How to light a subject without lights reflecting on their sunglasses?

C

Cieloent

Well-known member
Had a shoot today and no matter what I tried the lights were being reflective on the artists sunglasses. I eventually had to turn the light off and just use a couple of hand held leds to the trick but ultimately I would have love to use my lighting kit ( soft boxes )




So can any people that are more experienced please help on what I should do in this kind of situation?


Thank You
 
There's only so much you can do about it short of removing their lenses or removing their glasses.

The easiest approach is to just raise the key light higher or have them lower their chin. Some people tilt their heads back naturally when talking which can make the issue worse.

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Remember, the glare you're seeing is the light reflecting off their glasses, so it's all about finding the right angles between the height and location of lights-subject-camera so that the light reflected off of the glasses doesn't end up in camera. Your best bet is to move the subject, lights, camera or a selection of any of the above. Or you could just have them take off their glasses if feasible.

Best of luck!
 
Cieloent said:
Had a shoot today and no matter what I tried the lights were being reflective on the artists sunglasses. I eventually had to turn the light off and just use a couple of hand held leds to the trick but ultimately I would have love to use my lighting kit ( soft boxes )




So can any people that are more experienced please help on what I should do in this kind of situation?


Thank You
Click to expand...


Basically the idea is to analyze the reflection lines, and place the lights in such a way that from the camera's POV, the reflection is not 'seen'... sounds simple...

But often there are conflicting requirements. Place the lights up high, and perhaps 'shadows' don't work, or cause other problems. Use a 'soft' top light, may not be the light effect desired.

For stills, sometimes placing the glasses at a 'slight' angle with the ear pieces perhaps 1/2 inch above the ear, rather than directly on the ear, tills the glasses just enough so that the light is not reflected into the camera's pov. Don't know how practical this would be, especially if the subjects have short/shaved hair, or move.

Another approach is, if you do it 'wrong', do it 'strong'... that is make the reflection obvious, and make it 'the style'.

I've noticed that for many situations, most pro lighting setups sometimes have a small 'catch' light, usually for 'naked' eyes, rather than glasses, but it gives a bit of 'depth' to the image.

Another issue with 'reflections' especially darkglasses, is the reflection of the camera and crew. So one has to have black 'cloking' for anything that is in front of the subjects, that could be reflected by the setup, that is not intended for the resulting shot.

There are some anti-reflective coatings, but that may require special ordering, or put an undesirable 'sheen' on the glasses.
 
If you use the recommended 45 degree angles of lights to camera it should be OK but - as I said - using the ceiling as a giant reflector will work too and you can still model the talent doing it that way.

j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I've noticed that for many situations, most pro lighting setups sometimes have a small 'catch' light, usually for 'naked' eyes, rather than glasses, but it gives a bit of 'depth' to the image..
Click to expand...

I think you are refrring to an "eyelight" which is a must. You should always see a glint of a light in the talent's eyes (not really glasses). Without this the person will look "dead".
 
go to digitaljuice and check out their DJTV tutorials on lighting. One of them dealt with eyeglasses--very helpful.
 
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