Outdoor Shoot & Avoiding Reflections in Glasses

[KevinStecyk]

I am going to be photographing a friend and his wife on Thursday at a local outdoor park at about 6 pm, when it is beginning to get dark. Official sunset time will be about 7:10 pm.

I am planning to use the park trees and Calgary skycrapers as the general background with their head and shoulders against sky for contrast. I am traveling light with three 580 EXII strobes with portable umbrellas. My plan is to place my subjects in the shade with the sun behind them and light them from the front with two strobes and umbrellas.

My friend wears glasses and I am not sure about his wife. I have never photographed a person wearing glasses before and am concerned about having reflections in the glasses. My thought is to have the umbrellas placed fairly close and high to the subjects. Close so that there is sufficient light reaching the subjects. High to reduce reflections in the glasses.

For equipment, Canon 40D, 70-200 L IS lens, PocketWizards, tripod, strobes and umbrellas.

Any general words of advice?

Thank you!

[ChrisPerry]

it's an angle thing, so moving the light or his head or tipping the glasses a bit will usually resolve the issue.
My normal solution is to set a light to the side as the main light (with a large shoot through umbrella) and then one high and behind me as fill (about 1 stop less at the subject). YMMV

[KevinStecyk]

Thank you Chris!

[MichaelMoenning]

Depending on the thickness of the glasses, the angle solution may or may not work. What WILL work, is to shoot with the light that is pleasing on the subject based on your professional experience and approach to lighting. Then, determine what to do next. I photograph CEOs quite often,and we regularly get the issue with glasses. One solution is to shoot WITH the reflection in the glasses, then have the subject remove the glasses and capture their face without the glasses in the same light. In post production, we mask IN the part of their eyes that would cover the reflection in the glasses. It's the same approach used in jewelry photography of watch faces only with people. Hope that helps!

M

[KevinStecyk]

Thank you for your reply. Your solution is more involved than I was hoping for. I am just photographing a friend and his wife outdoors. I am not sure that the setting will allow for everything to be the same just with and without the glasses. If I have time, it something I can try. I am inclined to move the camera position from place to place in hopes of avoid the reflection. In other words, chimp, reposition camera/lighting, shoot, and repeat cycle until either reflection is gone or tolerable.

[Dennis_Vied]

I also favor the masking in trick. Works wonders with a group, a number of whom are sure to blink at an inopportune time. I pick the shot with the best smiles, and fill in the eyes from other shots.

[DougAxford]

Kevin, I think you are trying to make things more complicated than need be for a simple outdoor portrait.

My recipe is to use the existing light as fill and have one small flash on a stand (with your pocket wizard) as main light a few feet higher than camera and off to one side a few feet. I'd set the flash half a stop brighter than ambient light. I rarely would use an umbrella outdoors except to get rid of sun on a subject. The difference with or without an umbrella outdoors would be real hard to see. Your fill light takes care of that. That's far different when indoors, when I almost always use umbrellas or soft boxes. You should have almost no reflection on the glasses using a smaller strobe. If it's still objectionable, correct in PS. Having the strobe without an umbrella and up & off to one side should eliminate reflections.

Some people prefer ETTL (or whatever). In this case, I would prefer manual setting of flash.

My guess would be 1/45 @ f:8 at 400 ISO for ambient - but that would depend a lot upon sky conditions. I'd be more concerned about colour temp. settings. Late day needs careful attention. Drew's device would work perfectly here.