How to photography stainless steel with no reflection from flash?

9 years 11 months ago #364591 by KZAM
I'm trying to photograph some kitchen knifes and I keep losing the detail of the metal from my flash.  How can I minimize this glare created and get all detail with out underexposing the rest of the photo, or going doing the HDR route?  

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9 years 11 months ago #364599 by DSRay
First rule for photographing shiny things; don't point a light at them.

Use a white card and reflect the light unto the silver.


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9 years 11 months ago #364931 by Overread
Use a white diffuser and turn down your flash to low power in manual mode 


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9 years 11 months ago #364939 by Vespista
I agree, and a polarizing filter will help too.


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9 years 11 months ago #364959 by garyrhook
The problem with metal is that it's...metal. And reflective. You will need to control the entire enviroment, from the backdrops to the quality of the light.  Diffuse light is what you need, the diffuser the better.  What is stated above is good advice, and I've also seen cards interjeced between the beeline between the light source and the subject. This forces light to travel around the gobo which forces it to diffuse. Note that gobos can range in size, depending upon your needs.

Hope this helps.


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9 years 11 months ago #365229 by Tim Dordeck
Wouldn't the polarized filter cut too much of the light out?


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9 years 11 months ago #365241 by garyrhook

Tim Dordeck wrote: Wouldn't the polarized filter cut too much of the light out?


I'm going to respectfully disagree with the idea of using a polarizer.  That filter will only affect the light reflected from the surface. The problem is the quality of the light hitting the surface. Thus the suggestions for diffusion.


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9 years 11 months ago #365261 by Baydream

garyrhook wrote:

Tim Dordeck wrote: Wouldn't the polarized filter cut too much of the light out?


I'm going to respectfully disagree with the idea of using a polarizer.  That filter will only affect the light reflected from the surface. The problem is the quality of the light hitting the surface. Thus the suggestions for diffusion.

:agree: A polarizer only works light coming from angles close to 90 degrees. Here it would act like a ND filter and hurt the shot. You could try just lighting the knives using light sources away from the camera. If you do not have of-camera and umbrellas, try LED lights placing around the subject.

Shoot, learn and share. It will make you a better photographer.
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9 years 11 months ago #365359 by Camera Diva
White translucent film with flash behind it on low power setting.

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