Photographing reflective surface

[FallenAngelBrass]

I'm photographing some glass cab jewelry that is reflecting every spec of light and the reflection reads as white spots on the cab. I have lots of experience photographing jewelry and tiny objects in general, so all is well there. What's giving me a problem is the large surface of the glassy cab.

I shoot on cloudy mornings in natural light only, so I'm not going to go the route of lamps and light boxes. If you've had experience shooting super reflective surfaces in natural light, I'd love to hear about what kind of staging has worked for you so that you did not have white reflection patches on your glassy focal piece.

Thanks ~

[MetalSmitten760]

Have you tried a polarizing filter?

[Former_Member]

Perhaps you could try shooting in the shade outside, where there isn't any direct light at all. Obviously the entire photograph will be darker, but, if you're shooting in Raw you can artificially increase the exposure of the photo to brighten it back up, and hopefully without any direct light, that would reduce the amount of glare you get on your glass pieces... Just a thought.

[JudyStalus]

Try putting a white umbrella between the jewelry and the light to diffuse it more.

[Former_Member]

Glass cabs are really hard to photograph. There have been some good suggestions here so far. I believe the secret is to diffuse the light. I shoot indoors with a light box, but I have also taken my light box outdoors. There are lots of tutorials on the web on how to make your own light box. Using the light box outdoors eliminates the reflections.

The best photo I ever took of some dichroic glass pendants was out in my garden, under a tree in dappled shade. They were amazing! Maybe it was because it was part shade, part sunlight, but all the different colors of the dicro just flashed!

[FallenAngelBrass]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I finally decided to embrace a thin reflection as part of the "natural setting" staging.

Fab, I have photographed strings of champagne beads in that dappled partial shade type of set up and agree that it gives fabulous light. Sort of lights from within somehow...