getting rid of glare

[bruin70]

i'm using a digital camera...canon g3. but i assume the glare problem is applicable in general photography......

i am shooting flat artwork,,,oil paintings that have glare. i bought a polarizer, thinking this would solve the problem. it doesn't. the polarizer eliminates glare if i shoot at an angle. this, of course, is not possible when shooting flat artwork, as i must shoot the artwork head on.

how can i eliminate the glare? thanks

[CyberDyneSystems]

Without pictures it is hard for us to tell what the problem is but it sounds like the lighting is the culprit.

In such situations many use a "soft box" or some other method to soften the lighting giving a more even wash of light on the entire subject.

Let us know what lighting you are using and take a look at some soft lighting filters or bounces.

[bruin70]

it is,,,,,primitive :):):):). just my studio lights, which are a balanced combination of flourescents,,,and i am using the manual white balance.

i can't post on this forum, right? otherwise i would show you the images.

my galleries have a website but all the glare is taken out in my image editor by the time they are uploaded to the site.

the glare is not a "flare" type, ie the flare on one's eyeglasses or off a window. because these are oil paintings, the brush strokes have ridges, and it is the ridges that are catching the light,,,in the form of white, thin lines. they are most prominent in the dark areas of the painting.

one would think with all the fancy shmancy image editors, that they would have some sort of glare reducing feature.

would umbrellas and bounced light be considered "soft". or are there actually SOFT lights,,,lights that are not glare-like

[iwatkins]

Three suggestions:

1. Sounds like you are using direct lighting, i.e. shining on the subject direct from the bulb.

Try covering the light with a material that diffuses the light. This will soften the light and also make the light levels more uniform over the subject. It does sound as though you need to make this as soft as possible especially as the subject is reflective (oils). There are items called "softboxes" for covering direct light sources or you could use bounce, i.e. all light to get to the subject after being bounced off walls or better still, umbrellas.

2. Tripod mount the camera and shoot from directly in front using diffused natural light only.

3. Shoot at an angle and then straighten the image in your editor afterwards.

Cheers

Ian