Photographing shiny/reflective objects

[benjo09]

I'm just looking for some tips on how to photograph shiny and reflective surfaces as I am starting to catalogue my vinyl record collection. I am a complete novice (I bought my D3100 2 days ago) but eager to learn.

The problem I am having is that the light in my house is very orange so I have been using the built in flash to try to neutralise this. The problem with this is a large reflection mark in the middle of the record.

This leaves me with either an OK but orange tinged photo or a nice coloured photo with a big reflection mark.

The background is a solid white piece of card so would white balance help to eliminate the orange tinge or do I just give up and save for some lighting equipment?

Thanks for any help

Ben

 

[JT74]

Some good tips here -

[YOUTUBE]SGOTnT_dagQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Jayst84]

Use daylight. Set up in front of a nice big window, one that doesn't have direct sun coming though it, and you'll make things a lot easier for yourself.

 

[benjo09]

Thanks for the advice. Setting up in front of a window made it much easier.

 

[Oggy]

A polarising filter might help.

 

[Alastair]

Light, Science and Magic.. it's the bible for this type of shot, explains how and why very clearly.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Some good tips here -

[YOUTUBE]SGOTnT_dagQ[/YOUTUBE]

That video actually has correct info in it, which is pretty unusual for Youtube...

But it's far from complete. This article on the Lencarta Lighting Blog shows exactly how it's done, and why