Possible to shoot black sunglasses on black surface?

[sugar_babygirli]

I need to take some photos of sunglasses and would like the background to be solid black. The problem I'm having, of course, is the sunglasses aren't showing up very well. How on EARTH do I light them properly without causing a ton of reflections in the glass?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

[lingham]

what set up are you using at the minute, can you show us a pic your trying to take it of, ie from a distance of your lights etc etc

[sugar_babygirli]

Well, I've tried all sorts of lighting options. I have never had training in studio lighting (nor do I own any) so I'm somewhat clueless when it comes to something as difficult as this. (black on black) I am so used to using available/natural lighting (and am a pro when it comes to that ;) ) but studio flashes/lighting?.....pffft forget it!

I've tried straight on camera flash, diffused on camera fill flash with overhead spotlight, side lighting with fill flash, etc etc. So far the one that turns out best is placing a light overhead shining down on the object plus diffused on camera flash. I do not have any reflections, which is good, but I either:

A: Can't get my background to stay solid black
B: Get the background solid black, but sunglasses don't show up. :(

[Jon, The Elder]

Just out of curiosity, why are you using black background in the first place?

[sugar_babygirli]

I am making a graphic book to advertise sunglasses. All of the photos have the models standing in front of solid black backdrops. I wanted to show photos of the different sunglass styles in the back of the book and keep the same "look" as the other photos matching the black backdrop.

The only thing I have come up with so far is taking my photo and then using the eliptical lasso tool in photoshop, selecting the border and making that pure black so at least it will blend a little better.

I guess black on black doesn't mix well :))

[olly_k]

dark grey background?

[rammy]

I am making a graphic book to advertise sunglasses. All of the photos have the models standing in front of solid black backdrops. I wanted to show photos of the different sunglass styles in the back of the book and keep the same "look" as the other photos matching the black backdrop.

The only thing I have come up with so far is taking my photo and then using the eliptical lasso tool in photoshop, selecting the border and making that pure black so at least it will blend a little better.

I guess black on black doesn't mix well :))

The problem is that you can't really shoot a product, or anything, where the primary item matches the colour of the background because basic colour understanding, they blend. A black cat in soot disappears apart from its eyes and highlights from the fur. What you need are reflections and highlights.

Is the frame shiny enough to reflect the light? You can reflect off the glass so not a problem. If it is not shiny enough then make it shiny. Try hair spray or gel or vaseline that will add a sheen.

Use more than one light source to add more than one directional light. Also use some diffused light (a torch with A4 paper in front) which will light more of the shiny bits.

What you want the camera to capture are all the highlights which should then define the product more, but of course, the highlights will be grey to white and so you may not be able to see the dark edges.

ALTERNATIVELY: To fake it, get some dark grey - gunmetal glasses of the same style :-) Alternatively, shoot it on white background, cut it out and put it on your own black background.

Try searching here for a "home made lightbox" and try it with a black paper/card instead of white.