I was currently visiting my parents when I noticed a unique...thing, sitting on their mantle. It was a cylindrical glass tube with smaller glass "balls" filled with colored water inside. I haven't the slightest idea what it was and forgot to ask. Anyhow, the colors inside the balls were quite vibrant so I tried my luck with photographing it. Much to my dismay the reflections on the glass tube were still present even with my circuluar polarizer. Can someone tell me how to get rid of those pesky reflections? I was shooting with a N80, 70-300mm f3.5~5.6 (true macro lenses are still out of my budget) at 10 seconds f32...thanks for the help!

Sounds like you were shooting one of those fancy liquid thermometers. As for getting rid of the reflections, it will be hard to do so. You can only get rid of reflections of a certain angle. Being that your subject is cylindrical, there is always a 'wrong' angle present.

Johnny

Johnny

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"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -Confucius

Tripped up on the reality of light.
Options would be lighting from the side or back so what reflections there are glare in areas that are less important to the image.
Jeff Markus

JM
The Chicagoan

LAST EDITED ON Aug-06-01 AT 08:58 PM (GMT)

The solution is to surround the object with one surface so that the reflective surfaces pick up the same color. I use a Red Wing Cocoon to shoot beer bottles for my brewery client. The cocoon is a translucent white pod in which you place the object. There are ports to shoot through. As long as the surface is reflecting the same color from all directions, you can't see the reflections in the shot.

An alternative would be to create an area enclosed on five sides with black cloth. A translucent panel on the sixth side provides your light source. I bought a couple of yards of black velveted fabric for this kind of application. Black is good for hiding the reflection of your lens/camera.

BJ

BJ

Zenfolio gallery

The Red Wing Cocoon sounds interesting. What does it cost and where do I find additional information on it?

Thanks,
Tad

Red Wing Cocoon (large).
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