Set Dressing with Glass

S

SDub

Well-known member
I shoot video on a little set I created which comprises mostly of posters on a flat wall. The problem with the posters is the glass/acrylic. It operates as a mirror for my lights reflecting all back at the camera in some capacity. A solution would be to ditch the posters, and use something else, but I'm curious if there are any clever ways to avoid the reflection. Obviously repositioning the lights works, but that can compromise the shot sometimes.

Perhaps a spray for the glass, or a different kind of glass, etc. Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
SDub said:
I shoot video on a little set I created which comprises mostly of posters on a flat wall. The problem with the posters is the glass/acrylic. It operates as a mirror for my lights reflecting all back at the camera in some capacity. A solution would be to ditch the posters, and use something else, but I'm curious if there are any clever ways to avoid the reflection. Obviously repositioning the lights works, but that can compromise the shot sometimes.

Perhaps a spray for the glass, or a different kind of glass, etc. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

A production designer would remove the glass/acrylic, just as they often remove the lenses on talent's glasses.
From a gaffer and DP POV, the law of reflection states that when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection so if you are blocking and choreographing your shot, you might be able to craft moves and angles that don't give you that problem. But just getting rid of the problem is so much simpler. Dulling spray simply dulls nasty reflections, it doesn't eliminate them. I shoot documentaries mainly and run into this stuff all of the time. You just keep your eyes open and try to adjust your shot to eliminate it. But in narrative or if you are in charge of the set design and props, it's crazy to not just design your shot, through production design and or careful blocking, to eliminate it.
 
It may not be a problem and being close to it doesn't help your judgement. What I mean by that is that light reflections can be perfectly ok and not affect the audience experience. Two examples:

Car ads. Cars are one big mirror. The fact that a light is reflecting off most of the car is not an issue. But this is a special case because for the most part, advertisers use a huge diffuser over the car. It's still highly visible, but no one cares.

The most dramatic in-plain-sight light reflection I never noticed was in "A Few Good Men". Tom Cruise is driving and Col. Markinson is in the back seat. Markinson is wearing glasses with pretty big lenses. It is a night scene. As they drive, the street lights pass by and light up the interior of the car and then go away and repeat. I watched the movie several times as a viewer. Then the last time I watched it, I was watching that scene for lighting. There, plain as day, I could see the light (I think it was a Maxi Brute) turn on and off in his glasses. It was so obvious and distracting. Yet I never saw it as a viewer.
 
On sets with framed prints with reflective fronts, we usually put a ball of gaffer tape behind the print so as to affect its angle to get rid of the reflection for our particular shot if getting rid of the glass is not possible.
 
Thanks for all the awesome advice, guys!

The only problem with angling the light so it doesn't reflect into the camera, is that if you have a big light that's soft, light rays are bouncing everywhere, meaning that unless you turn the thing 180 degrees away from your glass (which would mean it's no longer facing the talent) you're always going to get some bounce off of the glass. The smaller/more directional your light is, the more effect that tactic is, and in my case with a big key light, it doesn't help so much. I'll consider removing the glass; I just don't know if that will mess with the posters/artwork long term. Thanks for the tips!
 
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