I'm Looking For Advice, Yours is Appreciated by FractalFactor
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Description
I frequently sell on Ebay and I use my camera a lot to do the picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words thing. I mostly deal in Scandinavian art ceramics, but from time to time I find I have a piece of glass I want to sell. With some high-gloss ceramics there's often a problem with reflected glare, but photographing glass is much worse. I think I took about 20 pictures before I found one I was happy with. I tried different backgrounds and finally settled on this image, using a white cove background. I'm not able to isolate the subject, so there is some reflection from objects and lights around the subject. What I'm looking for is advice on how to do a better job photographing a difficult subject like glass.
Oh, if anyone's interested, it's a Holmegaard heart-shaped vsae, designed by Per Lutkin.
Comments (5)
FrankT
one thing I used to do was get hold of some black velvet and cut a hole in it about the size of whatever it is then put it on a lightbox (or a glass table with a strobe underneath pointing up.) That way you get some nice internal reflections in the glass (looks best with a black background btw) Alternatively, get hold of a light tent (or make one - google for what they are) and fire two strobes/flash guns into it from either side. You get a nice even light and provided there's only a hole big enough for the lens, not too many awkward reflections
Fred255
I used to photograph some products like this for a living. In art shops you can buy an anti glare spray. Sorry I can't remember what it was called, but I do remember it was very good. I hope this helps.
amota99517
You did a really nice job of photographing your piece. I used to do cake decorating and found that it was hard to photograph white cakes due to the glare from the flash. Taking a hint from a friend, I found that if I took a single layer from a Kleenex tissue and put it in front of the flash, it diffused the flash so that the details on my white cake came out. You might try something like that and perhaps create a closed environment for your objects. I used to use a three sided background that was pale blue.
auntietk
This is perfect. The reflections and brights spots show the shape of the glass, the thickness of the walls of the vase, the curves of the thing. Why would you want to downplay the very thing people are going to think is beautiful about the piece you want to sell? I am aware that the way I photograph glass might not be the way you want a shot for e-bay, but don't go too far into "plain" and neglect how beautiful the items are that you're selling. A little reflection and "glare" is just the way glass reacts with light - they're the cues that tell our brain what the shape is!
mikehotel02
Put a bright blue background and then a BIG RED "S" in the center.