Killing reflections... is it possible??

Dani

I was trying to get a slow shutter speed pic of the clothes tumbling around in the wash and dryer... but no matter what I tried I could not kill the reflections on the clear plastic of the doors.

I tried all combo's of lighting with and without a polarizer.

I'd need some kind of studio type setup to make the reflections all one even color but you still woulldn't be able to see the clothes?

maybe it just not possible to do?

Andy

Light from high and left/ right?

Shay Stephens

Do you have a big piece of black or dark fabric you can put up? The trick with reflections is controlling what gets reflected. So move the fabric around so it is what is getting reflected back to the cameras lens.

ziggy53

Shay Stephens wrote:

Do you have a big piece of black or dark fabric you can put up? The trick with reflections is controlling what gets reflected. So move the fabric around so it is what is getting reflected back to the cameras lens.

Devices to control both light spill and light reflections are called "flags". You can look through the viewfinder and move a white sheet of paper or small flashlight to determine the approximate size and placement boundaries (although it seems pretty obvious in this case).

A sheet of cardboard, sprayed black (or white or gray, ... whatever works), could be used on the floor.

Another useful technique is multiple exposures, selecting the "visual components" which work using PhotoShop clipped objects from multiple layers, "Painting" with the multiple exposures, moving the lights for each exposure.

In order to use a polarizer, you would first have to polarize the light. Outdoors, the Sun is already polarized. For e-flash or continuous lights, you need a large sheet of polarizing material over the lights. Alternately a light application of hair-spray or (better) "dulling spray" can help with glass items, as long as the glass itself is not the principle subject.

In order to illuminate the interior of the units, you might have to place lights inside the appliance itself. Suction cups (large-ish) can be used to hold the light non-destructively, if you can mount to a non-moving panel. Just don't turn on the heat in the dryer, or the suction cup will release. The lights could be small slave flashes.

Photographing "In Situ" (Latin for "in its place") can be a royal pain in the usual vernacular.

ziggy53

gtc

lights off bounce flash
how about trying lights off and bounce flash from the ceiling?

pathfinder

Or luminescent lite sticks inside the drier with the lights turned off? Or even small LED flashlites fgor more defined light beams.