Spotlight/Vignette effect

[Vinay Soudakar]

In tabletop photography, when you are taking the picture of a necklace laid flat (so overhead photography), how can you achieve a spotlight/halo effect?

Is there any way of doing this or do you always need to keep your camera at an angle?

Thanks

Topic

[Andrey M]

In most cases, you have to position your camera at an angle, otherwise, it’s kinda hard to catch the reflection on a flat surface (if you shoot the top-down shot, for instance, you have to position your light source right behind the camera. thus the camera would be visible on the glossy surface)

[Vinay Soudakar]

Yes, that’s what I thought. Decided to use frosted coloured acrylic with a backlight to get a similar effect. The only issue is some of the light goes in the lens so adds a bit of haze.