Help with still life of MTG cards

My boss is a huge MTG player and has an extensive collection of cards. Believe it or not but some of them are worth thousands of dollars.

He is in negotiations with another collector to sell two cards for over $22k... Problem is the guy wants some really clean images of the cards and he's only able to get some with glare on them...

He's asked me to assist, problem being that I'm usually adding light to enhance the subject.

Suggestions?

I believe you. I have a few myself

I had the same issue trying to get good photos and eventually went the scanner route. But be very careful putting it on and off the scanner that you don't use your nails to pick it up. If you find a better option via a camera I'd love to hear about it!

What gear do you have ?

When i do "copy pics" for work (literally photographing a print)
I use a pair of speedlights.

I put the pic (or card in your case) down on a flat surface (table etc) then put a speedlite each side, on their little stands, with the bounce cards out (pointed at each other, about 4ft apart)
Turn the lights in the room off too

i've got a couple 600's... I could definitely set that up. Thanks for the suggestion!!


Assuming the use of a tripod to maintain aspect between cards?

Alternatively (and a bit more work required), you can also try cross-polarization.

RazorbackSam wrote in post #17307096
i've got a couple 600's... I could definitely set that up. Thanks for the suggestion!!


Assuming the use of a tripod to maintain aspect between cards?

You could do - i typically only shoot a pic or two at a time, so i just line it up using the grid in the 1DX viewfinder

I have had some problems with board game boxes in the past....

I just ended up taking the pics at a steep angle and heavily diffused any light in my studio. Bounced it around the room a few times and everything turned out great.

RazorbackSam wrote in post #17302403
My boss is a huge MTG player and has an extensive collection of cards. Believe it or not but some of them are worth thousands of dollars.

He is in negotiations with another collector to sell two cards for over $22k... Problem is the guy wants some really clean images of the cards and he's only able to get some with glare on them...

He's asked me to assist, problem being that I'm usually adding light to enhance the subject.

Suggestions?

Very believable... I have quite the collection also. I've been playing since Alpha release.

As for your problem, what about using a light tent? Like used in product photography.

You could use two continuous lights, as seen at the start of this Youtube clip for photo restoration.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=OnD9tU3UvFI

Continuous vs flash makes no difference, to the sensor, light is light.

Whatever light you use just has to be at a oblique enough angle to not bounce at the camera. you can essentially just place a small makeup mirror in place of the card and if you can see the light source in the reflection, then you're going to get a glare. Now, this is just a rough guide, since the surface of the card isn't perfectly smooth and that slight matte finish will reflect/glare at slightly more of an angle than a mirror, but it will get you into the right ballpark.

One of the simplest ways to eliminate glare from a flat reflective object, shooting straight from the front, is to get a large piece of matte black foam core and cut a round hole in the middle the exact size of the lens. Hang it on the lens close to the camera body, center the subject and shoot. Be exact with the placement and size of the hole for good balance of the board.

It's important that the board part facing the subject is black, not white, as white will bleach the color out, and reflect the black lens ring. The black also renders the contrast and color of the subject better.

I shoot glass-faced clocks as a product photographer, and this is really the best, the cheapest, and most time-efficient way to eliminate glare and reflections on flat faces. I actually hang a large 4' x 4'piece of black-painted coroplast from the lens for larger objects like our 35-inchers. The camera frame can easily handle the extra weight of the boards since they are designed to hold very heavy lenses.

Cheers, hope this helps

I photograph custom pool cues and billiard related products.
Some one mentioned cross polarization technic and personally I think they are right on.

Here is how it works
Polarized light is either transmitted as in the light is already polarized like florescent lighting.
To make any un polarized light source polarized it is ether transmitted refracted , reflected an or scattered .

So if your lighting is any of the above the light contains electromagnetic polarized waves ...

When electromagnetic polarized waves strike or comes in contact with all non metallic smooth surface it creates electromagnetic polarized reflection ......AKA glare .............

Cross polarization technic
You put linear polarized film over your soft boxes which filters out 1/3 of your lighting.
Then you use a CLP on your lens

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