best Lens to use for photographing framed glass covered prints

We have an auction business and need to photograph framed glass

covered prints using lights for catalog purposes. What type of lens

for a Canon G3 Camera would you recommend to cut the glare and

reflection?

The lens has nothing to do with glare and reflection - it's all in the lighting. Light the picture from the side (or both sides) at about a 45 degree angle. Poke the lens through a black hood and keep light from striking the camera to minimize the reflection of the camera itself.

 

Polarizers won't help with straight-on reflections. Prints have no surface texture to speak of, which polarized light can eliminate.

 

Any lens that will focus close enough and have a flat enough field will work. Personally, I'd use a DSLR with a 50-60mm macro lens (for flat field), but a G3 should work if focused close enough.

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The Canon Powershot G series has a fixed zoom lens.

 

You can try a polarzier to get around the reflections but it is much better to remove the glas.

 

In the 60s, when my father shot jewlery and watches for a mail order company, they removed the glas from the watches and blocked the clockwork to get the prictures for the cataloge. Not easy to get a picture from a working clock on 4x5 ISO25 and f64 :-)

You could use a dedicated 420 EX Canon flash unit that is designed to work with the G3 as well as EOS Canons, but tilt the flash head up so the flash bounces off a reasonably low white ceiling instead of direct onto the framed print. This will eliminate the glare and reflection from the glass.

 

The G3 is a fixed lens camera with a zoom capability, use a focal length of about 45- 50mm to avoid distortion in the image. Experiment with the flash and camera until you have found an exposure mode that works.

 

Set aside an area in your premises that is suitable for the purpose that you have in mind, maybe painted matt white so the light from the flash will bounce around and provide good illumination so that you can develop a standard formula for your catalogue pics. A tripod and cable release would also be useful

If you want professional results, shoot the prints before they are framed. Short of that, if you must shoot through glass, the best way to avoid reflections would be to use a Canon DSLR with a Canon 45mm T/S lens:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12132&is=USA&addedTroughType=search

 

 

The T/S lens allows you to shoot at an angle to the glass to avoid reflections. But, the image still apears squared-up and rectilinear.

Again, the lens selection really does not factor into this type of

shot. It is a matter of lighting, and angles, and having

non-reflective areas behind the camera. No matter what you do

to set up, you will more than likely capture some degree of

reflection in the final shot.

 

If you have the time and the expertise, the remaining reflections

in the final image can be removed in post processing.

Here is an example of shooting art under glass. I did not have

the luxury of using a studio, and had to hastily set up a shooting

area in the client's den. It was one of over 30 pieces of art that I

shot for the client. (They were moving and needed a record of art

for insurance and personal reasons.)

 

Used two off-camera lights (SB-800s with a D70). The strobes

were set up 45 degrees or so off to the side, and bounced off of

the white ceiling to reduce direct reflection. The plane of the

camera was set up as parallel to the art plane as possible to

avoid distortion. I did not have the luxury of a dark background

behind my camera, but was able to close the drapes and make it

as light absorbant as possible considering the situation.

 

First image is the raw shot. Second image is the finished shot

after post processing.

Sorry about that, I don't have an option to upload images when

posting here. So, here is the link for viewing in a portfolio here on

photo.net:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=541097

I've done a lot of this using animation stands and Polaroid MP3 stands (see 'Bay for deals). To do it without reflections, without removing or replacing glass, you need three elements:

 

1) a shooting room with nothing to reflect (eg a black cloth over the copy stand or tripod. Ideally the room itself has dark walls or there are black curtains around the copy stand and lights.

 

2) quartz lights or studio strobes (with 250W modeling lights) with polarizers (rectangular sheets in front of lights).

 

3) polarizer on the lens.

 

The ideal lens is rectilinear (doesn't distort). The standard tool for this kind of application is a non-zooming macro lens. Zoom lenses all distort, but that may not be significant if you avoid demonstrating the distortion by avoiding showing mattes/frames.

Polarizers might help control reflections from the frame, however, the most important thing to do is to position the lights so that you can't see a reflection of the lights in any part of the frame. A 45 degree angle would work. A polarizer won't help with reflections from the glass - the angles just don't work out that way.

 

Erin, it's pretty obvious you haven't tried your own recommendations. A flash on the camera, even if tilted, would reflect directly back into the lens. Secondly, bouncing the light off the walls and ceiling would silhouette the camera in the glass.

Its not the lens that's important, its the lighting.

Edward Ingold quote "Erin, it's pretty obvious you haven't tried your own recommendations. A flash on the camera, even if tilted, would reflect directly back into the lens. Secondly, bouncing the light off the walls and ceiling would silhouette the camera in the glass".

 

Ah but I have Edward, I have used this technique when taking pics of artists to go with editorials on their work. Remember this gent is not seeking high end studio shots of artwork, after all its a G3 Canon he intends to use.

 

I took these samples of a pic that I have on my wall that is glass covered, used a 10D Canon a 50mm Macro at a manual setting of 1/80th 5.6 plus a Metz MZ54 flash on the auto setting, aimed vertically at the ceiling. this was done hand held as I did not want to take too much time demonstrating this sometimes useful technique.

 

I did hang a dark bed sheet on the wall behind me and put on black gloves and a long sleeved dark T shirt. Yes there is a flash reflection off the top of my head in which you can see the vertical MZ 54 silhouetted against, if you look hard enough.

This goes someway towards proving that my post is not all bullshit, as you infer.

 

The poster could even do away with this if they made a matt black shield to photograph through as suggested by other contributors to the thread

 

The room has a white ceiling and light coloured walls.

Oops meant to post these images

Hmmm, can't post images direct into the thread, anyway <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/3852741">Here</a> is a link

It appears that there is more than one way to skin a cat. What a horrible expression. The point is that Erin obviously has found a method that works quite well.

Use of polarizers on lights as well as lens works miracles. Lack of experience with polarizers isn't good reason to advocate against them.

 

My description of use of a Forox animation stand (mentioned above) shows what's done when total control is the goal, but it pursues perfection much further than Ted Harmon is likely to want.

 

Control of the various non-controlled sources of light and reflection is key: block windows totally, wrap tripod or copy stand in black or put black cards in front. In fact if one is doing critical work it's important to black out the ring around the camera's lens surround (eg that says Canon or whatever.

 

And Erin's right that bouncing off ceilings can sometimes work simple miracles, especially if one is dressed in black :-)