Shiny Surfaces

  The object of this exercise is to see how the use of a light diffusing material can help when photographing objects with highly reflective surfaces. The first image shows the ice crusher I am using with no diffusion material, which shows just how much of its surroundings are shown on its surface.

No Diffusion

  As you can see because of its domed shape the object acts like a fisheye lens and shows a full 180 degrees of its surroundings. It could be used as a self portrait of the photographer, but it is not much use as a picture of the object.
  The next stage was to form a cone of a light diffusing that fitted around the lens of the camera and opened out to the ground to envelope the object, without appearing in shot. I decided to use grease proof paper as it was the nearest thing I could find to the tracing paper stated in the exercise instructions. Because the object is quite large I had to staple sheets of the paper together, therefore I did not end up with a seamless finish.

Diffused Natural Light

   As you can see this is a huge improvement over the first image, this was taken using the natural light from the large window to the right, therefore the object is slightly brighter on that side. Also you can still see the camera lens poking through the centre of the paper.
   Next I added some photographic flash light to the image to see if I could balance the light from the window.

Flash Next to  Lens

  Firstly I placed the flash above next to the lens, this has given a most unsatisfactory result, you can see there is a very bright highlight right next to the lens. So then I moved the flash 30 cm from the lens.

Flash 30cm from Lens

  This is slightly better, but the light coverage is not very even and there is still a hot spot.

Flash 1 Metre from Side

  Here I have moved the flash to 1 metre from the side of the light tent, towards the bottom. Now the light has become much more diffuse because the light from the flash is wider because of the extra distance, so it hits more of the diffusing material, therefore the light, in effect, becomes larger.
  Next I moved the flash 2 metres away to see whether the light would become more even.

Flash 2 Metres from Side

  As you can see the effect of moving the light the extra metre is minimal, the light is slightly softer, but no more  even.

1 Metre Above the Camera

  The image above was made with the flash held 1 metre above the camera and I think with a slight movement to the left to balance the window light this could be the way to go. The only concern I have is the amount of fall off in light towards the edges of the object and also how would you hide the camera lens.
  To try to disguise the lens I have next turned the object on its side so that the reflection of the lens fall on the edge of the lid, which hides it quite well.

Light Bounced Off Ceiling

   Also for this image I have bounced the light off of the ceiling to give a more even light, the only problem left is that the edges of the object are not defined, they have been lost in the black background.