shiny objects help!

[curly87]

hi,

i have research quite abit, bought a light tent, tried diffused light and tried shooting already but i cant seem to remove the highlights on shiny metal.

i tried shooting my mum's silver ring. there are areas of the ring tat will have a white burn out high light.

anyone got any tips for me on how to shoot shiny polished metal without getting white burn out but the proper detail and colours for it? thx.

i'm shooting with a 40d 17-55mm in a light tent.

 

[night86mare]

got photo to show?

 

[Itsbits]

Try a black or grey card to 'absorb' the reflection

hi,

i have research quite abit, bought a light tent, tried diffused light and tried shooting already but i cant seem to remove the highlights on shiny metal.

i tried shooting my mum's silver ring. there are areas of the ring tat will have a white burn out high light.

anyone got any tips for me on how to shoot shiny polished metal without getting white burn out but the proper detail and colours for it? thx.

i'm shooting with a 40d 17-55mm in a light tent.

 

[Flashbulb]

hi,

i have research quite abit, bought a light tent, tried diffused light and tried shooting already but i cant seem to remove the highlights on shiny metal.

i tried shooting my mum's silver ring. there are areas of the ring tat will have a white burn out high light.

anyone got any tips for me on how to shoot shiny polished metal without getting white burn out but the proper detail and colours for it? thx.

i'm shooting with a 40d 17-55mm in a light tent.

considered using a CPL?

 

[giantcanopy]

considered using a CPL?

A cpl will not cut reflection from a metallic surface ( or from a mirror ) because light is unpolarised when reflected.

To T/S -
if the reflection is not too big maybe can clone it ?
Or shooting at longer exposures instead ?

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

hi,

i have research quite abit, bought a light tent, tried diffused light and tried shooting already but i cant seem to remove the highlights on shiny metal.

i tried shooting my mum's silver ring. there are areas of the ring tat will have a white burn out high light.

anyone got any tips for me on how to shoot shiny polished metal without getting white burn out but the proper detail and colours for it? thx.

i'm shooting with a 40d 17-55mm in a light tent.

u haven tried shooting mirror finished sphere before... do it and u can cry... light tent, etc, all become useless... in the end, using computer rendering is the easiest option.

i'd say, play with black cards, you have to know where to put it.

i did my last one based on using black card to add edges to the metallic reflection, esp with white background. you can also use black gaffer tapes if the object is bigger and you can use it as black lines for defining the object.

 

[LittleWolf]

anyone got any tips for me on how to shoot shiny polished metal without getting white burn out but the proper detail and colours for it?

While I haven't tried it myself, Andreas Feininger recommends among other posibilities to apply makeup to the shiny object.

 

[curly87]

Try a black or grey card to 'absorb' the reflection

if i use the black or grey card will the metallic surface reflect it like a mirror? or will all the light get absorb till cannot see?

em.... and where to place the card?

 

[curly87]

this is one of the images that i tried using my mum's jewellery. i shot it in a light tent.... got some area got those white lines... argh..

from my understanding, i thought tat as long as the light is evenly distributed in the light tent it should be ok already? no?

also where to put the black cards or white cards?

i am thinking of shooting even more polished stainless steel cylindrical shaped objects.....

how do i bounce or place my lights, cards, etc? and...... if i use light tent shine from which side is the best in regards to my camera angle?

and is it that it is not possible to get a 100% good shot so probably must clone certain parts out in PS?

thank you guys for all the replies.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Reflections and highlights are a way of life with reflective/shiny objects.

If you manage to ever get the lighting so even without highlights, you will end up with a very flat looking object.

The secret is to learn where to put the highlights and different values so as to retain the shape and appearance of the rings, what intensities of light to use, how to control those two factors and you would have accomplished a lot.

Your best bet is to google, youtube and find out as much as you can.

Believe me, it''s NOT going to be easy nor will you find a maggie-mee solution. Just share with you one project I did. I needed a clean pax shot of an electric toothbrush. It was moulded white plastic. My photographer estimated 2 hours to finish. Easy right?

We both ended up on the floor, with an assistant, a WHOLE LOT of flags and reflectors, and about 4 or 6 lights with diffusers, snoots and barndoors IIRC. Took almost an entire day to shoot that toothbrush, not get blown highlights but have the white of the plastic faithful, still have 'detail' in the plastic and also retain the SHAPE of the toothbrush without ugly shadows or reflections.

All the best for your project.

 

[jnet6]

Try a black or grey card to 'absorb' the reflection

2nd to that.. use black cards... do a search for online tutorial, as there are some tips to learn for product photography.

 

[couleur]

autopole, large and long tracing paper, light-through tracing paper... you figure out how to mask now, there is a lot of ways. Checkout alessi website for references.

 

[catchlights]

every object does have highlight and shadow in the photo.

for highly reflective object like jeweleries, highlight and shadow is even more important, that is how you define the shape of the jewelery.

what most people had failed are because of placing the light and (white or black) reflectors too far away from the object, so the make highlight (reflection of the studio light) turn into spectacular highlight, and also make lighting ratio of the the highlight and shadow too great for the film or sensor to cope.

 

[Dream Merchant]

every object does have highlight and shadow in the photo.

for highly reflective object like jeweleries, highlight and shadow is even more important, that is how you define the shape of the jewelery.

what most people had failed are because of placing the light and (white or black) reflectors too far away from the object, so the make highlight (reflection of the studio light) turn into spectacular highlight, and also make lighting ratio of the the highlight and shadow too great for the film or sensor to cope.

That's the problem with all the sales and marketing BS.

They tell you a light tent is the easy answer to all your product or still-life shooting problems and viola! You're $50 - $100 poorer and still don't have the shot.

The implication is that you don't have to understand light and qualities of light, as well as values and control.

 

[curly87]

so... if i keep diffusing the light by using tracing paper then i should be able to remove or get rid of a hotspot or highlight right? no?

 

[Dream Merchant]

so... if i keep diffusing the light by using tracing paper then i should be able to remove or get rid of a hotspot or highlight right? no?

That would be quite disastrous - to remove the highlights.

No offense, but did you do any research or read what we wrote at all?

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/pretty-shiny-things.html

might be of some use