shiny things

[bribrius]

im still having trouble with shiny things, reflections been working on shiny things on and off for the last couple weeks am getting no where.
suggestions on shiny things appreciated for in camera settings and perhaps light help. (no off camera lighting though)

took this photo of a friend (just a dude wait a sec photo) because I saw the reflection off the bike (im sucking at shiny things ).
I felt I messed up the dof too (afterthought) looking at the railing behind him. That could be too hard of a cut there though maybe I expected too much.

View attachment 70231

 

[Designer]

Yeah, sometimes a better pose, background, frame, and light might work better.

 

[bribrius]

Yeah, sometimes a better pose, background, frame, and light might work better.

it isn't really a posed photo at all. more of a "I wonder how the shiny bike will come out but feel free to stand in front of it if you want"
im really just trying to fix my reflections....

 

[bribrius]

**** you can barely tell a difference between the fender and the damn snow...

(sort just fixed this. I just have to keep it underexposed so the fender line separates )

 

[sleist]

Well, you nailed the focus on the stair railing.

 

[shefjr]

IMO the reflection in the "shiny things" is the sky which is close to the same color or lighting as the snow. If you look in the headlight you can see the reflection of the house as well as the sky.

 

[Braineack]

another thread, another question that could be answered in any of the photography books recommended...

 

[bribrius]

IMO the reflection in the "shiny things" is the sky which is close to the same color or lighting as the snow. If you look in the headlight you can see the reflection of the house as well as the sky.

you know. I think you just nailed it. instead of just looking at reflections and them screwing up my photo and trying to simmer them down, I need to be looking at what is reflecting to see why it is screwing up my photo. Obviously I cant blank out the entire sky, but I should have noticed how it reflected before I snapped the shutter. Any suggestions on in camera settings to simmer down such negative effects?

 

[bribrius]

another thread, another question that could be answered in any of the photography books recommended...

thing is I have looked this up. suggestions are lighting and positioning. I don't stage most shots. im mostly a walk around shooter. Most objects I cant move, many times positioning is limited. i don't carry around off camera lighting or have any. I see something I want to be able to take a photo of it and work around conditions and do the best I can with it. so Im trying to learn to think on my feet.

 

[Braineack]

It's fault of your image sensor. Blown out whites will happen when you expose for the subject in a scene that has brilliant lighting/reflections. You could expose for the highlights, but then the rest of the scene will be in silhouette--so then you gotta use your learned skills/techniques/tools to solve that problem.

 

[bribrius]

It's fault of your image sensor. Blown out whites will happen when you expose for the subject in a scene that has brilliant lighting/reflections. You could expose for the highlights, but then the rest of the scene will be in silhouette--so then you gotta use your learned skills/techniques/tools to solve that problem.

Thankyou. so I underexpose the shot when I take it (I just dropped the exposure in post again). The reflections are better. but now it is underexposed. so... now what? Or if I expose for the highlights in camera, as you say. What about the rest of the frame? now what?

 

[shefjr]

you know. I think you just nailed it. instead of just looking at reflections and them screwing up my photo and trying to simmer them down, I need to be looking at what is reflecting to see why it is screwing up my photo. Obviously I cant blank out the entire sky, but I should have noticed how it reflected before I snapped the shutter. Any suggestions on in camera settings to simmer down such negative effects?

A CPL will simmer down reflections. Other than that you have two options that I can think of. 1. Create an HDR or 2. Expose the image so that you produce the image you want to see. IMO, having shiny spots is not a big deal.

edit, another option would be to fix the hot spots selectively in PP.

 

[Designer]

I think he was going for the reflections.

 

[bribrius]

I think he was going for the reflections.

yeah. but im trying to have them without blowing out. And keeping a "natural reflection" look easy on the eye and without strange things reflecting.

I had a nightmare with this even with ice and snow over the winter too, not just subject objects.
harsh to look at it, glare, blown out, it is ruining my photos.