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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Shooting a high gloss black piano (help)
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 03/27/2010 06:35:16 AM · #1
I have to do a location shoot tomorrow at a piano bar in a hotel.
The piano in question is a grand piano, black and high gloss urgh.
The pianist is a younf girl.

I will use two off camera SB800 flash guns.

Is there anything that I should be aware of or to watch out for?
Would you recommend bouncing the flash off the ceiling to try and avoid glare off the piano body?

Any technical advice or poses for the pianist will be very much appreciated.

Cheers
Will...

03/27/2010 09:40:51 AM · #2
you could take sandpaper and rough up the piano some.

seriously, maybe you could make the high gloss work for you. maybe some nice reflections, etc.
 03/27/2010 11:35:47 AM · #3
Originally posted by karmat:
you could take sandpaper and rough up the piano some.

seriously, maybe you could make the high gloss work for you. maybe some nice reflections, etc.


Sandpaper lol

It gets worse; I just visited the hotel to find that they've pushed the piano into a corner surrounded by glass on one side and a cigarette machine on the other.
I'm starting to think I'm just going to limit this to close ups.

On the upside they seem to have swapped the black number for a wooden baby grand.

I agree with your thoughts of using reflections.

Thanks for your input
 03/27/2010 12:02:23 PM · #4
Experience speaking: take a couple of clean, lint-free clothes for dusting down. Pianos are usually covered in fingerprints, smears, and etc. Take a circular polarizer and/or polarize the strobes. Snoots and grids will help keep the light off the piano and on the player. Lighting the under-the-lid part means that not so much light is shed on the planes of the polished wood. Dragging the shutter helps. Cover up anything in the room/auditorium that is going to give ugly specular highlights/reflections. Kill the ambient light. Some motion blur is exciting.





Message edited by author 2010-03-27 12:05:55.
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