Lighting help needed.

[Mick B]

Below is a photo of a display case I have just built to show off my Grandfather's invention of Fibro cutters in 1932. For this experimental shot I used 2 lights, one at each side hoping that one would counteract the light from the other one, but it failed as you can see with each light casting it's own shadow plus you can see the oven, the door handle, part of the chair etc etc !!
Any suggestions welcome ! I realise the glass is the problem.

http://www.pbase.com/guzziev/image/134458218/original.jpg

[I @ M]

Mick, from the looks of this i would try a few things.

Hang a black or even just about any plain colour sheet behind you to blot out the background.
Try doing the picture at night to remove any ambient / stray light entering the scene.
Try to have the lights from the sides coming downwards and outwards from the centre to remove shadows.

Unless you have a dedicated room / studio set up for this kind of shot it will always be a bit of experimentation to get things right.
Work on the background and ambient light first up and then muck around with the angles of your lights to kill the shadows.

Let us know how you go, the project looks very worthwhile. :th3:

[Mick B]

Thanks Andrew, I will give that a go and see what happens, but it will have to wait for a few days. It would have to be better than my attempt.

[canon50d]

and re post! let us know how it goes...

[ameerat42]

You need ambient light for this setup of two closely spaced subjects, and a bit of distance from them and some depth of field. Also look out for reflections from the glass door of your camera gear.
For artificial ambient lights two equivalent and equidistant diffusers or reflectors will suffice. If they are not diffuse you will not be able to eliminate shadows.

Alternatively, consider two separate exposures and some PP.
One exposure would be of the certificate (or even a scan), and the other of the cutters in front of a "continuous background". You'd then blend the exposures as layers in the likes of Photoshop.

Or even, light the two objects set up as you have here with lights set high and low, at steep angles to the subjects, so sending the shadows out of the frame of the image.

I think it is a good idea you are trying to achieve, commemorating your grandfather's efforts.
Am.

[Mick B]

Ok, I have had another go at this one and used some of the advice above. Main change was I made sure I had a dark background to reduce the reflection from the glass. I got rid of the display case and concentrated on the actual contents. It is still hard to read very much at this size, but it's as good as I can get it.

http://www.pbase.com/guzziev/image/135561183/original.jpg

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Mick

Looks okay to me - I think that you've done it 'good' this time

Regards, Phil