doug_baldwin

<p>To eliminate all reflections in glass or plastic would render the surface flat and without the specular highlights the viewer expects from a reflective, refractive or translucent surface. The key is to understand how the surface reflects the light and manage the reflection to advantage. Look at any ad for wine and all the bottles have reflections along the vertical edges. This tells us the bottle is reflective glass. The photographer and the ad agency would never think of trying to eliminate the reflections.<br /> If the object being photographed only has flat surfaces, the light source can be moved just out of the plane it's reflecting into. If the surface is curved, the light source should be large and diffused such as a soft box. Move the soft box to the side of the object, possibly slightly to the back of the object to minimize the reflection, but not eliminate it. Then white reflector cards can be used to fill in any surfaces that might need additional light or secondary reflections that aren't as strong as the direct light source. As a product photographer with 30+ years of experience I've death with this many times shooting glass, beads, jewelry, polished metal, ceramics and consumer products. Here's a composite photo of a 2 different glass beads and a 3-marble shot. In this case the marble is essentially a curved mirror. I've used a soft box over the top of the marble to add a subtle top highlight to show the object is curved. I used a single LED flashlight to punch a hard light into the front of the marble to reveal the inner details and then retouched out the white spot of the flashlight reflection.<br /> To eliminate all reflections in glass or plastic would render the surface flat and without the specular highlights the viewer expects from a reflective, refractive or translucent surface. The key is to understand how the surface reflects the light and manage the reflection to advantage. Look at any ad for wine and all the bottles have reflections along the vertical edges. This tells us the bottle is reflective glass. The photographer and the ad agency would never think of trying to eliminate the reflections.<br /> If the object being photographed only has flat surfaces, the light source can be moved just out of the plane it's reflecting into. If the surface is curved, the light source should be large and diffused such as a soft box. Move the soft box to the side of the object, possibly slightly to the back of the object to minimize the reflection, but not eliminate it. Then white reflector cards can be used to fill in any surfaces that might need additional light or secondary reflections that aren't as strong as the direct light source. As a product photographer with 30+ years of experience I've dealt with this many times shooting glass, beads, jewelry, polished metal, ceramics and consumer products. I've uploaded a composite photo here of 2 different glass beads and a 3-marble shot. In this case the marble is essentially a curved mirror. I've used a soft box over the top of the marble to add a subtle top highlight to show the object is curved. I used a single LED flashlight to punch a hard light into the front of the marble to reveal the inner details and then retouched out the white spot of the flashlight reflection. <br /><br /></p><div></div>