BLACK light box?

[ANOMALY]

Has anyone ever tried a light box with BLACK SHEER CLOTH as opposed to the typical white?

I shoot pictures of watches a lot, with mostly black dials, and the white reflects off the black a great deal...

...any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[KmH]

Yes, others have tried that. Have you seen any for sale?

It's all about using the correct angles for the lighting, subject, and camera, just like shooting billiards.

It is all explained nicely in the product photographers bible: Light: Science and Magic, An Introduction To Photographic Lighting by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Faqua

 

[ANOMALY]

Thanks KMH!

I havent seen any but my box is home made so I would just go to Wal Mart for some thin, black silk...

 

[KmH]

There is a reason you haven't seen any for sale. You are barking up the wrong tree, so to speak.

 

[ANOMALY]

Well, wouldn't a sheer black material allow light thru but not reflect as badly?

 

[Buckster]

Well, wouldn't a sheer black material allow light thru but not reflect as badly?

It's the light that's reflecting. As pointed out by someone else, it's a game of billiards when it comes to reflected light. Set it up to take advanatage of specular highlights, without blowing out what you need, like that watch face.

I saw a Dean Collins video where he set up a screen (he used them in place of most other diffusers) above a watch, then taped a black circle to block the light at the exact place where the watch face would have otherwise glared from it - worked spectacularly. Of course, he was a true master.

 

[ANOMALY]

More good info..thanks!

 

[Gavjenks]

There's no such thing as black colored light, so using black cloth will simply mean that LESS white light gets to the watch. So to get proper exposure you'd have to increase the power to the point where you were right back where you started.

 

[Helen B]

As already explained, you can put small black flags in the direct path of reflection. There are a variety of materials available. Black Cinefoil (heavy black aluminium foil) is very useful, torn to exact shape and held/framed using coat hanger wire, for example. I use Matthews Micro Grip and Mini Grip equipment quite a lot for small objects, with dots, fingers and flags (Google them). Allows fast, accurate positioning of the flags. I also use a good polarising filter to control reflections from surfaces other than bare metal - usually control rather than eliminate completely.