Need shiney thread to sparkle

[fastshutter]

Hey I need a little help here. I may be posting in the wrong spot but my company shoots rugs for lots of rug

makers. we were sent some rugs with some thick shiney silver thread in them. we shot the rugs flat from over

head but I can not get the silver thread to sparkle.it just comes out silver and white. the Client wants the rug

shot flat but still have some sparkle coming off of the threads. I've tried shooting it with some cross light but

still dosent work. any Ideas on this? here is a link to a photo of the rug.

 

http://fastshutter.wordpress.com/

 

Thanks

Kenny<div></div>

[cabbiinc]

Well, I've never done anything like this so take this with a grain of salt. Maybe you could shine up the silvery thread a bit. Maybe oil or something else to make it more reflective. Then overlight it a bit, possibly bring it back down in post process but the sparkles would still be there. Also have you tried a filter on the lens like a cross screen filter? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/22730-REG/Hoya_B82CS_82mm_4x_Cross_Screen.html

 

Just a thought.

[mark_sirota1]

What are you using for a light source? You need a point source to reflect off the silver thread, perhaps in addition to your softer sources in general. Think of it this way -- the sparkles you want to see are reflections of the light source in the mirror-like thread.

[mark_sirota1]

Oh, and you need to be sure that the threads are not blown out -- there needs to be tonal separation between the sparkles (reflections of a point source, as I said above) and the rest of the thread.

[tim_ludwig2]

Ken,

 

Cross lighting is your need (along with the overall flat exposure, but you will want a small reflector on the light for

specularity as well as a knowledge of physics....as in the angle of incidence and the angle of reflectance. first,

position the cross light far enough away that it will completely cover the rug.

 

Basically, position the camera and then turn off everything except the cross light so you can see what it is doing.

The angle of incidence is the angle of the source of light to the subject. The angle of reflectance is where it bounces

once it strikes the subject. You want it to bounce toward the camera, So, you need to position that light so that it

hits the silver threads and then reflects directly into the lens.

 

Once you establish that angle, you will need to turn on the rest of the lights, balance the exposures so that the silver

just glimmers a bit, and you should be good to go. If you over light the silver, it will produce heavy shadows in the

nap of the carpet and likely burn out the highlights, so watch you exposure carefully. Silver is so reflective, you

should need only a very small amount of light to get your result.

 

Good luck.

 

Tim

[fastshutter]

Thanks guys. I realiy thought some cross light should work. I'll just have to work on balancing the light better.

[thom_bennett]

Ken,

 

Sounds like you got some good answers. I have another question for you. How do you manage shooting large rugs from overhead? I've been

asked to photograph some large antique rugs for a client. Do you use a scaffold? Thanks.

[tim_ludwig2]

Thom,

 

Is there somewhere you can shoot from a balcony or walkway in a home or warehouse?

[fastshutter]

Thom,

We have a camera mounted in a 15 foot ceiling hooked up to a mac through a firewire. we use a big hassey with digital back with 35mm on it for super big rugs. then light it with strobes.

[thom_bennett]

Ken,

 

Thanks! So you have a dedicated camera for that. That makes sense. This will only be a few rugs so we'll have to figure

something else out.

 

Thom

[g._armour_van_horn]

Kenny, I shoot a lot of stuff like this, although I suspect it is all rather smaller than what you're working

with.</p>

 

<p>Basically, I cross light for the main exposure. Sometimes this is with similar lights, for a long time I was

using shoot-through umbrellas facing each other with the ribs touching the wall. Recently I've been using a 16"

reflector with diffuser on one side and a 30x60 back-lit diffuser on the other. This is essential to showing the

texture of the textiles, put all the light close to the lens axis and all you get is the color.</p>

 

<p>Of course, if you have metallics in the mix, you'll get specular reflection with on-axis light and lose a lot

of the metallic nature if you use only crossing light. So with most of my power going into the crossing lights, I

also put one head as close to the camera as I can get it without casting a shadow on the art. If I'm dealing with

glass in the mix I may throw some polarizing film on that head. In my shot for <a

href="http://www.larkinart.com/html/Holding_Pattern.html">this piece</a>, the central ornament is fused glass, so

I probably did use a polarizer on the kicker. Also note the little "leaf" beads on this piece, with only crossing

light the metallic gold probably wouldn't show up too well, as it is in debossed lines.</p>

 

<p>Roughly speaking, I have something between 200 and 400 watt seconds coming in from each side, and the kicker

is at 50 ws and further away.</p>

 

<p>I can't tell from the shot you included, but if you have silver in continuous lines, it's going to be really

hard to show it as anything other than white no matter what you do.</p>

 

<p>Van