Glare on Eyeglasses

[Digital]

By using bounce flash on an on-camera mounted flash can you eliminate glare on eyeglasses? I believe you can because the flash is not hitting the eyeglasses directly - angle of incidence = angle of reflection. I can see where it might be more of a probability if you using some type of bounce reflector (e.g. bounce card) on the flash to direct light on the subject, while at the same time directing more light to the ceiling.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.



Bruce

[Dave Humphries]

Basically your diagnosis seems correct Bruce,

However, if the flash is still on the camera axis (or very near it), you may have trouble avoiding it, as you already have said.

If possible, move the flash off lens axis, so the reflection is displaced sideways from the camera.
Of course, there's the risk that the person may turn their head slightly and 'undo' your efforts!
That said, equally; if they don't look directly at the camera, they may also redirect the on camera axis reflection 'away' themselves - the problem being you won't know until the image is captured.

Cheers, Dave

[Digital]

Thanks Dave for the response. I have been looking at videos on YouTube for an answer to this question; however they always use studio strobes as an example. I have yet to find one that addresses this question using speedlights- hence my question.


Bruce

[Dave Humphries]

Yes, studio strobes, with a modelling light, make it easy to see and avoid the issue.

The same principles will hold true for speedlights though, just that, as said; you won't know until it's too late - although shooting several shots may help if the people with eyeglasses slowly turn their heads between exposures (either accidentally or under your direction) may help.

[Digital]

Dave, I guess it is time to field test my idea regarding eyeglass glare.


Bruce

[Digital]

For my experimentation I searched high and low for someone who wore eyeglasses. I found this happy fellow.
To field test I had one happy fellow sit in front of a boring blank wall. He was about 4 feet from the wall. I then aimed my flash at the ceiling - straight up. I was seated also. I attached to my flash an improvised bounce card using an index card, and a rubber band. I was using a Nikon SB600 which does not come with a bounce card. To note, I did not give my subject any instructions as far as moving his head in any direction. I shot 13 pics of happy fellow, and I did not get any glass glare or shadows in the background.
Comments welcomed.
Bruce

[William W]

. . .
Comments welcomed.

As well as experimenting with your theory about Lighting for eye glass reflections - (which is a sound theory) . . .

- you appear to have bumped the ISO to ISO 400
- used Manual Mode -
- appear to be very careful of the 1/80s shutter speed
- attained a good Flash Exposure OVER the Ambient exposure
. . .

It's all coming together, isn't it?

***

Another (usually very simple) option for Eye Glasses is to remove the glass/plastic lenses.

Doing so saves any PP cleaning up the (for example in this Portrait) tint and the line where the bifocal edge of that second lens begins.

I carry a set of Jeweler's Screwdrivers in my kit - usually a size "00" Philips Head Driver is sufficient but some screws I have encountered recently are smaller.

On the other hand - for a One Person Portrait - and such a TIGHT SHOT like you have above, it could be obvious (and not a good look) that the glass/plastic lenses are missing - it depends. If the Subject is willing I'd make a a few shots using each method.

*

The 'lens removal method", is very good for the 1/2; 3/4 or Full Length Portraits and for Group Portraits when using Multiple Flash Heads or in the Sunlight when you often cannot control the reflected glare, and especially when those lenses automatically go dark in sunlight.

WW

[Digital]

Bill, yes it is all coming together. Thanks to your kind, and very helpful assistance, and others in the CiC forums. I have much more to learn.


Bruce

[rpcrowe]

Sometimes - not always but, it is worth a try... You can reduce/eliminate reflections by having the subject raise the ear pieces of the glasses (I KNOW THERE IS A NAME FOR THESE BUT, I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT IT IS) slightly higher than where they are normally worn above the ear...

This results in the lenses of the glasses being tilted down from the top. Therefore - angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

[Mike Buckley]

I recently had a photo taken while wearing my glasses for an international driver's license. The photographer used a flash attached to the top of the camera. After seeing the glare in the first capture, the photographer asked me to lower my head a bit and that solved the problem. That has the same effect as Richard's solution.

I'm not sure, but I think the reason Bruce's setup didn't produce any glare is because the light bouncing off the ceiling was probably more intense than the light bounced off the card attached to his speed light. Even if the light bounced off the card would have produced glare on its own, the more intense light could have overpowered it to the point of eliminating it. I mention this because I experienced a similar situation using two light sources in my makeshift studio when the more powerful light source overpowered the other light source that on its own produced glare.

[Manfred M]

The only comment I have on Bill's method of "remove the lenses" is don't lose those tiny little screws!

They are almost impossible to find, if you drop them and that is all too easy to do. Just ask me how I know...

[Digital]

Mike, one of the reasons I used the bounce card was to determine if the light bounced off the card would produce glare. I do not have much experience with bounce flash, and bounce cards. Hence the experimentation. I have only used the bounce card on my other speedlight once, and that was photographing a subject that wore no eyeglasses.
The other reason for the experiment was to determine - although I pretty much knew - if bouncing the flash off the ceiling eliminated the shadows behind the subject's head. I need to also experiment with light bounced off a wall, both at 90 degrees, and 180 degrees. This is if the room is small enough. Using a reflector is also on my bucket list.

Bruce