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How to get rid of picure glare


alterego

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Hi fellows. I'm not a noobie collecting replicas but I certainly know little about photograpy.  I'm tired of shooting wristshots that are full  of the glare (excess light ?) as well as the camera lens being  reflected on the dial. I've seen this on many of the pics posted in the forum. Can anybody suggest how to avoid this ?    

 

Thank you in advance in case someone wants to share his knowledge on this subject.

 

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

post-1234-0-49393000-1433085280_thumb.jp

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I should ad (missed that idea in my post) that there are many many great pictures that are flawless in this respect on the forum.  Look forward to hearing from those who would like to share some of their technical sapience.

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1st, you have to learn to position the watch (vs camera & light source) so there is a minimum of reflection on the xtal. Then, if the dial details look a bit washed out due to ambient light, you can select the dial area in your photo editing program & up the contrast over it to increase the details. You have to be careful not to overboost the contrast, though, because it will make the dial look too dark &/or artificial. It is a balancing act that can sometimes remedy an otherwise good pic or create an odd looking questionable 1.

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Good advice Freddy.

For me it's all about the exposure during picture taking.. I use spot metering and ae lock which eliminates the reflections very well. Look at my wristie from today, if I hadn't locked the exposure before focusing that picture would have had the camera and me in it

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I just got home and took a quick set of 3 pics, 2 for each set.. one with bad exposure and one with good, if I don't lock the exposure where I want it I can't get these results so its very important. It doesn't eliminate glare, it just makes it work for you and not against you, makes the glare look beautiful and eliminates reflections. Set the camera to spot metering, then move it around while looking through the eyepiece and when the exposure looks right lock it in with ae lock, then focus then shoot. With spot metering, when the centre dot hits a light spot it darkens the exposure and when it hits a dark spot it lightens the exposure, for me its the best way to do it. I also take about 4-5 shots for every one shot I want, all with slightly different exposures. It's only in post processing that I can see all of them together and chose the best one for showing.

 

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Thank you for the tips Freddie and CC33. As you say I can see  the position of the watch v/s the camera's is a crucial factor to increse or decrease the glare. I did that and here's the result.

 

Now, a question for you ansd CC33. How do I increase the contrast and can I spot the best lighting condition with a little point and shoot Samsung ES95 25 mm lens and 16 mega pix resolution. Or should think of buying a "better" camera  to get better pictures?

 

Thank you guys for your valuable help.

 

Jaime

post-1234-0-92564200-1433103182_thumb.jp

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I have a large piece of black poster board that I will sometimes use to purposely cast an even shadow across the crystal.  It is somewhat counter intuitive given you usually want lots of light.  Angled just right the black poster board (or heck if you have a large black shirt/towel/etc.) that can even things out.

 

Or in this case, I just kept it backlit and out of any direct light and let the camera to its magic.  A little glare to the right, but captures the essence for a wristie.

iNzxVKXmK5G26.jpg

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I try to use soft diffused lighting. I place the watch by the window and then draw the curtains. This allows enough light through but avoids strong shadow and reduces glare. I then angle the watch slightly away from the camera so as not to get any reflections. This is when using a point and shoot such as my iPhone. I have a better setup for a DSLR, but on the whole the above method works just fine.

Edit to add - I use a white piece of A4 paper as the background on shots for sales threads - to keep things simple. I curve the paper so there are no edges/corners.

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Thank you for the tips Freddie and CC33. As you say I can see  the position of the watch v/s the camera's is a crucial factor to increse or decrease the glare. I did that and here's the result.

A couple of suggestions -

1st, either tilt the watch or move the camera away from it so you do not see (or get so much of) the camera's reflection on the xtal. Sometimes, due to ambient lighting conditions, it is best to move the shoot to a different location. So instead of taking the picture on your desk, move outside & wait until late afternoon when the sun is just starting to set (this is called 'the golden hour' in picture taking circles). You will get the best light then.

2nd, set the size of the picture to the camera's largest setting so you can back far away from the watch. Then, you can crop the image down to remove the excess, leaving the watch image the same size it is now. Taking the pic with the camera so close makes it nearly impossible to avoid seeing the camera in the xtal. Sometimes, for the sake of a great pic, you gotta do what you gotta do. But, in most cases, it is best to either tilt the watch or move the camera back.

3rd, read your camera's entire owner's manual & practice, practice, practice. Knowing how to properly use your camera will go a long way to taking great pics. Once you learn the basics of good picture-taking, like driving a car, it becomes 2nd nature.

By the way, most of my pics are taken with a 12 year-old 4MP Canon point-&-shoot.

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Thank you all for the tips. Why is it that some people (including myself) never read the manual entirely ? I'll do thyat in the next few days, taking notes on how to work the light and other factors tha should contribute to shooting better pictures. In the golden years of film loaded cameras I'd do wonders with the spotlight meter, speed and aperture controls, which today are hiden somewhere in the camera.  I'll post some hopefully better pics  after I do my homework.

 

Cheers  !!!

 

Jaime

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your wife looks pretty so i shall deign to reply

 

on a personal level, i think i'm the worst photographer ever

i luvvvv those expensive zoom/macro lens choices, the entire blurry background DSLR effect but find it seriously cumbersome when ya start shooting because you actually want to :) damn thing gets in the way when you're not photographing supermodels

 

heck my boss who keeps my cellphone shots over her fireplace and my lens shots on her fB

 

keeping with that theme, just like math, accounting & language - what succeeds is practice, Practice & PERFECT PRACTICE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

once you get the glares & shadows out the way, your subject will speak to us in languages unknown

and then even a simple wrist shot shall be enough to sell a watch when 1001 dealer QC shots will fail :)

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