reducing glare on an oil painting

[ben grosser]

I've been shooting my oil paintings for the last week, and I've run into a
problem I can't seem to get around. The space I'm shooting in is about 9'
wide, and I'm placing my paintings against the wall, with the lights (3200k,
500w, quartz tungsten) set as close to 45 degrees from painting center as
possible. I have a couple glossy large paintings (4' wide) that are just
showing too much glare from the lights. I'm sure if I could spread the
lights out another few feet in each direction that the glare would go away,
but that isn't an option in this setup. I don't even have another space in
my house to do this.

Is there any way to get rid of glare other than to get the light at a more
drastic angle? a filter, gel, anything?

thanks,

ben

[T. L. & J. James]

Ben:
The limited space you have for lights is a real problem. Think vertically
as well as laterally, i.e. in addition to placing your lights as far to the
side as you can, try placing one low and angling upwards and one high angling
down. This will reduce the angle of incidence a few more degrees....Is it
possible to light from one side only? Depending on the painting's surface,
this sometimes works quite well. If it does, you can move painting and camera
to one side of room, thereby gaining much more space in which to place light(s)
and reduce incident angle.
In terms of modifying the quality of the light, IMHO I would place more
emphasis on polarization than diffusion. The simplest course is to place a
polarizing filter at the lens. You can also polarize each light. Tests are in
order, both for exposure and shifts in color balance. You'll be lucky to find
truly neutral polarizing filters. Polarization will probably increase color
saturation.
Diffusion does nothing to eliminate unwanted reflections; in fact diffusers
that are broader than the original light source worsen the problem by increasing
the size of the reflection you're trying to avoid. Diffusers can soften
unavoidable reflections, and sometimes that's useful.
Terry James

ben grosser wrote:

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