Polished metal objects

Peter Breddal · Feb 28, 2015

OK, I photograph jewellery and I make use of light tents , light panels , diffusers , 'magic arm' brackets for holding the camera steady, upturned white washing up bowls with a hole cutout ( try it !)and I am well versed in photoshop CS6 to remove camera reflection. So what's my problem ? Problem is that diffusers etc take out the 'mirror look' of the object and degrades the 3D shaping as well.
I am exasperated, any ideas ?
Peter

snowbear · Feb 28, 2015

Angles.
Chapter 3: Light Science and Magic An Introduction to Photographic Lighting Fil Hunter Steven Biver Paul Fuqua 9780240812250 Amazon.com Books

dennybeall · Feb 28, 2015

I'm not a still life/products guy but one thing that's come up over time is that you don't as much control the amount of reflection but you control What is reflected. That makes sense to me. It does sound like a totally different approach to setting up the shot.

snowbear · Feb 28, 2015

It's a bit more complex, but in a nutshell, If the light is hitting the object at 45 degrees from the right, then you don't want the camera 45 degrees on the left. You have to keep the camera away from the complimentary (sorry if wrong term - terrible at math) angle of the light. And considering that the light source is not a line, but a cone, the range of angles to avoid is larger. Distance to the object (both camera and light) are also factors.

dennybeall · Mar 1, 2015

That's part of the concept snowbear. I think what it says is once you've identified that spot that you mentioned then you want to put something there that you want to be reflected in the piece.