Reducing reflection and glare?

K

kat.hayes

Active member
I want to shoot some video in an art gallery that has glass framed art on the walls. The problem is, as I shoot video of the art on the walls, there is a glare from the glass and a reflection of the wall behind it.

What is the best way to approach shooting video in a situation like this to reduce the glare and reflection?

Thanks.
 
Are you able to bring in your own lights? If so, light positioning helps a lot, of course; position the lights off to the sides, one on each side, pointing in.

If you're able to have complete control over the lighting, perhaps the best way to go is to turn off all the lights in the gallery, put up a couple of lights to the side, and put polarizing gel over them. Then use a polarizing filter and you should be able to dial out all reflections and glare.
 
Another small trick is to simply prop up the pictures on the wall so that they're jutted forward toward the camera a bit. A C47 or something underneath to shim them should do it. It'll still look like the picture is hung straight but the light is no longer reflecting off them.
 
Barry_Green said:
Are you able to bring in your own lights? If so, light positioning helps a lot, of course; position the lights off to the sides, one on each side, pointing in.

If you're able to have complete control over the lighting, perhaps the best way to go is to turn off all the lights in the gallery, put up a couple of lights to the side, and put polarizing gel over them. Then use a polarizing filter and you should be able to dial out all reflections and glare.
Click to expand...

I'm unfortunately not going to be able to bring in my own lights for this shoot. However, I might be able to bring in some lights

1. How far do you think I would need to position the lights from the item on the wall to accomplish this?
2. I do not currently have access to polarizing gels or filters. Any other suggestions without having these?

Thanks!
 
Huy Vu said:
Another small trick is to simply prop up the pictures on the wall so that they're jutted forward toward the camera a bit. A C47 or something underneath to shim them should do it. It'll still look like the picture is hung straight but the light is no longer reflecting off them.
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure I understand. What do you mean by "prop" the pictures on the wall?

Thanks!
 
kat.hayes said:
I'm not quite sure I understand. What do you mean by "prop" the pictures on the wall?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Shim the bottom of the picture with a C47 or something similar such that the picture no longer lies flat on the wall, but is sloped forward toward the camera. For a straight on shot, it'll still look like the picture lays flat on the wall due to perspective, but the glare will be gone due to the sloped angle of the picture. Doesn't work all the time but it can be a useful technique.
 
C-stands and flags can be positioned so that they don't block light, but do block reflections.
 
I've used deodorant spray to reduce reflections a little bit, with moderate success.

Anybody knows more about this? I have a shooting on wednesday with an old TV, I would like to do a travelling passing in front of it but it's impossible not to be reflected... I have tried the spray but, again, only moderate success. Not usable solution for this, movement shows up very easily on the reflection.

I wouldn't risk leaving it to post, we don't have a VFX specialist.
 
A ball of tape also works very well for adjusting the tilt of pictures/other reflective objects.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top