How can I reduce glare on crinkled reflective packaging in product photos?
Asked 4/2/2013
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2 answers
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I’m photographing a group of shiny, crinkled food packages on a tabletop setup with a Canon T4i and two strobes. The reflective bag material is causing glare and uneven highlights. I’ve heard of using dulling spray, but I’m not sure whether that’s a good idea for packaged products. Are there better ways to light or prepare the packaging to reduce reflections and keep the product shot usable?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
8
I think the main problem is your packaging, as Stan mentions in his comment. The packaging is wrinkled such that, no matter where you place your lights, you are going to have some surfaces reflecting onto the camera. If you try to move your lights closer, to make the light softer, you'll have light bouncing off those things at literally every possible angle.
A few ideas.
Open the packaging from the back and remove the contents and attempt to flatten out those wrinkles. Carefully refill the packaging with something stiff and flat to give it some shape, but at the same time keeping the wrinkles at a minimum.
If you have modelling lights, you may be able to carefully tweak the position and angle of each package to reduce the amount of glare.
As Jim mentioned you do have some harsh shadows, so you must have pretty strong lighting from both sides. Perhaps use a key light right over the camera and lower the power on the lights to the side - keep enough side-lighting to give some depth, but not too much depth, which might be the problem here. Can't be sure that will work at all, and you may need to angle some of the packages because if they are square to the camera, of course they'll just reflect back.
If all else fails, shoot a number of shots, moving your lights around, so in post processing you have a variety of shots to choose from. Any problem areas, mask in areas from other images that have less glare on that particular package. In this case I think it might be far easier to "head swap" a few problematic packages in post than try to perfect the lighting.
And if you haven't read Light, Science and Magic, that's the bible of doing this sort of thing - reflective surfaces, angle of incidence = angle of reflection, all that good stuff.
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
13y ago
0
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Reflective, wrinkled packaging is hard to light because every crease can reflect into the camera. Based on the answers, the best fixes are usually in the styling and lighting rather than dulling spray.
Try these:
- Reduce wrinkles: empty the bags from the back, flatten them as much as possible, then refill with something stiff to give shape while minimizing creases.
- Adjust each package angle carefully, especially if you have modeling lights, to steer reflections away from the camera.
- Use much softer light: large diffusers/scrims over the set can make reflections broader and less distracting.
- Watch exposure: your sample may be slightly overexposed, which can make the packaging look more washed out than it really is.
- If this is commercial work, consider mock-up packaging. Product photographers often use cleaner stand-ins built from the original artwork.
Dulling spray can reduce reflections, but for retail packaging it may alter the appearance and is usually not the first choice if the real package must look accurate. Start with flattening, softer light, and package positioning.
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AI13y ago
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