Dealing with spectacles....

...as in the vision-correction variety.

I have to photograph a companies staff, you know the sort of thing that goes in their company newletter/brochure etc, standard "shoulders 45deg to camera, head looking towards me". Not quite a "passport photo" but almost!

I've done about half of them, but quite a few wear spectacles which are causing all sorts of reflection issues. One or two were able to remove them - as they only wear them occasionaly, but the rest caused problems. I either get a shadow of the top-most edge of the lenses across their eyes, or I get a great big reflection of the flash-head going off.

The set-up is the main flash head (to my left) is 45deg to the subject (the subjects shoulders are facing this one), with another (fill head) just to my right. I've tried raising the main light to try and prevent relection but didn't have a whole lot of luck.

I was just wondering how anyone out there would handle this sort of problem.

Thanks

TJ

Use a softer 'wrap around' light to avoid shadows of the glasses 'frame'. Position your lights (and model) so the light doesn't reflect. Having a modelling light is a great help here obviously...

Sometimes lifting the temple bar so that the lenses are tilted down slightly will work, or raise the light so it is above the level of the glasses. Sometimes just asking the model to tilt the head slightly is all you need.

This may be totally wrong, but why not use a polarizing filter? They can remove most reflections.

I've found that broad lighting (eyes not facing the light) will resolve this quite nicely. You'll need reflector to fill shadow, but keeping the shoulders turned away from the key and head turned back to camera works.

Brice

Sorry not replied before - thanks guys, I'll give your suggestions a try.

As suggested by chtgrubbs, tilting the glasses works well for studio lighting and is recommended by some seasoned studio Pros.
Hopefully you'll be using your 20 D so you can get instant feedback to ensure you've had the glasses tilted enough.

Thanks pparker for your input.
I'll actualy be using the 20D tethered to a laptop via a USB cable, so I can get "almost" real-time feedback on the results. (I also find this method helps to calm the subjects, knowing that they will see the result before anyone else does!)
Its just that framed glasses tend to throw really difficult shadows. Tilt the head down, and the top of the frame casts a shadow centrally through the eyes - tilt up and you get giant-sized reflections of an umbrella

Maybe I'll just need to spend a little more time practising with a friend who wears specs!

Thanks again

TJ