[mel]

I'm going to be doing a senior portrait session soon with a musically talented young lady and a shiny black grand piano. I work mainly with flashes and have some various bits of diffusion items such as soft boxes and umbrellas (both shoot through and reflecting). I also have a few basic hotlights. I would love some pointers on how to deal with this shiny black piano in terms of mimizing the glare and large white reflection areas. Um. Help?

[Ash]

Tough subject to capture.
As long as your diffused light source isn't bouncing too much light in the direction of the lens, there shouldn't be too much undesirable glare. Hopefully the room where the musician will be posing will be reasonably bright and you may not need too much intense supplemental light.
All the best for the shoot.

[Mike Cash]

If you have access to the area it might be wise to go alone and work out a good setup on the piano. When you have that worked out to your satisfaction set up what you plan to use on the young lady. When that is ready go out in the hall and snag a volunteer to sit on the stool for a couple of minutes while you make final adjustments.

[Steinback]

Depending on the geometry of the shot you can use lightproof panels to block strobe (or other) light from travelling in directions where it will cause undesirable reflections. Blacking out sections of your umbrella or soft box is also an option. You might try lighting the piano indirectly by bouncing your flashes off of walls or ceilings rather than pointing them directly at the reflective surface.

[Digitalis]

I had to photograph a piano a while ago, and all I had to work with in the way of lighting was a few strobes. So I got a few white sheets and fired the flashes through them - and what that did was make the light source appear much bigger than it was, which was useful in defining the form of the glossy black finish on the piano. With shiny and reflective objects avoid using small light sources. Also controlling light spill is crucial because you don't want to inadvertently include unwanted reflections of you or your surroundings in the image so place your flash units with care.

[mel]

The piano is in someone's home. We're "borrowing" it for the portrait session. I don't know the people and won't see the setting until we're there so it's fly by the seat of my pants. Which is why I'm asking. I'm hoping to not appear totally imcompetent.

Digitalis: lightspill etc, better control, is the main reason I'm leaning toward the boxes.

I like the bouncing light off the walls idea as an alternative to lighting the piano. Then I can light the girl herself. I have some add-on things for the boxes, like grids and such.

[TaoMaas]

The thing to remember when lighting a reflective object is that you're not really lighting the thing itself...you're lighting whatever is reflected in it. Think of it as trying to light a mirror. It's impossible to pour enough light directly onto a mirror to get it to show up. So what you do is light what's reflected in the mirror and let the reflection define the shape of the mirror. Take a look at some beauty shots of jewelry or cars and you'll see what I mean. Since the piano is basically a prop in your portrait, I think you're on the right track with bouncing a flash in the room and letting the wall/ceiling define the shape of the piano. That ought to be plenty. However, any room big enough to house a grand piano is liable to be pretty large so bouncing off the ceiling or walls might be easier said than done. You might want to have a "Plan B". I'd bring a white sheet or some foam-core to bounce a flash off of in case the walls & ceiling are too far away.

[Digitalis]

if you're going to be bouncing the flash off walls remember that the things that are on the walls are going to be visible on your subject as reflections - which is why I used the white sheets to prevent any distracting elements from being introduced.

[mel]

True true. Good points everyone. I have a 2-post with crossbar backdrop stand that, it would appear, serve several different purposes. Reading all these great suggestions and points is telling this will be a "bring everything just in case" kind of deal.

[TaoMaas]

Reading all these great suggestions and points is telling this will be a "bring everything just in case" kind of deal.

While there is a lot of truth in that, there is also a danger in this scenario of doing what I call "out-smarting yourself". Sometimes, we can over-think things to the point where we let ourselves be pulled out of our wheel-house of knowledge and that can lead to disaster. You were chosen for your people pictures, not your product pics, so keep that in mind and prioritize your efforts accordingly.

[mel]

I think I'll be okay in that regard due to my inherent laziness. I hate setting up and taking down more than I really need to.

[tonyjayice]

While there is a lot of truth in that, there is also a danger in this scenario of doing what I call "out-smarting yourself". Sometimes, we can over-think things to the point where we let ourselves be pulled out of our wheel-house of knowledge and that can lead to disaster. You were chosen for your people pictures, not your product pics, so keep that in mind and prioritize your efforts accordingly.

I think I'll be okay in that regard due to my inherent laziness. I hate setting up and taking down more than I really need to.

well.. these two quotes say all.. use a polarizing filter to diffuse the reflections on the grand piano.. .. might help alot .. and is fairly simple.. and in addition to a soft light-source it might just be enough..

[stover98074]

I like this idea for no frills and fast setup soft light in a room. Perhaps you can even swipe the sheet from the home that has the piano! In his book "The Moment it Clicks" he talks a lot about placing the flash outside the room the subject is in and making use of a bed sheet.

Bedsheet Thief Strikes Yet Again, This Time In Venice…. | Joe McNally's Blog

The Days Inn Diffuser | Photocrati

[mel]

Uhhhh I don't think I'm going to go rummaging around someone else's house for a sheet. As simple as a bedsheet diffuser sounds, it still requires a way to suspend it, which requires stuff. I'm not asking for methods of diffusion however. But more for information specifically related to dealing with a highly glossy black surface, and if anyone has experience with them that they can share.

[TaoMaas]

After reading this thread the other day, just out of curiosity, I googled "black grand piano" to see how other folks lit them. Here's the first page of images: black grand piano - Google Search

You can easily see the effects of the various ways of lighting such a thing.