How to take pics of a polished SS light

Vortus

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trying to take pics, and the only camera I have is my Iphone. There is some damage I am trying to show, but having alot of trouble showing it. The lighting is either to dim, or lights up the light like a lightbulb.
 

Echo63

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Polished stuff is tricky, you need to light the reflections, not the object.
there is some stuff on this over at strobist,
one bit about lighting a hard drive, and others about lighting cutlery and glasses

A "light tent" is the easiest way to do it, and you can easily make your own, otherwise you need to bounce light off the ceiling and walls in a nice white room - the toilet typically works well, close the lid, put down the object, aim flash/other light source at the ceiling and snap away

EDIT - just saw you are trying to use your iPhone - that makes it a little trickier, though the principle is the same.

Either a light tent outside, or your brightest light inside and bounced off the ceiling, an assistant may be helpful to hold/aim the light
 
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Ualnosaj

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The problem with the iPhone is you have no control over the aperture (overall exposure). You hit a reflection and it will darken and vice versa.

If you can't get a handle on it, take the dark option and lighten it up with something like Photoshop Express on the iPhone.



________________
Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse the brevity of this message.
 
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Vortus

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Think I get the idea now. So it needs lit kinda like a bright room but nothing direct. Have a couple high power lights, when done cycling our batteries ill build a quick tent and give it a shot. Mucho gracias. And having my wife help will stop the shakiness as well.
 

DoctaDink

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MaratacDesat.jpg


Taken with lights shot through acetate sheet as a diffuser, and wrapped over the object to simplify the image reflected off the polished surface. Kinda like a light tent.
 

PCC

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Turn off the built-in flash, place a single sheet of white paper on either side of the light and shine lights into the back of the paper to create diffuse light in between. Place your light in the middle then take pictures and try changing the distance of the paper and height of the light source until you get what you want.
 

subwoofer

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trying to take pics, and the only camera I have is my Iphone. There is some damage I am trying to show, but having alot of trouble showing it. The lighting is either to dim, or lights up the light like a lightbulb.

Sorry if this sounds flippant...... but get/beg/buy/borrow a proper camera. Phone cameras are basic and just not up to much. They might be better than nothing, but that is all they are.

People seem to think the world revolves around iphones, but it doesn't. (rant over)

Single function devices always do that function far better than multifunction devices. If you want to take good photos or challenging photos you will need a proper camera.


However I would say that providing even diffused lighting and moving the camera around to try to catch the flaw in one reflection or another should help to highlight it. Exposure issues can be minimised by having even lighting.
 

EV_007

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Over there -- >
Use a north facing window during the mid day as your light source and place a white sheet of papaer to fill in the shadows. Quick, poor man's soft light studio setup that you can use with ANY camera, even an iPhone.
 
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