Nice bit of information thanks. Again this isn't for ambient light. There will be a light source directly acting on the photodiode. Is there something in the application notes that I am missing that's pertaining to my problem? I see all of the example circuits are using large load resistances (10^9 - 10^12 ohm) that 'approach unity'.
On a side note, I am also noticing that the circuit application for the photodiode amplifier in the LTC1050 data sheet uses 500kOhm of resistance for both resistors. So I tried a combination of a few of the bigger resistors I have available on both of the spots where resistors are in my original circuit. I found that 540Kohm on both locations my so called RL and Rg helped the issue a bit. Well now when I read 0.210V off of the photodiode without any source it appears as 0.260V when the op-amp circuit is running. The lower signals are amplified as well or so it seems.
So maybe I just need to boost both the resistors on both locations? It seems like if I do an off-set such as 540kOhm on RL and say 50kOhm on RG I get a decrease in voltage increase. Probably need to go out and buy some bigger resistors? I had no idea the resistances would need to be this high. the circuit I built with the LM385N only had I believe 100kOhm and I believe a 10kOhm. Worried about how the noise is going to look because of all of this load?
Would really appreciate it if someone checked my circuit.