Reducing Flare from Reflective Surfaces

[Peter De Smidt]

And of course there is paint made with carbon nanotubes, but so far it's delicate and expensive.

On the completely other end, occasionally the macro lads have extolled the virtues of some inexpensive flocked paper at craft stores. One version was better than Protostar, but it was all sold out by the time I heard of it.

[Leszek Vogt]

Neil, you could get a decent anti-flare spray form specialty store that carries mot. pic. items, such as tapes, etc.
No doubt there are some around LA/Holly.

Les

[Dan Fromm]

Long ago, I had to shoot electronic component gear (for a client) that had deep line grained black aluminum front panels... Shooting them with 4X5 chrome films, they photographed dark as a tomb (flash spotmeter read them as 5 or 6 stops under Zone 5), and I had to figure out how to direct reflectors into just these panels (with full power heads, and kill the spill)... Got it, but examined the panels later to see why they ate light like that, and noticed that the deep V grooves (like an LP record) would reflect light towards the other wall of the groove, and like a light trap, would cancel the reflections in the groove... I made lemons into lemonade by taking that effect into making it work as light traps inside cameras, enlargers, shoot set-ups when light needed to be killed, etc... Finding the V grooved styrene materials for model train buildings could be adapted...

I have a couple of TTH aerial cameras whose rear tubes are grooved to control glancing reflections. Whenever I have SKGrimes make an adapter to hang a lens in front of a shutter I have them groove the adapter's interior similarly. It works. The grooves can be quite shallow. Think filter threads.

[LabRat]

Maybe someone could get a deal on the paint/coating used on the SR71 spyplane? I understand it does not reflect much of anything. Supposed to be the lowest reflection and blackest black around.

A funny story about that... There is a Blackbird on outdoor display over at Exposition Park here, and I was outdoors at night there, with only my P&S digital, and tried to take some fairly close up details, but even at wide setting, that thing would not allow the camera to focus at all... I could get it to focus if I turned the camera away from the plane, half depress the shutter, and drag the camera (+ focus) POV back to the plane and then shoot... Just couldn't get it to focus on it... Then I stopped and realized that the finish was absorbing the puny little IR focusing illuminator, as this plane was made to elude MANY different wavelengths costing MANY times my little camera, so lesson learned, you can't shoot a Blackbird with IR focusing at night... :-@

Some other tips about flare reduction;

I had tried some different grooved material to see had it would work... A bit thick, but black vinyl non-skid floor runner material worked well once de-glossed (would work well near a leaky enlarger to cover a nearby wall... CHEAP!!!)...

One could cut-up an old LP record on a bandsaw to make small pieces, but material is also very reflective, so would need de-glossing, but don't just paint a layer too thick over materials, as this seems to "round over" sharp edges that seem to reduce the light trap effect (maybe paint with the thinnest layer, like from an airbrush???),

Model train stores have quite a selection of wood + plastic clapboard & grooved materials so give them a try...

You can also line grain metals like brass and aluminium but as mentioned painting over them can dull the scratches, so if the metal itself can be blackened (anodizing, bluing, etc), that will work better when the cuts remain sharper, to cut reflections better (a way to test is to run your finger over it, and if sharp enough to leave a slight powder mark, that's the material cutting away dead skin cells from your finger...) Giving it pass or two with a stiff power wire wheel or a very coarse sanding block will gouge deep grooves on metals, but don't overdo it, as you want the flat (peak) surface with sharp (valley) grooves on it... Then blacken...

Putting baffles in oversize lens shades works well, but make them large enough so you don't get cut-off using movements... Sharpening baffle edges to almost a knife edge works well, but be careful not to maim yourself while handling shade...

For a good example of camera baffling, look carefully at your postwar metal SLR film cameras... A 35mm SLR has a small area tunnel under the mirror box, but do you ever get reflections from this on your film, despite it being VERY close to your film??? Note the grooves, punched out baffle steps, and angles inside even the cheaper metal cameras, so the mfgs take it very seriously... (And works!!!)

There's something to think about...

Steve K

[EdSawyer]

Thanks for the tip on the Acktar products - those look like nice options, maybe more durable than the typical flocking paper I have used in the past. (definitely more expensive!)

re: SR-71 - although somewhat stealthy by nature, it wasn't designed with stealth as a primary requirement, and the paint isn't all *that* black - I have seen the Udvar-Hazy one up close, in person. Amazing plane though, the coolest plane ever, really (IMNSHO). I expect they put some effort into stealth (paint, coatings, angle of the tail, etc.) but not to the degree of the B2 or F-117A. Plus, ultimately, it didn't matter - the Soviets could easily detect the SR-71 on radar, but had nothing that could intercept it anyway so it was a moot point.

Jac, neat that you have an ex-SR-71 navigator in your neighborhood! I wish that plane was still flying, it's a shame they retired those.

[Pfsor]

One could cut-up an old LP record on a bandsaw to make small pieces, but material is also very reflective, so would need de-glossing, but don't just paint a layer too thick over materials, as this seems to "round over" sharp edges that seem to reduce the light trap effect (maybe paint with the thinnest layer, like from an airbrush???),

Model train stores have quite a selection of wood + plastic clapboard & grooved materials so give them a try...

You can also line grain metals like brass and aluminium but as mentioned painting over them can dull the scratches, so if the metal itself can be blackened (anodizing, bluing, etc), that will work better when the cuts remain sharper, to cut reflections better (a way to test is to run your finger over it, and if sharp enough to leave a slight powder mark, that's the material cutting away dead skin cells from your finger...) Giving it pass or two with a stiff power wire wheel or a very coarse sanding block will gouge deep grooves on metals, but don't overdo it, as you want the flat (peak) surface with sharp (valley) grooves on it... Then blacken...

Putting baffles in oversize lens shades works well, but make them large enough so you don't get cut-off using movements... Sharpening baffle edges to almost a knife edge works well, but be careful not to maim yourself while handling shade...

For a good example of camera baffling, look carefully at your postwar metal SLR film cameras... A 35mm SLR has a small area tunnel under the mirror box, but do you ever get reflections from this on your film, despite it being VERY close to your film??? Note the grooves, punched out baffle steps, and angles inside even the cheaper metal cameras, so the mfgs take it very seriously... (And works!!!)

There's something to think about...

Steve K

Indeed, there is something to think about. The first thing that comes to mind is the nonsensical content of these ideas. All of these ideas can be beaten with simple black flock paper.

[LabRat]

Indeed, there is something to think about. The first thing that comes to mind is the nonsensical content of these ideas. All of these ideas can be beaten with simple black flock paper.

There's that nursery rhyme;

Fuzzy Wuzzie was a bear...

(Metaphor, here...) :-!

Steve K

[el french]

I made a 3d printed hood with internal baffles that works quite well. I designed it using Fusion 360, but if you were proficient in one of the rendering programs like Blender, you could probably get even better baffling.