[kent]

Hi,

Recently I've been asked to make a pictures of new LCD TVs (or televisor, or goggle box whatever you call it). As you might guess they are black (few of them are white), all are piano black (and ''piano white'') and that means they reflect evertyhing that stands in front of them. Now these pictures are needed to promote new line of TVs in foreign country,as well as some of them might be printed (small size prints). Pictures must be high quality and well photographed, well exposed and the lightning should be great and blablabla.. I tried to look for information but did not find anything useful. Any suggestions how to create proper lightning and what to correct in photoshop that picture would look profesionally (as you can see in famous brand sites)?

[johnyates]

they reflect evertyhing that stands in front of them.

So you don't light the TV, you light what is reflected. For instance, if you shoot in a white room, you'd light the walls and ceiling. Some photographers build a tent around the product and then light the outside of the tent. You should find some product shots of shiny things in a magazine or whatever and examine them closely; you should be able to see how they are lit.

[rlw1138]

Get a good circular polarizer.......it will help you control the glare from the shiny parts.

If you need a shot from directly in front of the TV and don't want your reflection to appear, you'll need a "shift" (or tilt/shift) lens which will allow you to position the camera off to one side but still get the whole TV in the frame.

[stevbike]

This is not a TV but the principal is the same. A one piece background and white reflectors help create nice clean hight lights and shadows. Given the size of the TV's you are working with, you are going to need a lot of working space create the set area. I would say at least a space that is 10' by 12' to help create a good working space. To help with the front flections, try using large black or white panal with a small hole in it to hide the reflections from the camera area. It helps with create nice highlights on reflective surfaces. You are going to need a very powerful light source to light the area. The general rule of thumb is light the area, not the object itself. Here is a number of sample pictures of model cars using this lighting model.

[kent]

Thank you. Still thinking how to prepare everything correctly.