How to take nice photos of metallic objects and without unwanted reflections

[photo_abc]

Hello, I am taking photos of metallic objects. I put it under a dining table which serves as a lightbox. On both the left and right sides, I have a Philips Tornado T2 Energy Saver 23W 6500K Cool daylight 1450 lumen 63lm/W. There are two issues:

1. It seems that it is still a bit dark. Shall I add one more light blub on each side, one on the top or change the light blub to more powerful ones? Any recommended product?

2. Although it is nice to see some reflections from the metallic objects, I can see a reflections of myself, my iPhone and things behind my back. What can I do to eliminate these?

 

[dennybeall]

Angles sometimes eliminates some reflections and you can also put a white paper over the camera with a hole for the lens. Metal will reflect, all you can do is control what is reflected.

 

[Light Guru]

Photographing Highly-Reflective Products: How to Control Reflections - Pixelz

 

[KmH]

Reflections are all about the "Family of Angles".

The product lighting bible:
Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

 

[Ihatemymoney]

Hello, I am taking photos of metallic objects. I put it under a dining table which serves as a lightbox. On both the left and right sides, I have a Philips Tornado T2 Energy Saver 23W 6500K Cool daylight 1450 lumen 63lm/W. There are two issues:

1. It seems that it is still a bit dark. Shall I add one more light blub on each side, one on the top or change the light blub to more powerful ones? Any recommended product?

2. Although it is nice to see some reflections from the metallic objects, I can see a reflections of myself, my iPhone and things behind my back. What can I do to eliminate these?

So one line of reflection isn't enough ????????
Think about this ? for every light is another line of reflection ( AKA glare or white out) .

The very best help for you is the book Light science and magic.
There is a section in the book that covers how to get ride of reflection on metals and mirror's

You might want to work on a technic know as light painting.
If nothing else the video is interesting
light painting knives youtube - Bing video

 

[Braineack]

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

 

[photo_abc]

Angles sometimes eliminates some reflections and you can also put a white paper over the camera with a hole for the lens. Metal will reflect, all you can do is control what is reflected.

Do you mean put a large piece of white paper as the front wall of the light box? What is the advantage of using a white paper rather than a silver/metallic paper? I guess if I use a white paper, I can see white in the reflection. If I use a silver/metallic paper or sheet, the reflection will be metallic as well?

 

[dennybeall]

[/QUOTE]"Do you mean put a large piece of white paper as the front wall of the light box? What is the advantage of using a white paper rather than a silver/metallic paper? I guess if I use a white paper, I can see white in the reflection. If I use a silver/metallic paper or sheet, the reflection will be metallic as well?[/QUOTE]

Whatever you put at that point will be reflected. If you put another reflective item you'll have reflections in your reflections........
I'd try looking in the book that Braineack recommended.

 

[photo_abc]

Thanks. I noticed that depending on where I want my iPhone 6s plus to focus (by pressing anywhere on the LCD screen), the result of taking metallic object is very very different. How come? Anybody knows what is going on? It seems that by changing the location where I press the LCD screen of my iPhone, I can shift the lighting (I don't use the phone's flash. I just have a light blub on the left and right sides as mentioned in the OP.)

 

[Derrel]

Yes...shooting through a fairly large sheet of poster board with a hole cut out for the lens to peer through, is a technique that has been around for decades. The poster board might be white, or gray, or black, to prevent reflections of the camera and tripod or the photographer from being shown in the surface of reflective objects. A large poster board can create a big reflection that can cover a pretty large area on many subjects, and easily hide say a human form and a set of tripiod legs!

As far as touching the iPhone's screen and getting different exposures; that is the way the iPhone adjusts exposure, based largely upon exactly WHERE the users focuses, and what the subject's exposure readings are. Tap-to-focus is also "tap-to-light-meter", in a way of speaking, and it can be used as a way to get different exposure settings on the iPhone. Sometimes as you probably know, if the subject is dark or light and the background or paper is lighter or darker, the exposure can be very significantly different, even with just an inch or two of difference!

 

[photo_abc]

The poster board might be white, or gray, or black, to prevent reflections of the camera and tripod or the photographer from being shown in the surface of reflective objects. A large poster board can create a big reflection that can cover a pretty large area on many subjects, and easily hide say a human form and a set of tripiod legs!

Thank you.

Which poster board color works the best? Why using silver is not good? I guess by using a silver poster board, the reflection from the metallic object is also silver?

On the inner top of the light box, what color do you recommend? I plan to take photo of both metallic and plastic objects. All with a blue blackground. Some objects are plastic/metallic plates of a few mm. Others are 3D. I also want to have a blue blackground with an "infinity sweep" effect (a seamless bottom-to-background look).

 

[photo_abc]

Somebody recommended seamless paper as background in another thread. Perhaps I should provide additional info about my task. Sorry for cross posting.

The objects of interest could be as large as 52cm wide x 18 cm depth x60 cm tall. I want to take photos of the components (plastic, metallic or both) and also photos of the full object. I may put two same objects but different colors side by side for comparison . In this case, what is the recommended size of the light box? Is it better to make two light boxes or a large one would do the job? I am not sure if I need to have additional light blubs.

 

[Ihatemymoney]

.

The objects of interest could be as large as 52cm wide x 18 cm depth x60 cm tall. I want to take photos of the components (plastic, metallic or both) and also photos of the full object. I may put two same objects but different colors side by side for comparison . In this case, what is the recommended size of the light box? Is it better to make two light boxes or a large one would do the job? I am not sure if I need to have additional light blubs.[/QUOTE]



If you showed up at my shop to take photo's of the products I produce with a lite tent I would fire you on the spot...