How can I photograph large glossy wood flooring panels indoors with even light and minimal glare?
Asked 11/3/2014
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2 answers
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I need a repeatable, reasonably low-cost setup to photograph 2×6 ft glossy wood flooring sample panels for web use. The main issue is reflections of the light sources themselves and getting even lighting across the whole panel. I can mount the panels either vertically or horizontally.
What kind of setup works best for a large flat glossy surface: hard or soft light, continuous lights or strobes, and how should the lights be positioned? Are there practical ways to control glare and spill for a permanent indoor setup?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
1
The main reason why there will be reflection on such a surface will be due to light spillage and light bouncing off bright walls. my suggestion is to block this light spillage with Matt Black Cards
Set up your panels; standing or flat, makes no difference, it is how you wish to display them so that you are able to show the maximum beauty of each panel.
Get the panels lit up evenly (choose Lighting that you are most comfortable with) not worrying about the glare at this stage. Alternatively, you can use whatever lighting you want( making sure you white balanced correctly) if you are showing off just a proportion of the panel with light fall off at the other end creating a blurry fall off effect.
Once you have your desired lighting, position black cards around the wood panels (out of Frame) to kill the reflection. you will find that the black cards will not only take the reflection away, but may also cause shadows in other areas, so you will need to balance these with white cards to fill the shadows with light. At this stage, you may find yourself bumping up the light to compensate for the black cards.
It may take you a couple of hours to figure a setup and you will achieve a perfectly balanced result at a relatively low cost.
Take a snap of the final setup on your phone for future reference and proceed to build a more permanent setup based on your snap.
Originally by user34085. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user34085
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For a glossy flat surface, the key is controlling what the panel reflects. A practical approach is to create a large diffused-light setup, essentially a big light tent or fabric awning, and light the diffusion material evenly from outside. That gives you broad, even illumination while hiding direct reflections of the lamps.
Use black flags/cards around the set to block unwanted spill and reflections from bright walls or surroundings. These matte black panels are often essential for cutting glare on glossy finishes.
Panel orientation matters less than reflection control—mount it whichever way best suits your display and workflow.
For a permanent, low-cost setup, continuous lighting is usually easier than strobes because you can see reflections and hotspots in real time and adjust lights, diffusion, and black cards immediately. Since this is still-life work, longer exposures are usually fine.
If indoor control is difficult, open shade outdoors can also provide a very large, soft source; include a gray target for reliable color correction.
In short: use a large diffusion tent/awning, light it evenly from outside, add black cards to kill spill/reflections, and prefer continuous lights for easier setup and repeatability.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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