Shiny Objects

After working out how to make a cone (back to primary school learning) and overcoming the fact that my camera had difficulty focussing when the cone was place over the object (resolved by setting camera to manual focus) I proceeded with this exercise. Throughout the exercise the light source is a single halogen bulb reading light. The subject is a chrome bowl placed upside down

This first image was taken without the cone diffuser. As can be seen the are a number of different reflections in the surface including the legs of the tripod, the camera and the surrounding room fittings.

In this second image the diffuser (a cone of heavy grade tracing paper) has been fitted. The light source was unchanged. The highly reflective surface has now been 'lost' presumably because of the highly diffused light created by the tracing paper. Although the camera can be seen in the centre of the image all other reflections have been lost. The 'white' triangle apparent in the image that stretches from the centre base of the object to almost the centre top  is created by the overlap of the tracing paper cone which is, at this point, double the thickness of elsewhere and therefore effects the relocation and absorption of light. It occurs in all the photographs.

The light has now been moved to a low position and in front of the cone. The overall effect is to lose the definition of the subject  at the top of the image as it falls in shadow.

The light has now been moved some 6 feet away from the base of the cone and approximately 5 feet above the base line. There is a more diffuse light that I find effective although there is some loss of the sense of form of the bowl. There is also another light source which is probably a reflection of the original source from an appliance in the room.

The source light remains at the same height but has now been moved some 10 feet away. The sense of form of the bowl is partially restored but I still find the result unsatisfactory.

General conclusion: The use of the tracing paper cone as diffuser is effective and removes most of the problems created by a highly reflective surface. Of the results the first use of the cone, for me, provides the most acceptable result although in a very real sense the qualities of the original surface have been lost. The diffusion gives a matte appearance to the subject that is in one sense false. Much would depend upon the purpose of the photograph but if asked to choose I would go for the original.