Lighting for reflective objects

[vladiator]

Hi all

I'm doing some product photo shoots for my wife's decor business website. I don't have any prior product photos experience but I thought that it would be fun (and it is!). So I invested into 2 Godox SK400ii, and some light stands and backgrounds. I also have a Godox flash which I use as my third light. For modifiers, I have 2 softboxes, 2 scrims, one standard reflector, and some bounce cards and flags.

The idea is to show products on a table (mainly a white table top) with a background at the back (using either a white wall, or background paper of different colours). There are some props next to products, e.g. other decor items or flowers, and this is why we want to do it in a setting on a table, rather than on seamless background.

Through experimenting with different setups (separately lighting the products and background), I have had good success with matte and semi-glossy products. However I struggle to find a lighting setup which would give me a good photo of a glossy / reflective product (such as ceramic vases, drinking glass). E.g.:

- if I set up lights on the side or at 45 degrees, I get an ugly white reflection of the softbox or scrim on the side of the product.

- if I set up light above the product (with softbox or scrim), I get obvious reflections from the light on the top and another reflection of the table on the bottom of the product.

Tonight I seems to have had some limited positive result by putting one scrim close to the product at about 45 degrees and putting a monolight with the standard reflector right against the scrim - seems that the reflection was more subtle than when using a softbox or a scrim without the standard reflector behind it. However, since I didn't have a second reflector for my second light, I couldn't recreate this effect from the other side. I plan to buy a second reflector tomorrow to see if this works when I use two monolights with reflectors and scrims from both sides.

However, this might not work, and I'm looking for any trick or suggestions! How do people who actually know about product photography light reflective products?

Thanks in advance!

 

[KE_DP]

The description of what you're trying to do is too vague. Show an image attempt. It almost sounds like you have many different things - if so - each would be approached differently.

Round glass objects need to show reflection to create depth. Controlling/manipulating the reflection is done by creating a plan based on the actual result you want to achieve.

Since we don't know what you're actually talking about - this might be a start. Notice all the good ones have reflections!

 

[tugwilson]

Reflective objects are hard until you have a basic understanding of the laws of optics and then they are sill quite hard. I'd strongly suggest that you buy a copy of Light ― Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting 6th Edition

 

[Seedeich]

It’s not clear how the objects look and what you want to achieve, but you need reflections of the lightsource to define the shape.

Maybe one or two striplights consisting of scrims with narrow opening, flagged or with barndoors of cinefoil or cardboard.

 

[tdwesbo]

Reflective objects are hard until you have a basic understanding of the laws of optics and then they are sill quite hard. I'd strongly suggest that you buy a copy of Light ― Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting 6th Edition

You beat me to it. The section in this book about reflective objects is really good. And while the 6th edition is the latest, really any edition is fine for this subject

 

[vladiator]

Thanks everyone. I will have a look at the book .

Regarding the types of products, the biggest issue at the moment are glossy ceramic vases of various shapes and forms. Something like this.

 

[john g]

Hi Valdiator;

Equipment that you might find useful are a boom arm and silver cards.

Your top light might not be so apparent if you either push it towards the back or put it high and 45 degrees behind. These positions will tend to light the background more than the product.

Then, you can use the front scrim at a much lower power so it doesn't come up blown out white.

A repeatable process for highly reflective subjects (high contrast) is to use excessively soft lights such as shoot-through umbrellas or big flats with bounced light.

Another option that a creative photographer might try is to shoot on "location" by window light. The product might look more natural and appealing sitting on a table by the window.

Good luck!

J.

Hi all

I'm doing some product photo shoots for my wife's decor business website. I don't have any prior product photos experience but I thought that it would be fun (and it is!). So I invested into 2 Godox SK400ii, and some light stands and backgrounds. I also have a Godox flash which I use as my third light. For modifiers, I have 2 softboxes, 2 scrims, one standard reflector, and some bounce cards and flags.

The idea is to show products on a table (mainly a white table top) with a background at the back (using either a white wall, or background paper of different colours). There are some props next to products, e.g. other decor items or flowers, and this is why we want to do it in a setting on a table, rather than on seamless background.

Through experimenting with different setups (separately lighting the products and background), I have had good success with matte and semi-glossy products. However I struggle to find a lighting setup which would give me a good photo of a glossy / reflective product (such as ceramic vases, drinking glass). E.g.:

- if I set up lights on the side or at 45 degrees, I get an ugly white reflection of the softbox or scrim on the side of the product.

- if I set up light above the product (with softbox or scrim), I get obvious reflections from the light on the top and another reflection of the table on the bottom of the product.

