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How to get rid of Highlights.


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Hello everyone!

 

I was wondering how to light something like this without getting the highlights/reflection in shot.

https://youtu.be/BAvGMkEKF08

 

I was thinking of maybe using bounced light/ or using dulling spray on the surface?

 

I have an 8 bank kino

1.2 k HMI

2Poly

2 x 4 bank kino

diff frames

2 x Poly

 

Am I on the right track? Please help :)

 

 

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There are basically two styles of photography - shadow and reflective. A lot of product photography (cars, phones, jewelry, alcohol) is reflective. You can't cast a shadow on the face of a mirror, right? So how do you get it to have shape? With reflective photography, you're playing with the shapes of light that the object "sees." If the object "sees" your source directly, it'll reflect that source. Try bouncing your light around so your sources are completely hidden from the object and see where that gets you - then start playing with the shape of light on the bounce surfaces to "tune" the reflections. And see if you can find a book about tabletop photography - the scale of objects may be smaller or larger than what you're trying to do but the concepts are the same and you can scale the concepts.

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That commercial is nothing but highlight reflections! That's often the best way to light a shiny object, white or black -- reflect a very large, evenly-lit soft source over the object. Of course, you could dull spray or matte paint an entire white bathroom and light it hard or soft if you want but that commercial didn't dull the objects, they just used a very large soft light over the set. You could, for example, put a 12'x12' frame of bleached muslin over the toilet and bounce into that (assuming it's a set, if it's a real bathroom with a white ceiling, just bounce into that.)

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That commercial is nothing but highlight reflections! That's often the best way to light a shiny object, white or black -- reflect a very large, evenly-lit soft source over the object. Of course, you could dull spray or matte paint an entire white bathroom and light it hard or soft if you want but that commercial didn't dull the objects, they just used a very large soft light over the set. You could, for example, put a 12'x12' frame of bleached muslin over the toilet and bounce into that (assuming it's a set, if it's a real bathroom with a white ceiling, just bounce into that.)

Thanks a ton David for your insight! Would I be able to achieve a similar effect if I bounced into 2 4' x 4' poly effectively an 8 by ? The set is pretty small - 6' x 4' and we'll be shooting top down..

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Not sure how you'll fit an 8'x4' bounce into a 6'x4' set... If the set is that small, why not just staple muslin across the top (if it doesn't have a ceiling) and bounce into that? Sure, you can use an 8'x4' bounce, assuming it goes above the set wall top to fit, making it a 6'x4' but if you go too high in the air, it becomes a smaller source relative to the toilet. With a set that tiny, you also have to make sure your camera pointed down isn't a silhouetted reflection in the surface, which would also mean it is blocking some of the light.

 

Just make sure the poly is evenly lit with no hot spots.

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Not sure how you'll fit an 8'x4' bounce into a 6'x4' set... If the set is that small, why not just staple muslin across the top (if it doesn't have a ceiling) and bounce into that? Sure, you can use an 8'x4' bounce, assuming it goes above the set wall top to fit, making it a 6'x4' but if you go too high in the air, it becomes a smaller source relative to the toilet. With a set that tiny, you also have to make sure your camera pointed down isn't a silhouetted reflection in the surface, which would also mean it is blocking some of the light.

 

Just make sure the poly is evenly lit with no hot spots.

 

Thanks David, it is a small set in a much bigger studio, if that makes sense. I'm taking your advice and I've just called for bleached muslin. Thanks a lot :)

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