SHINY, SHINY PORCELAIN…

Have you ever tried to photograph a shiny still life object hoping that you won’t appear in the image? The wonderful artists at APAT SA face this challenge continually when they produce lustrous painted porcelain pieces.

I was invited to give a presentation on how to photograph their works of art. The aim was to provide tips on how to reduce reflection of any kind. Leading up to this presentation, I challenged myself by photographing the various items.

I set up a mini “studio” with materials that can easily be found in any house. A desk lamp, white thick cardboard, aluminium foil, tracing paper, small folders and a step ladder were arranged to enclose the item being photographed.

I started shooting at nighttime. (The idea is to shoot with no natural light.)

The next step was to observe where the shadows and reflections appeared and move the reflectors to eliminate them. Experimenting with different angles when taking the shot was also useful in minimizing the reflection. The camera settings were adjusted to Tungsten, 400 ASA, no flash and widest aperture.

These were the results….