posted on December 19, 2001 01:02:03 PM
Can anyone tell me how to picture glass without getting glare on it? I use a digital camera, I have tried in daylight, with a flash, with black paper at the back, but none give good results.
posted on December 19, 2001 03:43:40 PM
Amber,
It really depends on the shape and type of the glass. Some people put a piece of tape over the flash to mute it. The best answer is a really good photo editor. Since I sell mainly glass, I find it invaluable.
If you can describe the piece you are trying to shoot, maybe you can get a more concrete answer.
posted on December 19, 2001 04:16:00 PM
It is all kinds of glass, decanters, vases, cut glass bowls etc. I don't sell a lot of glasswear, but I need decent pictures. I have an Adobe editor.
posted on December 19, 2001 05:27:46 PM
Try using more than one light source. Position the item between two lamps or under a strong ceiling light. A lot of the time the best you can do is minmize the amount of glare. Any kind of glass that's cut or faceted is really difficult. Going a bit wider to keep the flash to one side can work. Then all you have to do is crop a bit. I also might shoot at an angle, not straight on. You may just have to settle for less than perfect sparkle but get the pattern. A lot of folks swear by sunlight but I usually get weird shadows.
If what you are selling has a collectors market, the buyers usually are more interested in the condition than the picture.
posted on December 19, 2001 05:48:12 PM
<b>Jensmome has very good points. Glass is <h5>VERY</h5> difficult to photograph. Look through Gene Florence's books and you will see less than desirable pictures.<p>A few things I do with some success is, added to jensmome, is to use a grey background that will absorb some of the light from the flash. Also, if you have the feature, use the zoom on your camera to enable you to stand as far away from your item as possible but still have a good image. In doing this, you will "flood" the item wih light rather than have it concentrated. This does not eliminate the flashbacks but it does help to minimize them. Also, then taking closeups of etched items, I will use a black background and put my camera in macro (closeup) mode. This helps to accentuate the etch in the closeup mode.</p><p>Try a few of these tips and most of all, take may shots at one time. Hopefully, one will come out where you can say, "Yea! That's the ticket!"
posted on December 19, 2001 05:52:33 PM
Sorry 'bout the HTML tags. I did not know they don't work on these boards. Please ignore the "funny" characters. At least I didn't try to post my messages in tables! <G>
posted on December 19, 2001 08:21:51 PM
Mtporzellan is right. I use a dark background - deep blue - almost exclusively for clear glass. Colored glass you kind of have to feel your way. I usually use white because the color in Depression glass can mean the difference between real and repro.I often delete two pictures for each one I use unless I get really lucky.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks some of the Florence pictures could be better. I would assume that for a book a professional photographer could do better than me and my dinky digital.
posted on December 19, 2001 08:58:12 PM
Hi,
We do a lot of glass and we use a stand with a frosted plastic top. We light it from four angles, front two sides and from below. Then we still have to correct for color shift especially depression glass that is pink, it tends to go to the yellow end of the spectrum.
