Calling all photographers. Practical advice needed.

[John]

I know that my 'visualised' framing jobs could be enhanced considerably by improving the quality of the subject image. But how do I go about this?

The camera is mounted on the ceiling 2m above the counter which is quite brightly lit by 'daylight' fluorescent fittings.

If the subject has a mat finish, the image produced using the ambient light is OK (but not great), however if it has a slight sheen then reflections from the fluorescent fittings start to become apparent. And if the subject is glossy, I can just forget it.

My plan is to angle two lights, positioned on either side of the camera, so that they illuminate the counter at (say) a 45 degree angle.

Is this the right approach, and what should I use? I feel that tungsten lamps might not be powerful enough to "drown out" the reflections, so am leaning towards flash. But I have no experience in this area. What sort of units can be left at the ready , being fired intermittently perhaps 20 times a day? Would diffusers of some kind be required? (I would also like to keep the setup as inconspicuous as possible, so small is good, tiny is even better.)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

John

[ImagesLen]

Maybe an Overhead Flash Unit enclosed in a soft box might do the trick. If you have a local potographic club they also may be able to help and I would think have the necessary hardware available to borrow to test out. It is the standard eqipment used in studio photography.

Best of luck

[Framing Norah]

Hey John, are there any photographers left here?

Were they not all chased off by some rottweiler a few months back?

I'm no expert on photography, and specially not the studio variety, but regarding your question: -

A lot depends on your camera. You probably would not want a built in flash to function as it would create a bright reflection on a glossy subject. So you would need an external pc connection to fire your remote flash while at the same time disabling the on-board unit.

If your camera does not have such a connector, you can get an adaptor that fits on to the hotshoe (provided you have one).

Please keep us posted, I am very interested in this visualisation thing.

[matt s]

Hi
the ideal set-up is to have 2 lights only. As you say place each light at 45 degrees to the work. The flare is caused when light reflects directly back towards the camera. For the setup you described a simple solution would be to use spotlights and correct the white balance on your camera. in extreme cases a polarising filter can be used to reduce the flare. I hope this helps, if you need any more info feel free to contact me directly
Matt
info@mattsymons.com