{"id":4502,"date":"2015-02-25T14:38:38","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T14:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/?p=4502"},"modified":"2015-02-25T14:38:38","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T14:38:38","slug":"controlling-reflections-in-glasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/?p=4502","title":{"rendered":"Controlling reflections in glasses"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you’ve got the lights, you have your model and you\u2019re ready to shoot. Then you take a test photo and all you see is huge white reflections. It\u2019s a problem that happens all too often but fortunately there are a couple of solutions that are quick, easy and effective.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the simplest solution. Get your subject to remove their glasses. It sounds obvious but it\u2019s surprising how many photographers don\u2019t have the nerve to ask. Whilst this can work wonders with occasional spec wearers, anyone who wears glasses full time will look most weird without their specs on. It\u2019s also not going to work with the cool crowd who wear sunglasses all year round.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using flash or continuous light the chances are the reflections are likely to be from your lights and where you position the lights will affect the reflections you see in the photo.<\/p>\n

\"photo-1\"<\/a>Light from the front (including on camera flash) will produce the biggest, brightest and least attractive reflections. Because light travels in straight lines it\u2019s going to hit the front of the spectacle lenses and bounce right back in to the camera. This really is one lighting position to avoid.<\/p>\n

\"photo-2\"<\/a>Knowing that light travels in straight lines means that moving the light source to the side will move reflection. Here the light is at about 45 degrees and the result is a reflection that\u2019s much reduced in size.<\/p>\n

\"photo-3\"<\/a>Taking the idea a bit further, if the light is fully 90 degrees to the glasses results in a tiny reflection but also produces a split light effect which might not be the look you\u2019re after. If you look really close you\u2019ll still see a slight reflection. Why? Well the surface of glasses isn\u2019t flat like a window, it\u2019s curved so you\u2019re never at a 90 degree angle across the whole surface of the lens.<\/p>\n

\"photo-5\"<\/a>To minimise and remove reflections the best position for the light is up high. By elevating the light the reflections will disappear and the lighting pattern remains flattering too. Asking the model to drop their chin or slightly angle the glasses down can have a similar effect.<\/p>\n

In the video below I go through all of the tips in this post in more detail and even give you some tips on how to add a reflection of your own choosing.<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/youtu.be\/kOzPWkkmZPE[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

Gear used in this video<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canon 5D Mark III\u00a0www.adorama.com\/ICA5DM3.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Canon 50mm f\/1.8 II\u00a0www.adorama.com\/CA5018AFU.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Flashpoint Light Stand www.adorama.com\/FPLS9.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Black Rapid RS-7 Strap www.adorama.com\/BRRS7.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Flashpoint StreakLight 360 Ws Creative Collection\u00a0www.adorama.com\/FPLFSL360K2.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Sekonic L-308S Flashmate www.adorama.com\/SKL308S.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n

Westcott Rapid Box 26″ Octa Softbox\u00a0www.adorama.com\/WERB26OM.html?KBID=67338<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you’ve got the lights, you have your model and you\u2019re ready to shoot. Then you take a test photo and all you see is huge white reflections. It\u2019s a problem that happens all too often but fortunately there are a couple of solutions that are quick, easy and effective. Let\u2019s start with the simplest … Continue reading Controlling reflections in glasses<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[76,23,79,36,34,37,78,24,144,3],"class_list":["post-4502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos","tag-adorama","tag-featured","tag-flash","tag-photography","tag-photoshop","tag-portrait","tag-speedlight","tag-spotlight","tag-studio","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4502"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4508,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions\/4508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavtrain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}