Hi Melissa, Everyone who has responded has had good basic suggestions. I have years of experience in the photography of many diverse media, and since I treated well over 1000 pieces of silver in my time I have a few suggestions about that too. First, never-ever apply any sort of dulling spray or material to an object's surface. I had to deal with the consequences of this and it was not good at all. As a matter of fact I wrote a paper on that very topic for the AIC Objects Specialty Group papers, 1999. You need to have a neutral background paper or cloth. And the most important thing is to get an even and very diffuse light source.If you have a regular photo studio than you can experiment with the set up. Many people use hot lights that you turn on and leave on. In the past couple of years I have been using a strobe with a slave trigger on the camera and have gotten some excellent results (I have a powerpoint presentation on that). For shooting a very highly reflective object (such as silver and mirrors and chrome) the light source should be directed completely away from the object to bounce off of a photo umbrella, through a soft box, or off of the ceiling or a wall. You can buy a completely enclosed diffusion box for small objects, or just make one - just do a search on ebay and you'll see some. If you are shooting with a flash or a strobe then make sure to start with the lowest power setting and work from there. Remember, it isn't only the lights but the angle of the light to the surface and then to the observer (camera) that will determine how much reflectance you get in the image, so also experiment with changing the angle of the camera to try to eliminate any reflectance problems. As in everything related to photography, once you have your lighting set up then you have to find the best settings for exposure and shutter speed. This is where shooting digitally is a great advantage as you can see your results right away and rapidly find the settings that work best. It may take time to get this right, but once that it done then you can really get into a production mode. Cheers Dave David Harvey Conservator Los Angeles, California On 2/3/07, Pamela Silvestri <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > The most problems I've had with light reflection has been from the camera > flash. When I need to use the flash, I've had to change the angle I'm > shooting from and this has eliminated the problem. It also means that I > can't have consistent object views and that I'm having to stand on a chair, > etc., in order to angle the flash away from the object. > > For some objects - I've photographed them outdoors rather than to spend the > time and effort with the indoor lighting and backgrounds, etc. > > Pam > In a message dated 2/2/2007 8:16:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [log in to unmask] writes: > > > We are in the middle of moving 10,000 objects into a new storage facility > and are using the opportunity to digitally photograph this part of the > collection. We are currently working on ceramics and glass, with silver on > deck. Slow shutter speeds, overhead lights off, and pointing the photo > lights to the ceiling does not seem to have eliminated the light reflection. > Do any of you have suggestions on how to best photograph objects with a high > glaze or reflective curves? > > > > > > > > Melissa Thompson > > Collections Assistant > > Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum > > 523 W. Water St. > > Decorah, IA 52101 > > 563-382-9681 > > > Pamela Silvestri, Volunteer Assistant Museum Director > Northeast States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum > Shenipsit State Forest Headquarters > 166 Chestnut Hill Road > Stafford Springs, Connecticut 06076 > Telephone: (860) 684-3430 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] or > [log in to unmask] > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain > detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line > e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message > should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).