How to... Photo Glass
It's not just a matter of pointing and clicking;
but with a little more care the end results
can be dramatic.
I don't claim to be an expert here either, but
have been photographing 'things' for a number of years,
including high-speed action while motorcycle racing. But
even so, some of the basic principles still apply.
setting up : the
camera : lighting : framing : snap! : problems? :
web use
Starting the
shoot
Very little preparation is actually required to take
a decent photo of glass.
In fact,
much of "the art" is in observation:
how does it look? Is the lighting
right? Is there anything encroaching
in the photo?
But once you've
framed the photo in
the viewfinder, all the answers
can be quickly found. But some
photographers will never really
be 100% satisfied and being
self-critical can reap better
results through trial and error.
Do experiment! |
Equipment:
- Large
sheet
of white
paper (A3 or larger).
- 'Daylight'
lamp,
preferably
strip
light.
- Image
editing
software
(available
free).
Optional:
- Tripod (see below)
- Large
sheet
of black paper.
- Large
sheet of
pastel-coloured paper.
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Setting up
Looking through eBay and you see enough
to populate an
entire Chamber
of [Photo] Horrors!
Do we really need
to see
the street outside, or a
luverly
bunch of flowers poking
from
an incredibly dull-looking vase?
How about
brightly coloured backgrounds
against
a piece of coloured glass?
No, no
and no!
Set out a worksurface – the kitchen
ones are plenty
deep enough – and
lay your large
sheet of paper
(A3 size or larger:
420mmx297mm) so
half of it curves
up gently at the
back. If necessary
use
'Blue Tack' to
keep the paper
in place. The object can now be placed on the
centre of the
paper, but not
too close to the
back. Leave a
fair gap as this eliminates harsh shadows
if front
lighting is used. |
One camera I still
keep is a trusty Nikon Coolpix 775. Great
battery life, excellent macro, very compact
and quality photos. No longer available
but look out for new versions of this
model.
|
The Camera
Surprisingly, you do not need
a really expensive camera
— cheap ones can give great
results!
The
most important feature, is macro and
normally identifiable
by a switch or
button for 'macro' mode (signified
by a flower [tulip] icon).
Above: a typical macro button
is seen on the
right
If you don't have a macro mode, then it is still
possible to take good photos,
although this may require
using software that allows
you to crop the photo
to size afterwards.
So the first action is to ensure the camera is
set to 'macro', which should
allow the camera to focus
(generally speaking) from
about 0.5m to 3m, thereby
allowing smaller objects
to fill the frame without
blurring. If you get too
close to the object, some
cameras have an 'auto-focus'
indication to warn you
of this – getting too close
to the subject will
cause blurring and this
is one problem that can't
be successfully overcome
with image processing
software.
Zoom and Wide-angle
If your camera also has a zoom, do make sure
this is set roughly
in the centre
of the range.
If you zoom out
too far, this
will go into a
'wide-angle' mode
that will cause
distortion by making vertical
and horizontal lines curve.
The closer to
the frame edge
and the worse
this becomes. |
Camera
resolutions
Most cameras can be
set to different
resolutions. This
is how a photo
is composed: the
number of 'dots'
(called pixels)
across by the
number of dots
down. Cameras
are rated by
'megapixels' (Mp) and these
ranges can be
commonly found:
1.0Mp = 1024 x
768 pixels
1.3Mp = 1280 x 1024
2.0Mp = 1600 x 1200
3.1Mp = 2048 x 1536 ... etc.
Recommended*
web
resolutions
are:
Thumbnails = 200 x 150
Full-size = 640
x 480
* Maximum. Obviously
your call, but
the larger the
photo, the longer it
takes to load
and people get
very bored, very
quickly!
Hint
If you don't have macro,
then set your
camera to the
highest possible
resolution and
take the photo
getting as close
as possible without
causing it to
blur (see below).
You can then
crop out the portion
you want
(see photo
editing) and it
should still
leave it at a
decent size.
|
Lighting
The best type of light is one that pivots
and swivels to
allow the light
to be shone in
virtually any
direction.
This
allows
direct and reflective
light
(reflecting the
light off a
white surface)
and one with
a fluorescent
'Daylight' strip-tube
gives very good
results as the
spread of light
is very
wide
and evenly distributed.
Because of this,
the flash
of the
camera
can sometimes
be switched
off — this
is helpful
as it
allows
flash
reflections
(flash-bounce)
from
the glass
to be
eliminated
— and you will
always get these.
If you are
unable to switch
off the flash,
then
don't
worry
too
much.
