Hcor.net Forum Index -> Photography -> Lighting Question       View previous topic :: View next topic  Lighting Question Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:31 pm qualude All-City   Joined: Dec 18, 2003 Posts: 507 Location: The County of Kings I hope someone out there can give me some help- I was asked to do a product shoot for a friends company, which I agreed to. They make helmets and pads, and gave me a black polished helmet that they wanted sample shots of.(thank god they skipped the chrome!) Anyhow, I have had no luck in getting shots without massive reflections, and even my "cocoon", which I would normally use, isn't working as it is casting a white reflection on the helmet, making it look washed out. Any help/suggestions? It is very hard to find any helmet specific help out there....thanks Re: Lighting Question Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:20 pm dankilling Burner   Joined: Sep 12, 2003 Posts: 314 Location: Eastern PA maybe backlight/toplight it???...any angle except the front? _________________ Eastern PA biking news, links, media and forums at http://rsdmag.com Re: Lighting Question Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:16 pm DownCycles_Stef Burner   Joined: Jun 08, 2004 Posts: 341 Location: North White Plains, NY If you can get your hands on some light gels (kinda like thick, colored cellophane) try getting a light amber colored one and placing that over your light source. If not, you can always try putting a sheet (provided you dont burn it and that it is somewhat opaque) over the light. If you like the way the light looks (colorwise) just use a longer exposure and mess with the E/V compensation on your camera. And as my last suggestion, try throwing on a circular-polarizing filter, it can help reduce the reflections, and in some cases the little reflections that are left look real good. Good luck. Stef Re: Lighting Question Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:06 pm BostonBullit All-City   Joined: Sep 8, 2002 Posts: 1075 Location: Boston, MA steph had some good suggestions, especially the polarizer, I always forget about that! you need some reflections otherwise the helmet will look 2d, but I know what you're saying about too much. are you working with hot lights or a flash? digital or film? you have a cocoon so I assume you've done this before but you're just having trouble with the good ol gloss black my suggestions would be to use hot lights, or flash heads with a modeling lamp, and move everything around all over the place until you get a set of catch lights that look good but aren't overpowering. you may have to get the lights farther away from the helmet, and if you're using flashes bouncing them off a white wall or big piece of foam core from about 5ft away will help. you need to diffuse the light before it get's to the helmut, and unfortunately in a case like this the best case is usually distance.....my $.02 remember to post the shot when you're done! Re: Lighting Question Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 10:19 am qualude All-City   Joined: Dec 18, 2003 Posts: 507 Location: The County of Kings BostonBullit wrote: steph had some good suggestions, especially the polarizer, I always forget about that! you need some reflections otherwise the helmet will look 2d, but I know what you're saying about too much. are you working with hot lights or a flash? digital or film? you have a cocoon so I assume you've done this before but you're just having trouble with the good ol gloss black my suggestions would be to use hot lights, or flash heads with a modeling lamp, and move everything around all over the place until you get a set of catch lights that look good but aren't overpowering. you may have to get the lights farther away from the helmet, and if you're using flashes bouncing them off a white wall or big piece of foam core from about 5ft away will help. you need to diffuse the light before it get's to the helmut, and unfortunately in a case like this the best case is usually distance.....my $.02 remember to post the shot when you're done! Thanks guys!! To answer a few questions...I am using hot lights, and I have thought about using a big scrim, to help diffuse the light into a giant "softbox", and scrap the cocoon. I am shooting this one digital, as they want to keep costs down...I will definitely try the polarizer, as that should be able to tone down the "white" reflections from the cocoon or the scrim....Shooting this gloss black thing is becoming a bitch!!!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 4:34 am

Scuba 495mtbcrew   Joined: Sep 6, 2002 Posts: 1515 Location: Boston picures are pretty.; _________________

Lighting Question

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