Christmas Deco Ball Reflections

[fotojoy]

I need some tips on how to achieve the kind of photo I want. How do you "get rid" of the reflections in the christmas deco ball?
From my example, actually I cropped a whole lot of the deco ball 'cos it is showing ugly items (my tripod, my camera and ME :bsmilie: ).
What do I need to do in order to get the effect I want?

Thanks in advance for the tip/tricks

 

[ExplorerZ]

I need some tips on how to achieve the kind of photo I want. How do you "get rid" of the reflections in the christmas deco ball?
From my example, actually I cropped a whole lot of the deco ball 'cos it is showing ugly items (my tripod, my camera and ME :bsmilie: ).
What do I need to do in order to get the effect I want?

Thanks in advance for the tip/tricks

don think there is a way... ball is round and will definitely have your image if you shoot at them, unlike mirror where you can avoid by shooting at a slanted angle.

PS: or hide yourself and use a pin-hole camera, small enough to be cloned away easily or not even visible.

 

[ortega]

either use a light tent with a hole for your lens to peep in
or a dark studio, you wear black camera black, tripod black, bg black
or use 2 reflector boards with a gap in the middle for your lens to peep in

 

[jeanie]

either use a light tent with a hole for your lens to peep in
or a dark studio, you wear black camera black, tripod black, bg black
or use 2 reflector boards with a gap in the middle for your lens to peep in

underwear must wear black?:bsmilie:

ok ok....kiddin!:sweatsm:

 

[Nshooter]

underwear must wear black?:bsmilie:

something new to learn everyday..:sweat:

 

[ortega]

underwear must wear black?:bsmilie:

ok ok....kiddin!:sweatsm:

how do you want me to answer this?......

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

get a tilt shift lens. then put a white or watever board to reflect your reflection on the ball... can even use a big piece of cloth.

otherwise, just PS it...

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

how do you want me to answer this?......

is she a psychic? :think: or your wardrobe need changing?

 

[sammy888]

I need some tips on how to achieve the kind of photo I want. How do you "get rid" of the reflections in the christmas deco ball?
From my example, actually I cropped a whole lot of the deco ball 'cos it is showing ugly items (my tripod, my camera and ME :bsmilie: ).
What do I need to do in order to get the effect I want?

Thanks in advance for the tip/tricks

You talking...manipulating your "already" shot picture which you want to touch up to get a cleaner looking ball surface or you talking about a re-shoot? heh.

Simplest way for a reshoot....replace it with a matte finish deco Ball or buy a can of gold spray and spray the ball matte gold. Problem solved. heheh...

 

[fotojoy]

sammy888: I was talking about how to shoot it. Yup, matt finish should do the trick. Thanks.

Actually, the reflections are nice but not everything.

Ortega: WAH so chim... this kind of setup, require lots of $? :bsmilie:

 

[sammy888]

sammy888: I was talking about how to shoot it. Yup, matt finish should do the trick. Thanks.

Actually, the reflections are nice but not everything.

Ortega: WAH so chim... this kind of setup, require lots of $? :bsmilie:

But if you really want to tell a nice story with your shot. Try to build a scene "within" the ball. Make use of the mirror-like reflection to create a mood. It should not be hard or expensive as you already have all the things there as I can see presents, streamers and some other decorative stuff.

What you do is mount your camera up on a tripod, frame your shot by deciding where you want the ball to be framed. What you do next after setting up how you want the deco ball's framed in your camera angle, is work out the other props to compliment the deco ball. Things like you tree branches, gold streamers...etc. Everything to set that Xmas mood for the shot. If the deco ball swings about too easily, try to "fix" it some how to stop it from swaying about in case you need to take a longer exposure and prevent blurring.

You now need to look into the reflected view of the ball and try to spot what can be seen and not seen. Then you decorate the scene within that reflected area. It could be that sofa I see in the back reflected in the ball. Light a few romantic candles to illuminate the sofa or some soft lighting so it has that romantic feel to it. Romantic low light is good to help you hide your camera's own reflected image. Wrap the tripod with a black tee shirt or something if the tripod is too distracting. It could be a couple sitting on the sofa type of scene too. Then get some of the wrapped presents to come into view at the bottom portion of the ball.This present can also hide part of the tripod and maybe your camera too..that is just a basic scene idea but well the sky is the limit. That is where you come in and use your creativity to see what you can think up. When you are stuck with lemons...why waste it? Make lemonade. In short...why hide when you can take advantage of it and explore the shot from a difference perspective. Even just dimming the light in the room will hide abit more stuff as seen in the deco ball heheh. SO go hog wild...get simple or fancy. Happy experimenting lah.

 

[fotojoy]

:sweatsm: Thank you very much for the advice. I guess there's really a lot more I can do.

But I still do not get the idea of wrapping the tripod with black T.
That will show on the ball too .... :dunno:

I guess the way is to get an angle where the tripod+cam+ME will not be in the ball and then create a nice scene which is reflected on the ball.

Once again thank u very much horrr

 

[ortega]

think about it, if you have a black object in a black room with no light falling on it.
your black object will dissappear into the black room and cannot be seen.

eg: this kettle

 

[ExplorerZ]

guess the simplest way is to use a tele and shoot, reflection of yourself will be small enough to be easily clone away.(if you don mind reflection of surrounding)

 

[Clockunder]

I agree with what Sammy888 and Explorez said.

Having your own reflection in the deco ball isn't all bad because it may make an interesting picture, depending on your composition.

Alternatively, as Explorez said, shoot from far away using a tripod and a long telephoto zoom for a close-up picture of the deco ball. You and your camera + tripod will be so small in the reflection that you won't be noticeable in the picture.

Below is a severely cropped picture of one of my recent shots. It was taken with a tripod from a couple of metres away (because there were some barricades preventing me from going nearer) by zooming in a little. It has been severely cropped because my original picture was taken with the intention of having the decoration balls as the main subject in a wider view. I only realise the picture could be more interesting if I had zoomed in much more to make the reflection in the decoration balls the main subject instead. So I decided to crop it severely. So I've tried to make lemonade out from my lemons. (The whites have been blown out because I didn't get my exposure right with such a high dynamic range).

 

[miniUltraman]

I agree with what Sammy888 and Explorez said.

Having your own reflection in the deco ball isn't all bad because it may make an interesting picture, depending on your composition.

Alternatively, as Explorez said, shoot from far away using a tripod and a long telephoto zoom for a close-up picture of the deco ball. You and your camera + tripod will be so small in the reflection that you won't be noticeable in the picture.

Below is a severely cropped picture of one of my recent shots. It was taken with a tripod from a couple of metres away (because there were some barricades preventing me from going nearer) by zooming in a little. It has been severely cropped because my original picture was taken with the intention of having the decoration balls as the main subject in a wider view. I only realise the picture could be more interesting if I had zoomed in much more to make the reflection in the decoration balls the main subject instead. So I decided to crop it severely. So I've tried to make lemonade out from my lemons. (The whites have been blown out because I didn't get my exposure right with such a high dynamic range).

Great colors!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[palvin]

Hi fotojoy,

IMO, try to make your picture interesting. So interesting that when people look at it, the first thing they see is not your reflections. In cases where really no choice but to have your reflections in it, then try to make yourself smaller or do something to blend with the surroundings colors so that you would not be obvious.

Just to share.

The decos are inside a reflective container. Hence the outcome of the color is not that vibrant. Taken with my 350D kit lens.