# How to deal with the annoying glare and reflection?



## tifoso48 (Jan 11, 2017)

Do any of you have any handy recommendations of how to deal with the glare and reflections coming from the crystal and shine surfaces.

I am sure I am overlooking the obvious!

Thanks a lot.


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## marks55 (Apr 11, 2012)

I would start by buying a good polarizing filter for your lens. It will afford you some control over some

of the annoying reflections caused by shiny surfaces. If you are using an SLR, some experimentation will show some startling results.


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## Pallet Spoon (Nov 24, 2008)

A circular polarizer is a big help. You can at least minimize them or place them where you want by adjusting it. Above that, I use a "reflector" ... which in my case is various colors of picture framing mat board. Most of the time black will saturate the dial color best, but on lighter color dials I have used silver, yellow, etc. Simply position the reflector such that it is all that is seen in the reflection of the crystal.


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## tifoso48 (Jan 11, 2017)

Thank you very much - I will make a start with the polarizing filter. 
Also, I found out that my "good" camera - Leica T requires a macro lens. 
However, I also discovered that my rather more pedestrian Cannon camera has a macro lens built in.


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## SHANE 1000 (Mar 28, 2006)

*I'm no expert in photography, just a simplistic point and shoot camera type. What I do to prevent glare is I use a piece of White card see pictures below, I know there are obviously more technical ways to do it, but this is how I do it it's cheap easy and very simplistic.**

With glare.
*







*Card to prevent glare.*


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## Nanook65 (Mar 2, 2017)

tifoso48 said:


> Do any of you have any handy recommendations of how to deal with the glare and reflections coming from the crystal and shine surfaces.
> 
> I am sure I am overlooking the obvious!
> 
> Thanks a lot.


lots of experimentation....
Light box is very helpful, but not the entire solution. I have polarizing filters. In some situations they are helpful and in others, not so much. The key is adjusting the light and then blocking any reflections. Something like this any good?


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## Joker7843 (May 26, 2010)

Nanook65 said:


> lots of experimentation....
> Light box is very helpful, but not the entire solution. I have polarizing filters. In some situations they are helpful and in others, not so much. The key is adjusting the light and then blocking any reflections. Something like this any good?


Very nice shot!


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## Nanook65 (Mar 2, 2017)

Joker7843 said:


> Very nice shot!


Thanks


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## Nanook65 (Mar 2, 2017)

A light box goes a long ways towards helping with the reflections. Here is a pic of my setup.


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## Joker7843 (May 26, 2010)

Nanook65 said:


> A light box goes a long ways towards helping with the reflections. Here is a pic of my setup.


What kind of bulbs are you using in those lights?


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## dboulders (Oct 10, 2011)

Nanook65 said:


>


Dude!! shots like this made me want to step my game up so damn bad!! Great capture.


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## Nanook65 (Mar 2, 2017)

dboulders said:


> Dude!! shots like this made me want to step my game up so damn bad!! Great capture.


Thanks


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## Legendwatch (Mar 2, 2015)

Canon 500D? looks cool


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## HonzaH (Aug 19, 2017)

Nanook65 said:


> A light box goes a long ways towards helping with the reflections. Here is a pic of my setup.


Nice! I like it. Its much better than my home made paper box with holes in them for the light to get in


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## Nanook65 (Mar 2, 2017)

I have daylight (5000 Kelvin) LED bulbs in there. They are the 60w equivalent ones. The main thing is you need to have your white balance matching the bulbs. I had some soft white ones to start with and I did not like the yellowish light so I changed to these and I like what I get


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## thedentist23 (Oct 12, 2017)

Nanook65 said:


> A light box goes a long ways towards helping with the reflections. Here is a pic of my setup.


Great setup! I did a double take though because I thought that was an upsidedown laundry hamper


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## Mattsprouse1 (Jun 7, 2017)

Flagging is a simple concept that goes a long way. There are a bunch of tutorials on youtube that can help with the concept. Other than that, just experiment, use the reflection to your advantage if you cannot get away from it.


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## kramer97 (Sep 8, 2017)

Anyone have any handy tools or accessories which can help with this issue while using an iPhone? Thanks


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## StufflerMike (Mar 23, 2010)

kramer97 said:


> Anyone have any handy tools or accessories which can help with this issue while using an iPhone? Thanks


Lightweight light box


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## AJ_Atlanta (Nov 18, 2017)

Well I used to be a professional photographer and yes, we used flags/gobos for product shots. Also with the advent of digital it becomes easy to take multiple exposures and composite them in post.


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## bruno_sfc (Jun 19, 2017)

Also, keep in mind that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflectance.


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## MrLeatherback (Nov 25, 2017)

If you think of your watch crystal as being nothing more than a small shiny mirror, then it's easy to conceptualize just how light will (or will not) be reflected on the crystal's surface. In fact, practicing your lighting set-ups with a small hand mirror is a great way to climb up the photography learning curve.

Myself, I tend to light watches from directly above, and then have a white bounce card directly below -- creating a light "sandwich," in effect.

And just to give a heads up on how easy this is to do, while I did use a "professional" light for this photo (i.e.: a portable flash inside a small softbox), the white background and bottom bounce is nothing more than a cheap styrofoam cooler.


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## odiefer1966 (Feb 8, 2013)

A good DSLR camera with multiple built-in pre-programmed settings usually does the trick.


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## citjet (Feb 11, 2006)

I have used the technique of cutting a hole into a sheet of gray paper and that is where my macro lens fits into. That can also be used to bounce light back to your subject if you are in a situation where its backlit.


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