- Location
- Milwaukee, WI USA
- Name
- Luke
I am a total fraud.
I pretend to be "an amateur photographer" (which implies knowing something about capturing light) and I sell stuff on eBay (which needs to be photographed so people know what it looks like). I've rested on my laurels in the past by saying "I'm an available light photographer....I don't use flash". And that's fine.....for the kind of photos I like to take for pleasure. But for "product photography", I need to show people "the goods". 3 dimensional stuff isn't as big a problem, but most of what I sell are LPs.....mainly a 2 dimensional image.....and depending on the lighting and the cover....sometimes they seem remarkably like mirrors.
And then I get my worst case scenario..... an LP with a dark cover that is still covered in shrinkwrap.
First, I try a shot with a flash (trying to compensate for the backlighting)......
DSC00360 by Luke Lavin, on Flickr
the flash is mainly reflected back at the camera.....not good.
I don't have a pro set-up and I can't tilt the flash up at the ceiling (which I think might work), so I just cover the direct part of the flash with my hand (like the world's most low budget diffuser and get this.......almost like a mirror......
DSC00362 by Luke Lavin, on Flickr
mmmmmmm......this is when I start wondering if I can't just hire a photographer to shoot the stuff I want to sell (nope....that REALLY cuts in to the budget) . So I try with no flash and this is my best yet, but the shrinkwrap still acts more like a mirror reflecting back an image of me shooting the cover.....
DSC00363 by Luke Lavin, on Flickr
I wasn't happy with any of them so I tried an "off-axis" shot where I brought the camera down and angled the LP slightly so I wouldn't have any direct reflections coming back at the camera.
I got this shot.......
DSC00364 by Luke Lavin, on Flickr
It's reasonably reflection-free, and before I loaded the photo up, I did some "perspective correction" so I don't get some asinine question from someone wondering if this is some weird trapezoidal cover.
I'm wondering what is the simple way to (consistently) light & shoot albums (or other items that are highly reflective.....and mainly flat.....and mirrorlike)
I pretend to be "an amateur photographer" (which implies knowing something about capturing light) and I sell stuff on eBay (which needs to be photographed so people know what it looks like). I've rested on my laurels in the past by saying "I'm an available light photographer....I don't use flash". And that's fine.....for the kind of photos I like to take for pleasure. But for "product photography", I need to show people "the goods". 3 dimensional stuff isn't as big a problem, but most of what I sell are LPs.....mainly a 2 dimensional image.....and depending on the lighting and the cover....sometimes they seem remarkably like mirrors.
And then I get my worst case scenario..... an LP with a dark cover that is still covered in shrinkwrap.
First, I try a shot with a flash (trying to compensate for the backlighting)......
the flash is mainly reflected back at the camera.....not good.
I don't have a pro set-up and I can't tilt the flash up at the ceiling (which I think might work), so I just cover the direct part of the flash with my hand (like the world's most low budget diffuser and get this.......almost like a mirror......
mmmmmmm......this is when I start wondering if I can't just hire a photographer to shoot the stuff I want to sell (nope....that REALLY cuts in to the budget) . So I try with no flash and this is my best yet, but the shrinkwrap still acts more like a mirror reflecting back an image of me shooting the cover.....
I wasn't happy with any of them so I tried an "off-axis" shot where I brought the camera down and angled the LP slightly so I wouldn't have any direct reflections coming back at the camera.
I got this shot.......
It's reasonably reflection-free, and before I loaded the photo up, I did some "perspective correction" so I don't get some asinine question from someone wondering if this is some weird trapezoidal cover.
I'm wondering what is the simple way to (consistently) light & shoot albums (or other items that are highly reflective.....and mainly flat.....and mirrorlike)