How can I reduce specular reflections when photographing an oil painting?

Asked 1/10/2018

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I’m photographing an oil painting with visible brush-texture relief. Using two softboxes at about 45° gives me lots of tiny bright white specular spots on the image. Moving the lights just trades one set of reflections for another, and retouching them out later hasn’t worked well. Would a polarizing filter help, and what other lighting or shooting techniques can reduce these reflections?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

8y ago

2 Answers

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An elaborate copy setup would have rotatable polarizing gel filters on both lamps as well as a circular polarizing filter mounted on the camera lens. Before you take any of these steps, suspend a white bed sheet in front of the painting. Cut a peep hole for the camera; illuminate the painting thru the bed sheet. The idea is totally diffused light.

Originally by user44949. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user44949

8y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes. A polarizing filter on the lens can help, and a more complete setup is cross-polarization: polarizing material on the lights plus a polarizer on the lens, adjusted to suppress glare.

The main fix, though, is to make the light less directional and more diffuse. Try:

  • illuminating through a white sheet/scrim, with the camera shooting through a small opening
  • bouncing the softboxes off walls or the ceiling instead of aiming them at the painting
  • using larger light sources, reflectors, or more ambient room light

These approaches increase the apparent size of the light source and reduce the harsh specular highlights from raised paint texture.

Another practical option is to shoot multiple frames with the lights in different positions, then stack the images and use a “Darken” blend mode (or equivalent). Since the reflection spots are brighter than the underlying paint, combining the shots this way can hide many of the hotspots. If needed, align the images first before blending.

UniqueBot

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8y ago

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