Reflections – Machinery photos

[tracy Sullivan]

I’m going to be photographing large tabletop machines which have a plexiglass front on part of the machine. Wondering how to avoid glare and get a clear shot. These will have to be bracketed at well for large blow ups for trade shows.

Also is it better to do these on a green screen as apposed to white background?

Topic

[Andrey M]

Hi Tracy!

I saw your examples in the email 🙂
The green screen would provide unnecessary color cast which you don’t want to have at all. Sometimes it’s hard to remove from transparent or semi-transparent surfaces and also it brings additional difficulties during the post-production.

IF you want to remove any glares completely, then you can go with a polarizing filter. It will help to reduce the intensity of reflections or even completely remove them. If you don’t have such filter around, you can simply try to use black cardboard and comp in that plex part later in Photoshop. I think it’s even easier to do than to set up a scene with a filter. You have to find such an angle for the cardboard to block any unwanted reflection from your light sources, so the plexiglass will look flat and even. Later you can add a gradient in Photoshop if needed.