The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

Tips to avoid light bounce from glasses

Some of you from time to time have encountered a low light situation where one or more subjects are wearing glasses.   If you use the flash, you’ll get good illumination, but will have light bounce back to the camera from the glasses.  If you choose existing light, you risk motion blur from a slow shutter, loss of depth of field due to a larger lens opening or see digital noise in the darker areas.

Rex Dolby’s example of how a flash can be reflected off glasses back to the camera.

What are you going to do?  If you haven’t already tried some of these tips, try one or two the next time the situation arises:

  • Before you trip the shutter, have those with glasses, or instruct everyone, to slightly tip or turn their head in the same direction to bounce the light away from the camera.
  •  Have those wearing glasses adjust them by slightly moving the ends of the temples upward, off their ears.
  •  A less effective strategy would be to place those wearing glasses farther from the camera so the intensity of the light bouncing back might be reduced.
  •  This last suggestion requires a lot to be explained and carried out before you take the pictures. First announce that you will be taking two photos of the group because of the light of the flash bouncing back to the camera. The first picture will be of the entire group including those wearing their glasses.  Then, with everyone keeping their heads as steady as possible, ask those with glasses to remove them for the second picture. This last picture will enable you to accomplish three things: Clone clear, open eyes onto the glasses; clone a better facial expression onto anyone with a poor expression; clone open eyes onto anyone who blinked.

I hope these tips have been helpful.  If you have other photography related questions, why not bring them to the next Van Wert Area Photography Club’s meeting, Thursday, July 11, at 114 S. Race St. in Van Wert?

POSTED: 06/23/17 at 7:14 am. FILED UNDER: Camera Club News