Please help, Arghhh reflections!

Brian_of_Bozeat

Brian_of_Bozeat

Jeff
Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,232
Name
Brian (not Jeff)
Edit My Images
No
Hello everyone, I am trying to get a good picture of a coloured glass ornament/vase that we have. The glass "blob" that it is just wants to reflect and magnify anything it can find and its driving me mad!:cuckoo: I have been experimenting with various setups and I have ended up with a darkened room, firing a flash against a white backdrop and putting the object on a mirror while holding a black reflector over the top. I am finally quite happy with the way the item itself is exposed now, but I hate the way the reflection in the mirror is in "bands". Can anyone suggest why this has happened and/or a better way to do this please?

Here's the image straight from Lightroom, preset conversion from raw and downsized to get it on here. I have cropped it to a bit with the intention of cleaning up the BG later.

Any help gratefully received.

B.

untitled_shoot-003.jpg
 
That's an ingenious (and complicated) way of doing it, although it is a valid way too.
There are a couple of other methods that you may find better, in the Lencarta Lighting blog, here and here, or you may prefer to combine the two.

The uneveness in the reflection is because the lighting on the subject is uneven. It's up to you of course, but you may want to use something less reflective than a mirror.
 
I have just read through both of those and I think I picked up quite a lot of tips. I will read them again tomorrow and give it all a re-think. Thanks for taking the time to give me your help, I will try a sheet of glass or perspex instead of a mirror next time.
 
can you not make the reflection in photoshop...or would you call this cheating slightly
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
can you not make the reflection in photoshop...or would you call this cheating slightly
Click to expand...

I suppose I could and I'm not too worried about cheating (I'm going to increase the backdrop in PS anyway) but the only reason I started trying to photograph this object was to learn through my own experience. After several attempts and several hours of trying to get the best out of what I have I ran out of talent I came here for advice.

It seems like I will need a soft box (or two) to do this sort of thing, If I want to achieve results that I'm proud of.
 
Looks great.

I think your "bands" are the double reflection caused by the mirror glass surface and the metal surface below the glass. A glossy black ceramic/granite tile might be a solution (or anything else with a single reflective surface).
 
If you find youre doing a lot of this sort of thing, there is an awesome book im reading through as part of my OCA course....

Light: Science and Magic

That basically tells you how to set up these sort of shots perfectly. Well worth a purchase.
 
Cistron said:
Looks great.

I think your "bands" are the double reflection caused by the mirror glass surface and the metal surface below the glass. A glossy black ceramic/granite tile might be a solution (or anything else with a single reflective surface).
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have a couple of different surfaces to try next time but I didn't think of a tile... It's on the list!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top