If you’ve ever tried product photography of a reflective surfaced object, you know how notoriously tricky they are to capture. Chances are you have ended up with a glare or a distorted reflection of yourself in the image. It is challenging to get a clean shot with reflective products because they pick up everything around them.
You might want to laze out of it and leave those pesky reflections in. However, taking the time to remove these reflections can make your product images look 10x more professional and polished. To help you achieve flawless shots of your products, we have gathered 8 tips to guide you through the process.
Diffuse The Light
When it comes to product photography of reflective surfaced objects, it’s all about how you shape and control the light. Lights directly facing the object often produce harsh reflections and glares which can be distracting. You do not want these reflections to take away the attention from the product.
Instead of using direct and harsh lighting, we recommend reflecting the light onto the product with a mildly reflective surface. This will create a softer and more flattering lighting effect. A few things you can use to diffuse the lights are:
- Softboxes
- Umbrella reflectors
- Diffusion panels
- Light tents
- White foam boards
Ensure The Setup is Clutter-Free
Normally, you can easily get away with a clean backdrop set up in one corner of the room. But with reflective products, any clutter on the set may unintentionally appear in the surface reflections. Additionally, trying to shoot from specific angles to avoid reflections may also limit your movement.
It is much more convenient and practical to have a clutter-free setup. The wider the clean area, the easier it becomes to move around your product and shoot freely.
Find the Right Angle
Finding the right angles can also help you eliminate reflections. Sometimes no matter how diffused the light is, some reflections might still show up. Slightly adjusting the product or your camera until the reflection is not visible can help you resolve this problem.
The most flattering angles for reflective products are typically from the side or above. Whereas, for products that include a mirror, you can angle it downwards to reflect the product itself.
Backlighting
Backlighting is one of the techniques that we recommend as the most flattering for reflective products. Positioning the light source behind the subject not only creates a dreamy atmosphere but also helps reduce reflections.
By avoiding direct lights you can create a cleaner look while adding depth to the overall composition of the image.
Use Continuous Lighting Instead of Flash
As much flash has to do with creating harsh and direct lighting, it also creates an unnatural look. Using camera flash for photography is highly discouraged, especially with reflective products, as it gives photos an unprofessional look. Flash can produce flat and overly bright images due to its continuous burst of light.
Moreover, it is hard to control the exposure as well as predict where a glare is going to show up on the image. With an external lighting setup, you can easily control the intensity and direction of lights to ensure there are no unwanted reflections.
Shoot in Manual
Shooting in manual gives you more control over how the picture turns out. You can adjust the white balance to compensate for the cold or warm tones your studio lights create. We recommend taking a few test shots and, then making adjustments according to your requirements. You don’t want your pictures overly exposed or too dull. Here’s how you can do it:
Focus on Defined Areas
The autofocus of your camera needs a defined object to create a sharp focus. Try to focus on noticeable areas of your object– this could be its base or any non-reflective part.
Adjust the White Balance
Identify the hues in your studio lights to be able to adjust your camera setting to cancel out unwanted hues. Adjust the white balance manually or use preset options that seem to neutralize cool or warm tones.
Set a Narrow Aperture and Low ISO
Use an aperture of f/11 or greater to be able to capture more details of the object’s contours. This will also help you control the amount of light that enters the lens and give you sharper and more balanced images. Additionally, a lower ISO setting will preserve the most details and reduce grain.
Clean The Product
One thing about highly reflective products is that they pick up fingerprints and scratches easily and make these imperfections visible. Before you start taking the pictures, look for blemishes and anything that may have remained on the surface. Clean the product thoroughly and ensure there are no flaws. Some imperfections may not be visible to you immediately but can become apparent in the images later.
Edit Out Remaining Imperfections
And if anything still remains, you can always get rid of it in the post-production process. Even if you’re not familiar with Photoshop you can still edit your product images with the free AI tools available online. Tools such as LightX or Photoroom allow you to easily remove blemishes and small imperfections. You can also adjust the colors, remove unwanted objects or even change the background entirely by creating a cutout.
Final Thoughts
Capturing images of reflective products may seem like a tough job, but with the help of the right techniques it can be done easily. The key here is to control your lighting and angles and once that’s done, see how everything else just falls into place. You only need a bit of patience and attention to detail, you will be able to master product photography of reflective surfaces.