Reflective Surface Photography: How To Shoot Shiny Products

If you’re reading this article, chances are you sell shiny metal jewelry, perfume, glassware, or other detailed glassy products. Products that have highly reflective surfaces bring a special set of challenges when it comes to product photos.

Reflective products can be more difficult to photograph, due to light spots, distracting reflections, and inconsistencies in an object’s surface. There are, however, ways to master reflective surface photography and create beautiful images that shine on social media and boost online sales. Let’s dive in.

How to set up a studio for reflective surface photography

1. Create a clear space
2. Prepare your product
3. Assemble the essential gear

You can do a number of things to achieve the best product photography results for shiny objects with highly reflective surfaces. The following three steps will help you set up your studio for reflective photography.

1. Create a clear space

First, ensure that your studio setup is tidy. Remove any clutter from the area and try to minimize the number of people present who could appear in foreground reflections during the photo shoot. Take the time to wipe down the shooting surface in your studio to eliminate dust or any other debris that might be a headache to edit out later during post-production processing.

2. Prepare your product

Take a look at your product through the eyes of your audience and look for imperfections. Are there smudges or fingerprints on its shiny surface? Is your product wrapped in reflective plastic? Are your logo and branding easily discernible? These are just a few things to consider before shooting your jewelry line, perfumes, or other reflective products—what may seem like minor flaws can make or break your product photos.

3. Assemble the essential gear

Several pieces of equipment are essential when you’re photographing products with reflective surfaces. Most are fairly standard, yet you may need to acquire a few of the items below to make the process easier and more effective.

The basic equipment recommended for taking pictures of reflective products includes:

• A mirrorless camera or DSLR. A smartphone can work if you’re on a tight budget, but you will have fewer options for settings that may make the final editing process more difficult. 

• A fixed camera lens. If you are using a digital camera, use a camera lens between 50 millimeters and 200 millimeters, depending on the space available in your studio and the depth of field you desire.

• A polarized lens filter. These mitigate harsh reflected light and are highly effective for photographing shiny surfaces. You can buy one for as little as $30.

• A sturdy tripod. Ensure square framing and minimal camera shake by mounting your camera on a tripod.

• Backgrounds. Use a plain white background for traditional product photography and a colored background for more artistic shots. White rolled paper, canvas drop cloths, or premade photography backdrops are all good options depending on your budget.

• Lighting. Use at least one light source to illuminate your product, or use a lighting setup designed for studio photography. You can use natural light if it’s available, but you may also need double overhead lighting or a three-point lighting kit as a continuous light source. A lighting setup like one of those will help you avoid unwanted shadows as well as unwanted reflections.

• Reflectors and diffusers. These redirect and soften light, respectively. White foam board, black foam boards, white paper, and black boards are great budget reflector options. Soft boxes, sheer material over your lighting source, and photography umbrellas can all serve as diffusers that create soft light and help you avoid glare in your product photos.

• A flat surface. Use a clean space on the floor of your studio, a table, chair, or any other prop that aligns with your brand’s aesthetic.

How to photograph reflective objects

1. Arrange your lighting
2. Set your camera
3. Find the right angles
4. Diffuse the light
5. Reflect the light
6. Use a dulling spray

Here are six tips that can help you minimize the challenges of taking product photos of reflective objects:

1. Arrange your lighting

Correct lighting is paramount for reflective product photography. Glass, metal, and other shiny materials are unique in the fact that you have to understand angles of incidence and reflection. Incidence is the angle at which your light source hits your subject and reflection is the light that comes off of your subject.

To correct for reflection and incidence, use side lighting, backlighting, or double overhead lighting. The side lighting technique is most effective for metal and clear or colored glass, because any reflections will be less noticeable along the edges of your product. When you photograph glass or metal, use single-source continuous lighting for dramatic shadows or two lights on either side to ensure both sides of the product are fully illuminated.

Backlighting is a great option for any clear glass product, because you can highlight the transparent nature of a perfume or the golden tones of a white wine to create a more artistic shot.

2. Set your camera

Once you mount your camera on a tripod, dial in the necessary camera settings to ensure consistent images throughout your catalog of products. If you are using a smartphone, your camera app will be fully automatic, so you will have consistency through post-production processing.

On the other hand, most digital cameras will have a manual adjustment for white balance, letting you compensate for the warmer or colder tones studio lighting creates. An auto white balance feature is also available that will do this for you.

As far as shooting modes go, you can shoot in manual mode to have complete control over your image. Alternatively, you could stick with aperture priority mode. That’s a semi-automatic shooting mode that bases all camera settings off of your selected aperture—a measure of how wide the shutter is open, marked by f-stop numbers. For product photography, try to stay between f/5.6 and f/11 to ensure your entire product is in focus.

3. Find the right angles

Reflection photography is all about angles. This is a process of trial and error, depending on the material and shape of your product. The key is to take a variety of test shots, changing your camera angle and the angle of your light sources each time.

If you see a bright spot or unwanted shadows, move your camera laterally and vertically. Sometimes, the slightest adjustment can make a world of difference. Find your most flattering angle by shooting your product from the side, below, and above.

4. Diffuse the light

If you find your light source seems too harsh while you’re shooting, use a diffusion material of your own making, such as a sheet made of white material, photography umbrella, or softbox. Place the diffuser between your light source and your product to soften and disperse the light rays, creating an even glow.

5. Reflect the light

Use the reflecting light technique when you need more light on a certain area of your product. White foam boards are a common option to reflect light—place them opposite the light source to redirect light to shadowed areas. Experiment with angling each foam board until you achieve your desired lighting.

6. Use a dulling spray

If there is still too much unwanted glare, a dulling spray can temporarily create a matte finish for many types of reflective surfaces. Best for nonporous materials, dulling spray can be a great tool to have on hand.

How to edit reflective surface photos

1. Reduce glare
2. Remove reflections
3. Correct color casting

You don’t need to rely on your light setup alone to produce quality product photography. Once you upload your images to your computer, post-production processing can assist in polishing your images. Here are a few common editing techniques to get your product photos ready for use:

1. Reduce glare

You can manipulate a photo using Photoshop or similar editing applications to minimize unwanted glare. One simple technique is to use the clone stamp tool to essentially copy pixels from a part of your image with the desired color and paste them over the overexposed part of your photo. Or, if you have simpler editing software, try to adjust the highlights, contrast, and shadow sliders to see if the glare diminishes.

2. Remove reflections

Removing reflections is similar to removing glare, although it’s sometimes more tedious. For some reflections, you can simply use the clone stamp tool to replace the area of your image with the correct color. Other times, you will need to zoom in and paint over individual reflections with a smaller brush tool to ensure your photo looks natural.

3. Correct color casting

Color casting is a light sheen of yellow or blue that lighting sometimes creates when you’re shooting products with a metal surface. Use Photoshop’s hue or saturation layer tool to select the color you want to remove and reduce that color's saturation until the casting is gone. If you notice this degrades the rest of your image, use a layer mask (an editing tool that hides parts of an image without erasing them) to limit this edit to specific locations on your image.