Watch and Eyeglasses Photography - Anti-Glares Techniques to Remember!

Red eyes and glare from eyeglasses are common problems of photo shoots. How to avoid these problems is an art. Some shutterbugs have learnt after years of experience.

How can the eye glare appears and spoil a picture? It happens when a person wearing glasses is the main subject of the shoot. If there is light reflecting on the glass, it will reflect of the transparent eye lens. The glare appears as a result and ruins the shot. Editing out the glare is important and is done via photo processing. But while shooting with the camera itself the glare can be minimized. This is also a problem faced when watches of various dials are shot against several lights. Actually all glass wares like goblets, bowls also face this problem. Hence when these subjects are being prepared for shoot the lighting element has to be perfect. A degree here and there can make or mar the quality of the frame shot. When the still life of wristwatches or eyeglasses is being done the light patterns are first taken care of. This is the fundamental requirement of anti-glare techniques. This sets the mood of the rest of the work. When the watches are being shot the time ideally (on the dial) should be 11.00 or 1.00 for best visibility of all the elements in it. And when it comes to eyeglasses if they are shot with a person wearing it, needs to be positioned well.

Let’s start with clicking pictures of people who wear glasses. Ideally a photographer will ask the person to remove the spectacles or glasses. That is the easiest thing to do.  But if the person is very used to wearing the glasses then the photograph taken will be odd. Such a person is not accustomed to look without the glasses. The pictures may be out of focus and it will be very apparent that the person is ‘missing the glasses’ in the picture. However when the same person is shot with the glasses on then it is a challenge for the photographer. Hence it is the duty of the photographer to adjust the lights to avoid the problem. If the source of light is coming from above the subject the focus will have to be tweaked. The glasses may be tilted around the ears to get the right photo. The use of catch lights is also used to avoid the glare.

In the same manner shooting watches and clocks that have reflective glass is a fine art. All kinds of timepieces feature glass as a protective covering. Hence they are subject to possible glint while shooting. The use of a black background is proven useful for watch photography. It brings out the richness of the time keeping device. Getting close up of the dials brings the details out for the buyer. With the right DSLR this main problem is mitigated. What makes the black background ideal here is that it will work as an anti-glare canvas. The white background tends to throw additional light hence it is avoidable. The gradients of the glass dials or any other transparent objects appear clearly on the dark canvas. The photos turn out crisp and with additional photo editing the sharpness emerges leaving out the glint.