Shooting people with glasses..Help!

[John Mac]

I,m covering some school portraits at the moment and am having trouble with reflections of kid's glasses. I, using a stofen diffuser mostly on my 580 ex. but no matter which way i put it (even behind me) there is still a reflection, is there an easy way around this...?

Thanks in advance
20d & 300d a lot a lenses and 3 speedlites

[KIPAX]

apologies if this is a silly answer... but poloriser would remove the reflection would it not?

[MTalley]

Might not be practical for lots of different subjects, but for a single subject I often remove the lenses from the glasses and let the subject just wear the frames.

A polarizer might remove the reflections, too. Haven't tried that, personally.

[gkas]

Might not be practical for lots of different subjects, but for a single subject I often remove the lenses from the glasses and let the subject just wear the frames.


That's one of the worse things that you can do to a pair of eyeglasses. A lot of prescriptions have to carefully aligned to be correct, I'd walk out on any inept photographer that even suggested it.

[Jon, The Elder]

The only way I was ever happy with this type of shot was to use studio lighting. Nothing fancy, a couple of simple halogen work lights and some foamcore. The trick is to get their heads into a position that looks normal and at the same time reduce or eliminate bounce from the eyeglasses.

Takes a bit of work. Advantage of studio setup is you can see what you are going to get. With just flash, it's a crap shoot.

[transcend]

That's one of the worse things that you can do to a pair of eyeglasses. A lot of prescriptions have to carefully aligned to be correct, I'd walk out on any inept photographer that even suggested it.

100% agreed. I wear $750 glasses, there is no way in hell a photographer is going to even suggest I take them apart. If he can't figure out how to do his job, that's his problem. I will find another studio to deal with, they are a dime a dozen.

[MagicallyDelicious]

id suggest polariser too.

Ive never used it in this situation but i have used it in the zoo to eliminate the reflections through the glass.

[chtgrubbs]

Raising the light some will usually work. You can also raise the earpiece slightly so the glasses are angled down some

[Dandaman_24]

just ask them, if they mind removing their glasses

[deadpass]

just ask them, if they mind removing their glasses


That could be a solution, but I know before I wore contacts, if someone told me to take off my glasses I'd tell them no because the pics wouldn't look like how I normally look. But that's always worth a shot, just keep this in mind.

[sm1rf]

I'd walk out on any inept photographer that even suggested it.


A little harsh I think, it may be poor advice but don't be so quick to Damn the person offering their advice, offer your own instead.:)

[MTalley]

Guess I jumped in too soon. Sorry for offering the advice. I agree that with the price of glasses anymore, that was a poor suggestion.

I'd go with the angle solution or the polarizer if it just can't be eliminated. There's always post-processing as a partial solution, too, depending on the severity of the glare on the original.

[Fureinku]

Hmm, maybe studios start carrying lensless frames as a part of the props?

I have 20 million pairs of old glasses, i oughta start popping the lenses outta em and clean em up!

[gkas]

Frameless glasses do not look correct. The best solution is to photograph without a flection. It can be done.

[Fureinku]

You mean lensless?

[KIPAX]

I took this pic a few months ago to show a polorisor effect.. just imagine glasses :)

http://www.kipax.com/mbgfx/reflection.jpg

[jboyd]

What works for me? "Can you please tip your head/chin down?" Just the slightest tip changes the angle of the glasses and can take the reflection out of the glasses and still look normal.

Jackie

[funnypicmaker]

Frameless glasses.... :-)

Here's an idea: tape a polarizing filter over the flash, bump up exposure compensation to account for the darkness of the filter, then use a polarizing filter on the lense that is perpendicular in orientation to the other filter. I'm assuming that a right angle reflection would not change the polarization of the flash.

[gardenstate]

Hi all,
What do you do in the case of shooting someone who has very thick lens in their glasses (like Coke bottle bottoms) that make their eyes look very large? Do you photograph them WITHOUT the glasses or with them (which is the way most people see them)?

thanks.