No-Flash Photos
One downside of
photographing
without
the flash is
that, unless your
camera indicates,
the photo can
sometimes be
blurred. Quite
often this is
due to 'camera-shake', but could also
mean the camera
hasn't focused
properly. Try
using a tripod,
or stablise the
camera on a firm
surface to see
if blurring is
eliminated. More
advanced cameras can have image
stabilisers to
help reduce this.
Back, Front or Side...
Lighting is something that doesn't have
strict
rules; often backlighting
the object
works wonders
and reveals the true
colour of the
glass – it has been
known to reveal
faint sommerso
halos! But sometimes direct
lighting is advisable,
particularly
with opaque glass.
|
Hint
Photos taken without a flash can sometimes
be
slightly darker
and will benefit
from a little
tweaking in
an image editing
program. See the photo
editing topic.
Top lighting
Quite often an object being lit directly
above can leave some beautiful
dappled patterns on the
white paper. You might
think this is distracting, but
personally I prefer this
effect (see Webb's Bull's
Eye fruit bowl below).
|
Framing
With the item properly lit,
you can now frame the object:
study it carefully through
the viewfinder. The "art"
is all about observation...
Can you
see anything awry,
like something protruding
into the scene? Can
you zoom in slightly closer?
Is any important part of
the object being cropped?
Making sense
Try to look at the photo through
the eyes of someone who has never seen the item
before.
Does the glass
'make sense'?
An odd question, but what
this means is, does the
image in viewfinder resemble
the item, or is there
a strange angle or reflection
that could make anyone
misinterpret the shape,
or style of glass? Is there
any reflection in the
object that could cause
confusion?
Landscape or Portrait?
Surprisingly, some people take a 'landscape'
photo without considering
that a 'portrait' style
might be better. Tall vases
will always benefit from
being a portrait image,
and dishes & bowls taken as landscape. Just
turn the camera on its
side – rotating the image
is easy!
Finally, before
pressing the
button, take yet another look — surprising
what you'll see...
|
Wizzywig:
What You See Is What You Get?
Remember that what you see in the viewfinder
is not always
represented in
the final photo
– even top-end
cameras are guilty
of this! So do
leave a slight
margin around
the object or,
better still,
take a few test
snaps.
Hint
Cheaper cameras
can also
be misaligned so what
is seen
in the exact centre of
the viewfinder
can sometimes
shift in any direction! |
Snap!
You're probably suffering fatigue
after following all these
guides but hey, press the button
now!
Now transfer the image to your computer and take
a closer look at it. If everything
is not right... too
dark, or lacking some colour,
you will need to do a spot
of image editing — see
the photo editing
topic.
|
|
Problems?
Some glass can be notoriously
difficult to
photo properly,
purely because
of technicalities.
Blurred
Blurring normally occurs from one of two
situations: being
too close to
the object or
camera shake.
The solutions
are easy: either
move the camera
further away,
or steady the
camera by using
a tripod or holding
it on a firm surface.
Some cameras have difficulty
auto-focusing
in poor light
conditions and
this can also
cause blurring.
Clear Glass
Photographing clear glass can be
a nightmare. There
are, thankfully,
a few things that can help improve quality.
- Cut glass is considerably
less of a problem
due to internal reflection/refraction
of light.
- Try a dark or black
coloured background.
- Use a white background,
but with
a dark/black
piece
of paper
or card
to the
side
of the
object,
but not
within
shot.
Internal
reflections
give
some
'body'
to the
glass.
- Try lighting from
the top or directly
onto the edges; the
internal reflection/refraction
can brighten edges
and make them more
prominent.
- A combination of the last two!
Bristol Blue
You shouldn't have too many problems with Bristol
Blue glass, although
sometimes the glass can
have a strong purple tinge
making it look less like
Bristol Blue! Image editing
can restore the correct
colouration, but this isn't
easy.
Red Glass
Sometimes red glass will come out far too dark,
irrespective of what you
try. This may be due to
the camera: not a fault,
but due to the camera's sensor not
interpreting that particular
spectrum of colour very
well. With image editing
software you can try
excessively brightening
the image but unless
you're really good, there's
little you can do. Sorry! |
Hint
Blurring is normally associated with very
slight camera
shake. Using a
tripod is the
best solution,
but full-length
tripods with telescopic
legs are rather
unwieldy and can be expensive.
Fortunately we can supply very inexpensive
'desktop' models starting
in price from only £5 (around €7.50
or $9).
See the Shop Page
Do make sure you have a screw-thread on the base
of your camera though! |
Web use
Photos for use on a web site should be
edited and saved
carefully. Much
of this topic
is dealt in the
image editing topic,
but generally
speaking you should
never, ever use
photos directly
from the camera.
This is because
the file size
and the physical
size are much
too large and
this impacts massively
on anyone who
visits your
site; particularly
those users with
cable modems
as photos could take several
minutes to
download! |
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