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Please help Photographers Way off topic!

16 years ago

Hello all, I am on the birding and ponding forums. I know there are many wonderful photographers on GW.

I need to know how to photograph mirrors that have messages written on them with marker. My 18 year old Nephew died last year. He was a wrestler and did weight lifting and other activities that required him to watch his muscle groups working. My Sister put the mirror tiles on his bedroom wall so he could see the exercise and how it was working. They live on the Mississippi river and are tired of the floods every year, they are going to sell the house. All of his friends have written messages on this mirrored wall in his bedroom. It is a plaster wall between his room and the closet, she will try to remove the mirror tiles and replace the wall but she is afraid some may break. She would like to have a few photos of the entire wall and each message. Is there a way to photograph a mirror without the photographer or flash in the photo?

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Comments (3)

georgia_kate
16 years ago
i wish i could help, but i am definitely no photographer. i just wanted to express my sympathies. i am sure there is some way to do this, though it may require sophisticate equipment. good luck!
spedigrees z4VT
16 years ago
I'm very sorry for the loss of your nephew. It is tragic when one just approaching the prime of life is taken.

Since this is a single wall, the photographer should be able to position herself to one side of the wall so that her reflection is not in the picture. Do not use a flash. Try natural light from the windows, and also photographer's lights, or some other bright light, aimed away from the wall perhaps at the ceiling or an adjacent wall, ie indirect lighting. You could experiment with black or other solid color cloth hung on the wall facing the mirrored wall to eliminate other reflections. Using a tripod will steady the camera, or if one is not available, resting the camera on a piece of furniture or other immovable object will help. Use a long exposure (on a digital camera select a low-light/ nightime setting.)
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User
16 years ago
http://donrisi.blogspot.com/2009/09/portraits-reflections-in-your-subjects.html explains the theory

You need bright, even illumination, that means NO FLASH aimed at the mirrors ... use sheets of white paper and halogen lights and bounce the light off the paper onto the mirror. Or bounce it off off the ceiling. Or make a "diffuser" by shining the lights through frosted glass, translucent plastic or white paper (just don't get the diffuser too close or you have fires).

Don't try to get the whole wall in one shot. Take a small section at a time, either focusing on one inscription or one or two tiles ... pixels are cheap. This also means you don't care if the photographer is reflected in part of the mirror, because you are aiming a bit to one side of the photographer's reflection.

Use a GOOD digital camera - one with a big lens that lets you choose shutter speed and aperture, and try various things until you find one that works.

Use a heavy tripod - you can find them for CHEAP in thrift stores.

Take some "location shots", just big overviews of the wall without worrying about the reflections, and print them out (B&W laser printer will do). Mark off each section as you get a good shot of it to make sure you get everything in closeups.

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