Polarizing lens for product photos?

[Vin05]

Im trying to shoot different products such as soda bottles(full) and some other things and I am getting alot of reflection. I can see my tent in the bottle and i was thinking of purchasing a circular polarizer to take care of this problem. Any thoughts?

[JTcooper]

Im trying to shoot different products such as soda bottles(full) and some other things and I am getting alot of reflection. I can see my tent in the bottle and i was thinking of purchasing a circular polarizer to take care of this problem. Any thoughts?

hi, I m not really a pro. but I think you can set up your lite source diretly on top of the botle. I thinks its be great if you had a soft box. maybe some one else will share some thought

[Vin05]

Hey Coop, thanks for the input. I am using three lights (one on top and two sides) with softboxes and a tent to diffuse the lights as well,so I must be doing something else wrong. I think a polarizer might work but im not sure if there used indoors or not. If anyone can help i would appreciate it. Thanks again Coop.

[JTcooper]

Hey Coop, thanks for the input. I am using three lights (one on top and two sides) with softboxes and a tent to diffuse the lights as well,so I must be doing something else wrong. I think a polarizer might work but im not sure if there used indoors or not. If anyone can help i would appreciate it. Thanks again Coop.

vin, what I m trying to say is. One softbox ( small one) on top and no light tent. make sure you turn all other lights around you when shoot, that will eliminated all reflection. one example, try to stand infront of your mirrow and turn of the lights see what I mean...

[JTcooper]

hey vin, I just visited Photo-John pic website. he got some great pic, look under ( glass photo) that maybe give you some idea... hope that would help and good luck bud

[Vin05]

vin, what I m trying to say is. One softbox ( small one) on top and no light tent. make sure you turn all other lights around you when shoot, that will eliminated all reflection. one example, try to stand infront of your mirrow and turn of the lights see what I mean...

Hey Coop, I tried what you said about one softbox rather than three, and it definetly came out better. I took it out of the tent so I lost that problem as well. But now it seems it like the topof the bottle is blown out. I set the strobe as low as it could and its still is not coming out how I need it. Im gonna keep playing with it and hopefully it will work. Thanks for clarifying your first message for me.

[JTcooper]

If you cannot lower your lights setting than try to play with the distant between your light and your oject or even difuse your light source to get the right amount needed.

[SmartWombat]

A polarising filter only works because the light from the sun is polarised as it comes through the atmosphere.
Studio lights, I expect it to have no effect on the reflections.

[JCPhoto1]

I wouldn't move your lights further away to reduce power. It will lessen the softness of the light by making it more of a point light source even with a softbox. It's better to control hot spots by proper exposure but you can reduce the light by using neutral density filters over the strobes. Roll up a little tube of gaffers tape and stick it to the edge of your reflector and then stick the gel on that way. Easy on and off. Actually a polarizer will help a little for shooting things that are highly reflective too. It cuts down on the specular highlights from the strobes. Not a lot but some reduction. You can even get fancier by making a diffusion screen to go in front of the softboxes. It will cut the light intensity and create an even softer light. With a screen you can get away with moving the softbox further away also. The screen diffusion will retain the softness. A screen is more controllable than the tent you were using. Some rip stop nylon over a homemade frame would work wonders and is very cheap to make. I like working with panels a lot and buy the panels from Calumet Photo but make my own frames. Very controllable light.

Here is a link to an old post about using panels with some pictures of the homemade frames.

Portraiture on the cheap

[Vin05]

Hye guys, thanks for all your help... Im gonna see if i can get my boss to buy some fun toys to tackle this thing. My polarizer didnt do anything really in the studio(but its great outdoors) so i think ill try out some strobe filters or something, that sounds like it will help. Thanks again

[Ronnoco]

A polarising filter only works because the light from the sun is polarised as it comes through the atmosphere.
Studio lights, I expect it to have no effect on the reflections.

Actually, a polarising filter affects all reflections including studio lights. Depending on the angle it may not completely eliminate all reflections but it does considerably reduce them.

Ronnoco

[CarbonTerry]

Polarizers work with any light source. I was a studio photog for 20+ years and used them regularly with daylight, strobes, hot lights and even flourescent sources. It's the angle of the surface being shot that is most important.. If memory serves me correct, a 37 degree angle will show the optimum results. Take the polarizer off the lens and walk around the set with it in front of your eye. There will be definite changes as you move around and also if you change the rotation of the polarizer.