Need help with bad reflections

kinorobkinorob Registered Users Posts: 3 Beginner grinner
edited July 31, 2009 in Technique
I'm supposed to take daytime photos of a giant marine aquarium surrounded by huge windows. The aquarium is shaped like a tube, so light reflects in all sorts of crazy angles. The whole building is glass, so there is really no way to eliminate the daylight from reflecting off the aquarium. I've tried a circular polarizer and it seems to do nothing much at all. It was a fairly cheap polarizer that I used on my Nikon D50. I'm guessing the shape of the aquarium is part of the problem.

Does anyone have any advice on how to reduce these reflections. Are there more effective polarizing filters for this sort of situation. Or am I basically screwed and relegated to using Photoshop? I've though of shooting the aquarium at dusk (thus reflection free) and basically photoshopping it into a daylight shot of the surroundings.

Here's what I'm dealing with:
598128157_XhKoH-M.jpg

Comments

  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,940 moderator
    edited July 26, 2009
    bump
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • action-picsaction-pics Registered Users Posts: 31 Big grins
    edited July 26, 2009
    I'm not sure this is the best possible solution, but I think you can accomplish what you want by taking a daylight picture like you have shown and an evening picture without reflections. Then take both in PS and put them each on their own layer and mask out the aquarium.
    Randy
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  • LivingLargeLivingLarge Registered Users Posts: 120 Major grins
    edited July 26, 2009
    X2 ^ using the layers function of PS4, you should be able to take the photo at two different times and while licking down your tripod in the same position (leave it in place from photo one to photo two for best results)

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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited July 26, 2009
    I think this is gonna be very tough.

    A good polarizing filter should help, but will cost a lot of light.

    The better trick if you can do it, is to use a soft lens hood ( rubber ones are great for this) and put it right up against the glass wall of the aquarium, thereby omitting all reflections. But if you have to shoot from distance, this won't help.

    Photoshopping out a bunch of reflections is gonna be a very big job, and may not look that great when you're done either.
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  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,940 moderator
    edited July 26, 2009
    Your task is going to be difficult. You need to control the light.

    Sometimes, a building with a lobby like this will have a mechanical shade. If that's the case, putting the shades down will help. If this is the route, make sure the shades are equally down so things don't bad.

    My best piece of advice is to come to the building at various times during the day. I'm guessing the early morning will give you enough light and limit the reflections.

    Last, I'd like to suggest working with a tilt-shift lens. It will help with the curving seen at the right of the image.

    Best of luck to you.
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • kinorobkinorob Registered Users Posts: 3 Beginner grinner
    edited July 29, 2009
    Thank you everyone for the good responses. Yeah, it's a pretty tough situation. I'm guessing we'll shoot it early morning and if that doesn't work so well with the reflections, I'll shoot the tube at night and Photoshop it into the daytime room shot. Sadly, there are no shades in that room. A beautiful building, but tricky to shoot.
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,940 moderator
    edited July 29, 2009
    kinorob wrote:
    A beautiful building, but tricky to shoot.
    Indeed. I worked for a company that had several buildings like that. Beautiful but hard to work in lol3.gif
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • speedracer04speedracer04 Registered Users Posts: 159 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    i am having a hard time judging how tall the tank is but if the reflections are low enough you may be able to have someone hold up a large poster board or have two people hold a sheet to block out the light that is reflecting. Then copy that onto the photo like the one you posted and take out the people. assuming the camera is on a tripod it should be pretty easy to just erase out the people

    I think that could work at least
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    i am having a hard time judging how tall the tank is but if the reflections are low enough you may be able to have someone hold up a large poster board or have two people hold a sheet to block out the light that is reflecting. Then copy that onto the photo like the one you posted and take out the people. assuming the camera is on a tripod it should be pretty easy to just erase out the people

    I think that could work at least
    +1
    You need a large "flag" to kill the reflection. This is a typical issue when shooting the glass, no polarizer can help here, only strategically placed gobos.
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
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