Cleaning & polishing acrylic-what do you use?

ChrisHeathcote

ChrisHeathcote

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I was recently setting up for some product shots and noticed that my sheet of black acrylic was generally a little dusty, fingerprinted etc. there were also some very fine surface scratches, nothing too serious though

I just wondered how does everyone else clean and polish acrylic or Perspex?
 
Isopropyl alcohol - a tip I got from @Garry Edwards product lighting workshop. I bought mine from Amazon, it wasn't expensive.
 
If you need to remove scratches there is some stuff for motorcycle screens. I'll look it out in the shed and let you know what it's called. To clean use a nice soft mirofibre and don't push or it will scratch.
 
mickledore said:
Does that help with static as well?
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Pretty much impossible to get rid of static completely with acrylic. Best I have found is an old anti-static cleaning pad for long playing records, yes those things that used to play music ;)

Even better switch to glass, it doesnt suffer from static anywhere near as much.
 
mickledore said:
I know...i'm old enough to remember them!

Clear glass tends to give double reflections. Does black glass not do that?
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Yes, clear glass will give a double reflection, but there is a simple solution. By painting the underside of the glass with black paint it will eliminate the double reflection. An aerosol is best to get a good even covering, cheap Poundland stuff works fine.
I did write a very basic tutorial about this for a flickr group a few years back, which if you fancy getting bored, you can find here:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/creative_tabletop_photography/discuss/72157623791904799/
Excuse the photography, it is a bit basic :)
 
Steve B said:
Yes, clear glass will give a double reflection, but there is a simple solution. By painting the underside of the glass with black paint it will eliminate the double reflection. An aerosol is best to get a good even covering, cheap Poundland stuff works fine.
I did write a very basic tutorial about this for a flickr group a few years back, which if you fancy getting bored, you can find here:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/creative_tabletop_photography/discuss/72157623791904799/
Excuse the photography, it is a bit basic :)
Click to expand...
That's excellent, thank you. I never thought about painting the glass. I always assumed that wouldn't solve the problem.
I'll read your tutorial next.
 
When I used to photograph small Jewellery Items from bracelets to ear studs, I use a sheet of very heavy glass. I managed to get a piece about 3 ft square and about 3/8 or 10mm thick. The thicker the better. (I think the Glass is used for doors and store windows.)
the object was viewed and lit by a large rolled piece of cartridge paper open at both ends. the camera and lights pointed in the top end and the bottom end created a dark field against the unlit background. The interesting aspect of this lighting was that the tube created a reflection of itself in the glass causing the Jewellery to be back lit against a black patch, nearly equal to the front lighting. Black and grey strips could be introduced to the tube to create dynamic reflections to give more shape to the object.

The only down side was the reflection of the back of the jewel in the Glass surface. But as the glass was so thick, the reflection was massively offset to make it a very simple retouching job.
I took literally thousands of objects this way for a 4 monthly seasonal Catalogue and for display work.
As it was all taken on film, the art department were delighted how easy they were to work on. (would be easier still on digital.)
Most were taken twice life size on a 5x7 Plaubel pico monorail.

I have never known any one else use this technique although it was so effective and such a time saver.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
When I used to photograph small Jewellery Items from bracelets to ear studs, I use a sheet of very heavy glass. I managed to get a piece about 3 ft square and about 3/8 or 10mm thick. The thicker the better. (I think the Glass is used for doors and store windows.)
the object was viewed and lit by a large rolled piece of cartridge paper open at both ends. the camera and lights pointed in the top end and the bottom end created a dark field against the unlit background. The interesting aspect of this lighting was that the tube created a reflection of itself in the glass causing the Jewellery to be back lit against a black patch, nearly equal to the front lighting. Black and grey strips could be introduced to the tube to create dynamic reflections to give more shape to the object.

The only down side was the reflection of the back of the jewel in the Glass surface. But as the glass was so thick, the reflection was massively offset to make it a very simple retouching job.
I took literally thousands of objects this way for a 4 monthly seasonal Catalogue and for display work.
As it was all taken on film, the art department were delighted how easy they were to work on. (would be easier still on digital.)
Most were taken twice life size on a 5x7 Plaubel pico monorail.

I have never known any one else use this technique although it was so effective and such a time saver.
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This sounds interesting but I'm having trouble visualising it. I don't suppose you've got a sketch or shot of the setup?
 
Basically, it's a lot like "through the lens lighting" as found on some microscopes... With the subject on glass the BG would be black as long as there wasn't anything behind the glass close enough to reflect back. There's nothing particularly special about it other than "the tube" blocks out all of the environment (light/reflections).
 
sk66 said:
I use polished stainless sheet (safety mirror). IME, acrylic is more disposable/limited life.
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Probably the best option? There was a thread with a link in to a supplier somewhere. Not that expensive and less breakable than glass and certainly no double reflections
 
sk66 said:
Basically, it's a lot like "through the lens lighting" as found on some microscopes... With the subject on glass the BG would be black as long as there wasn't anything behind the glass close enough to reflect back. There's nothing particularly special about it other than "the tube" blocks out all of the environment (light/reflections).
Click to expand...

So does the tube touch the glass? Or is there a gap?
And how wide / long is the tube compared to the subject?

It sounds similar to something I did when photographing a particularly tricky piece of artwork.
 
shreds said:
Probably the best option? There was a thread with a link in to a supplier somewhere. Not that expensive and less breakable than glass and certainly no double reflections
Click to expand...
I generally think so, but it has some peculiarities... It is always the same color as the BG, it always gives a strong reflection, and it scratches easier than something like polished stone.

The reflection is easy to treat in post as desired, and hard to achieve with some other materials. It polishes back up easier/better than acrylic (but it's still not "easy").
 
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