Fw: Avoiding flash glare (was Oz displays/museums)

["Gigi Babcock or Ralph Miller III" <gbabcock@best.com>]

----------
> From: Gigi Babcock or Ralph Miller III <gbabcock@best.com>
> To: armadilo@daft.com; Brian Choo <bchoo@cyllene.uwa.edu.au>
> Cc: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Avoiding flash glare (was Oz displays/museums)
> Date: Saturday, November 08, 1997 10:01 PM
> 
> On 11-7-97, Steve, the Armadillo with the Mask <armadilo@daft.com> wrote:
> 
> > Ooops..yeah, sorry 'bout leaving out the Hypsi(which I did see). I was
> > replaying things from what I took pictures of and remember skipping the
> > Hypsilophodon photowise 'cause it was behind glass and I'm not Steve
> > Parrish by any means when it comes to photo taking and avoiding the
flash
> > glare on the case, etc.
> 
> OK, here's what you do.  Avoid aiming your camera/flash in a line
> perpendicular to the glass case.  This is most important.  If you angle
> yourself at, say, 30 to 60 degrees to the glass, then you will at least
> avoid bouncing the flash right back into your camera lens.  Your other
> concern then becomes: where is the light bouncing off the glass going,
> because you will potentially illuminate other objects or people which
could
> show up as unintended ghostly reflections on the glass.  "The angle of
> incidence equals the angle of reflection," if you enjoy thinking in such
> terms.  But with luck these reflected items would be out of focus; or
> farther away than your intended subject, so that they do not receive the
> maximum amount of bounce light (and, hence, would show up darker in the
> reflection).
> 
> Then again, some <ambitious> people use an auxiliary flash unit which is
> held or mounted at some distance from the camera and then angled so as
not
> to cause reflections the way a camera-mounted unit would.  (Variations on
> this concept are popular with professional portrait photographers who
seek
> to avoid "red eye").  But your flash must be carefully aimed or it won't
> evenly illuminate your subject.  And, of course, you could reflect
yourself
> in the glass if the flash illuminates you.     
> 
> If you are not using a flash, you can feel free to shoot perpendicular to
> the glass as long as your own reflection is not bright.  But if you
> experience undesirable reflections (of something other than <you>)
> resulting from the available lighting, you may  consider the use of a
> polarizing filter on the camera, which should be adjusted while you view
> the subject through the lens for maximum effect.  The polarizing filter
> will cut down the light reaching the film, so your film speed and
> depth-of-field are considerations when you use this accessory.  A
> polarizing filter is also useful whenever you wish to capture richer
colors
> at the expense of the dimensional relief of a subject under location
> lighting conditions.  It works wonders on autumn leaves, skies, and water
> scenes.  But it cannot cut out reflected glare emanating from every
> direction (such as that from a camera-mounted flash unit), and will do
> nothing to eliminate reflections on mirrors or chrome.  Polarizing
filters
> work just like polarizing sunglasses, so you can look through one of the
> polarizers of a pair of sunglasses as you rotate it around its center to
> get some idea of the effect.  When shooting by available light
(especially
> in those dusty old museums), you may wish to consider using 1600 ASA film
> for your documentary work, but, of course, you may not find the resulting
> images satisfactory, as the prints will be grainy.  It depends on what
> you're after. 
> 
> Or you just go hire Louie Psihoyos...
> 
> Ralph Miller III <gbabcock@best.com>
>