Glare on a plant - how do I eliminate it?

I am taking a photo of a potted cactus (about 15 inches high) on top of an woven, Chinese-made wicker basket. I am using a soft box a few feet from the arrangement (at about 45 deg) and the resulting images have a glare -- the basket looks fine but the plant, which really isn't that shiny, is causing the glare. The backdrop is a light brown paper.

Any suggestions about how to limit the glare? I've tried different angles for the softbox, but the cactus is round and must reflect back to the lens regardless of the angle of the light.



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Robert

Well one way would be to shoot two exposures and combine in photoshop to eliminate/reduce the highlights.

Or maybe put a (relatively) large diffusion screen between the softbox and cactus to diffuse the light even more.

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Good Day,
Roonal

'Money doesn't buy happiness, but it makes for an extravagant depression' by golf tournament sportscaster

Thanks. I have a small diffusion screen that I can try, but it is for macro work and is likely too small. I think the diffusion screen idea is the better one for me. Every time I try to combine images in photoshop it looks fake around the edges. I don't have the patience to make it work, and when I take time to work through my books to learn a technique, I have forgotten how to implement it by the time I need it. I prefer to shoot it right the first time.

I think the image I posted on this site was one with the softbox at nearly 90 deg and close to the plant. I thought that if I got closer the light would be less specular and would be less likely to reflect. I usually don't have problems with glare on my subjects because I can usually find a way to move the lighting to ovoid it. I think it's the round shape of the plant that is causing problems. No angle is a good one; they all reflect back to the camera lens.

Cheers,
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Robert

Try using a polarizing filter on the lens. I have read nature photographers do this and it enhances the colors. It would be interesting for you to try it and post the results for comparison.

Lsrry

Great Idea. After the Timberwolves-Spurs game I'll give it a try --- the studio is in front of the familyroom T.V.
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Robert

I tried the polarizing filter and I couldn't tell the difference from the original shot. I also strategically placed two, 2 x 12 inch diffusion screens so that they shadowed the plant and that also had only a small effect. The best luck I had was to go to photoshop and use SELECT COLOR to capture some a bright spot on the underexposed image. Next, I selected the INVERSE (everything but the highlights) and lightened it a bit. This is the result:



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Robert

I would move the softbox more to the back and side of the plant and use a bounce card in the front - opposite side.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have much room to do that and when I tried placing the light that way (with what room I had) the front of the basket was underlighted from the bounce card -- the contrast with the top of the basket was too large.

I would probably need to use a second light to make that strategy more effective in my setup unless you have another idea or more specific information for me.

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Robert

The problem is that you are shooting a round glossy subject. So no matter where you place you light it will still reflect light back into your lens and cause the reflection you see.

Place the plant in a room with indirect ambient light and look at it through your lens. Do you still see a reflection ? With indirect light you wont.

So direct lighting won't work. Go back to your camera room and set your softbox back to the 45 degree angle you had originally. Get a black piece of foam board cut your self out a vertical gobo. Place this in between the center of the plant where the refelction is and the softbox.

Keep you camera on a tripod so you can look throught the lens as see how the gobo is eliminating the reflection. You may need to move the gobo or the softbox to get the desired effect.

It's a good idea to add a white foam board on either side on the plant also
to add fill as needed.

This is why you end up buying lots of stands and arms and booms and clamps and.... Well, you get the idea. Gobos are one of those things I don't think about often enough.

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Chefziggy
http://www.pbase.com/chefziggy/lecream

In addition to the suggestions already made I would suggest you simply move the key light above and more or less directly behind the plant so there is less surface creating specular highlights. Placing the key light behind the plant will allow you to place two large white reflectors between plant and camera facing the sides of the plant to add some modeling. That combined with your on-axis fill should result in a nice 3D appearance with the center slightly darker than the sides with rim lighting defining the entire shape of the plant with minimal glare.

The main thing to watch is the exposure from your key light. Some specular reflections are inevitable, but overexposure will aggrevate the situation.

It's pretty trival to combine two files in Photoshop. Shoot one for good detail in the front and a second one with fill only (without the rim light). Cut and paste the fill only shot into the normal one and add a black mask to it. Then just erase the mask gradually over the areas where you want to eliminate the specular blown detail. You can adjust the amount overall with the opacity slider. If you over correct just paint the mask bach in with a black brush.

Another way to restore blown highlights is to use the clone tool in darken mode. Sample a tone area near the blown highlight then tap in gradually until it matches seamlessly. Don't drag the cursor which destroys texture. Instead sample, tap in, resample, tap in, etc... to retain the texture.

CG

Sorry, that works on a plane area, not so on a spheric object (i.e. the vertical, round column). The neccessary width of the gobo would extinct as good as all of the softbox.

What works is, set the lights to a higher point so that you're out of the 'reflecting angle'. In addition, tilt the plant slightly towards camera....

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cheers, Peter

Germany

It will work, I use this on shiny stuff all the time. Bottles, ect.

Peter Berressem said:

Sorry, that works on a plane area, not so on a spheric object (i.e.
the vertical, round column). The neccessary width of the gobo would
extinct as good as all of the softbox.
What works is, set the lights to a higher point so that you're out
of the 'reflecting angle'. In addition, tilt the plant slightly
towards camera....

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cheers, Peter

Germany

Click to expand...

Polarizing filters only work with polarized light. Studio lights are not polarized (unless you polarize them ).

Light is polarized when it reflects from a surface.

DIPics

Todd Enlund said:

Polarizing filters only work with polarized light. Studio lights
are not polarized (unless you polarize them ).

Click to expand...

I tried the gobo method and your intuition is correct; it didn't work. I like your suggestion of trying the light from a high angle and tilting the plant slightly. I'll give that a try.
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Robert

The idea of the light from behind with a fill light and reflectors sounds like a great idea. I'll try this too.

If I am unable to make the lighting work, i can always fall back on your step-by-step photoshop suggestions.

I want to thank you and everyone else for the suggestions. I never stop being impressed with the internet (and this site) and the quality of information that is available to a person with little resources. I think this is what the inventors of the internet had in mind.
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Robert

You have to position in so that the shadow is casts will fall on the shiny part of the plant. Start by cutting the gobo about 1 1/2 time the width and then position it. If it hard to see where the shadow falls with the softbox, take the fron diffuser off so that it will cast a harder shadow so the gobo can be postioned correctly.

Robert Schlauch said:

I tried the gobo method and your intuition is correct; it didn't
work. I like your suggestion of trying the light from a high angle
and tilting the plant slightly. I'll give that a try.
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Robert

Click to expand...

I probably made my gobo too narrow. I will try a wider one. Thanks
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Robert