Tonight I seems to have had some limited positive result by putting one scrim close to the product at about 45 degrees and putting a monolight with the standard reflector right against the scrim - seems that the reflection was more subtle than when using a softbox or a scrim without the standard reflector behind it. However, since I didn't have a second reflector for my second light, I couldn't recreate this effect from the other side. I plan to buy a second reflector tomorrow to see if this works when I use two monolights with reflectors and scrims from both sides.

However, this might not work, and I'm looking for any trick or suggestions! How do people who actually know about product photography light reflective products?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Seedeich]

I suggested using two striplights.

Tried it with small LED lights and you can see the result here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65851444

This approach can be scaled up. I used 2.2 meter high striplights with studio strobes to light furniture sized objects.

 

[Rico Tudor]

- if I set up lights on the side or at 45 degrees, I get an ugly white reflection of the softbox or scrim on the side of the product.

- if I set up light above the product (with softbox or scrim), I get obvious reflections from the light on the top and another reflection of the table on the bottom of the product.

Shiny-object tabletop is my specialty. Reflection from the light source is essential to conveying that the subject is, well, reflective. If the reflection is ugly then you have to make the source prettier. By that, I mean to eliminate ragged edges, creased material and, in some cases, uneven illumination. Curved chrome is the ultimate studio nightmare but even glossy plastic will reflect everything in the room so the lighting scheme has to be carefully constructed, including fill.



Above was lit with the Profoto StripLight, a $4K strobe fixture 2' in length, but I also use $10 foamcore bounce as a key. There is no fill but the white shooting surface adds secondary highlighting to further define the subject's contour. For these situations, the key needs to be larger than the subject—sometimes considerably. You also want to avoid burning out speculars of this size.

--
Canon, Nikon, Contax RTS, Leica M, Sony, Profoto

 

[KE_DP]

Another setup result - (large scale). This was achieved by stacking two rectangular softboxes on top of one another (for height) and then wedging the camera in between the two on a boom - on center.

In addition to this - two strip boxes angled to light the sides - plus BG lights.







--
- Karen
www.karenengelphotography.com
Follow us on Instagram

 

[hiepphotog]

Hi all

I'm doing some product photo shoots for my wife's decor business website. I don't have any prior product photos experience but I thought that it would be fun (and it is!). So I invested into 2 Godox SK400ii, and some light stands and backgrounds. I also have a Godox flash which I use as my third light. For modifiers, I have 2 softboxes, 2 scrims, one standard reflector, and some bounce cards and flags.

The idea is to show products on a table (mainly a white table top) with a background at the back (using either a white wall, or background paper of different colours). There are some props next to products, e.g. other decor items or flowers, and this is why we want to do it in a setting on a table, rather than on seamless background.

Through experimenting with different setups (separately lighting the products and background), I have had good success with matte and semi-glossy products. However I struggle to find a lighting setup which would give me a good photo of a glossy / reflective product (such as ceramic vases, drinking glass). E.g.:

- if I set up lights on the side or at 45 degrees, I get an ugly white reflection of the softbox or scrim on the side of the product.

- if I set up light above the product (with softbox or scrim), I get obvious reflections from the light on the top and another reflection of the table on the bottom of the product.

Tonight I seems to have had some limited positive result by putting one scrim close to the product at about 45 degrees and putting a monolight with the standard reflector right against the scrim - seems that the reflection was more subtle than when using a softbox or a scrim without the standard reflector behind it. However, since I didn't have a second reflector for my second light, I couldn't recreate this effect from the other side. I plan to buy a second reflector tomorrow to see if this works when I use two monolights with reflectors and scrims from both sides.

However, this might not work, and I'm looking for any trick or suggestions! How do people who actually know about product photography light reflective products?

Thanks in advance!

Lots of costly ideas throwing around here. For me, it's about taking multiple pictures with different lighting angles and stack them up in Photoshop with the best elements in each picture. It will take more time but it will save you from buying a lot of things, and depends on your space, this is more manageable than having a bunch of lights. I found using LEDs for these would work wonderfully to see the the reflection on the object before taking the shot. But it's not really needed.









--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeissaholic/

 

[Michael Fryd]

If you are trying to minimize reflections, you can use a polarizing filter on the lens.

If this isn't working well enough, add polarizing gels to the light sources, and adjust the polarizing filter on the lens to minimize reflections.

 

[A-Marc]

Thanks everyone. I will have a look at the book .

Regarding the types of products, the biggest issue at the moment are glossy ceramic vases of various shapes and forms. Something like this.

get a wide roll of white diffusion material, LEE or Rosco. Make sure you get max diffusion, as for LEE it is 216 White Diffusion.

place this diffusion material between your vase and light and you get good reflections.

 

[FotografMagnus]

It's not only lights you need, you also need something to control the light with. Get some black and white thicker cardboards from your local art store. I think they call them foamboards. Cheap and easy to use to control your lights, shadows, reflections and refractions when you're shooting glass or reflective subjects.

/ Magnus