one of the grey side boxes, which you will need to loosen and tighten the small screws of the metal bar system. Make sure the H-shaped metal bars stick correctly in the metal holders and are tightened with the screws. The horizontal bar should be... well, horizontal. If everything is secured, you can unscrew the camera arm from the side and attach it to the horizontal bar from the H-shaped metal bars. We will adjust this a little later, for now just tighten the grip of the camera arm. You can also detach the eletronic box from the back plate of the dome, we will connect it later.