Reflecting on Reflections, Part 3
Author: weshoot
“The Shoot From Hell,” said one of my assistants, in reference to shooting the electronic control panel housed in brushed stainless steel. Brushed stainless is no shiny brass doorknob to shoot, see previous blog post “Reflecting on Reflections, Part 2,” but it is definitely something difficult. The unit (see images below) is a rather large, oblong-shaped, heavy electronic control panel with three red LED read-out screens which were as reflective as a mirror, housed inside of a brushed stainless steel shell, which was also quite reflective.
The brushed stainless, unlike the doorknob, won’t show my countenance, but will show all lights, colors, and dark areas surrounding it. Any light that is not broad, whether a room light, a window, or the reflected light off our clothing, shows up as a blurry, colored reflection blob. The size of the unit makes it difficult to isolate easily. Many different exposures were made to control where lights sat, where reflectors were aimed, and where the assistants and I were situated.
Each setup or position of the unit was accompanied by moving lights and camera and adjusting everything many times. My assistant who muttered the “From Hell” phrase, is himself a good photographer who eschews lighting and strobes to create images. He mostly likes to shoot with available light. He said it would drive him crazy trying to photograph things like this for a living. I, on the other hand, view it as a challenge.
Finally, when I finished shooting the product, many hours were spent retouching and enhancing the images. I then submitted the images to my client as low-res jpegs over the ‘net, and we worked together choosing the background for the images he liked. See the images below.
While reflective objects present a challenge, make sure your attitude toward them is not defeatist. This is difficult shooting to say the least. Hard work and determination is the hallmark of anyone trying to get this done.
One last word on this kind of shoot. It does not lend itself to using a point-and-shoot camera with the flash on the camera. For the most part, it has certain minimum requirements of a good DSLR camera, and sufficient off-camera lighting and lighting equipment. Otherwise, the results will be unsatisfactory and amateurish.
– Gary Silverstein
click on image to enlarge
click on image to enlarge
click on image to enlarge
Tags: enhance, Photoshop, reflecting, reflections, retouch, shoot, shooting
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