How do I avoid glare in glasses when filming?

[Kevin Lewis]

Can anyone give a few tips on how to avoid the glare in eye glasses (from the lights) when filming. I have an interview coming up and the subject will be wearing glasses. Any thoughts?

[Perrone Ford]

Make sure your light isn't low enough or frontal enough to reflect in the glasses.

[Kevin Lewis]

Perrone, thanks for the input. Thats what I typically do, but in this situation, the celing is quite low and I wont be able to get the lights that far above the subject. I am hoping that i can raise the ambient light in the room by bouncing the lght off the ceiling. If i can raise the level enough, perhaps I wont need to light the subject in the traditional fashion.

[Perrone Ford]

Light indirectly... Ceiling bounce, wall bounce, etc. I once had a scenario with a glasses wearer so I placed a piece of 4x8 foamcore high and off to the side of him, then bounced an open face into it. Worked like a charm. The light source is big and soft.

Also you might have the subject look a bit more off-camera than you might otherwise. depending on the interview style...

[Ken Hull]

Kevin,
You might try a polarizing filter on the lens. Of course, such a filter reduces the amount of light reaching the film or sensors, so you probably will need to light to twice the level you normally would.
Ken

[Bill Davis]

Some additional thoughts.

It takes about 15 minutes and costs very little to have an anti glare coating put on a pair of glasses. I've even done it DURING a shoot by sending them with a runner to the local optical shop. It really does help.

The next "trick" is to use something soft along with some gaff or other tape to "pad" the bottoms of the glasses earpieces in order to angle the frames up (the lenses down) to change the angle of reflectance.
I typically roll some gaff into something the size (more or less) of a pencil - then use another piece to secure that to the earpiece.

A change in the angle of the lens of 10-15% is usually all it takes to eliminated the reflections.

YMMV - good luck.

[Giroud Francois]

mattebox, french flag and very precise lighting using flag on lights too and grids on chimera

[Bill Ward]

In addition to light more from the side, higher up and with a larger, softer light, you can also raise the camera a little higher than you might otherwise set it.

Some glasses are just really tough. The bigger the lens and the higher the prescription, the worse the specular highlight shows in the glasses.

Worst case scenario, I sometimes try to convince them to take the glasses off.

[Kevin Lewis]

Great suggestions, thanks everyone.

[Charles Papert]

Originally Posted by Giroud Francois

mattebox, french flag and very precise lighting using flag on lights too and grids on chimera

I've done most of the techniques suggested here over the years but this one is eluding me. What will a mattebox and french flag do to alleviate reflections from the lights? And flagging or crating the source will keep it from bouncing around the set, but as long as it is actually aimed at the subject (i.e. lighting them), it will still reflect in the glasses no matter how it is cut--if you flag it off to the point where the reflection goes away, you are no longer lighting the subject.

The trick of setting the earpieces of the glasses higher is a good one, although I've usually been able to achieve that just by having the subject slide the tips into the hair above the ears, no need to gaff them higher. Too high and it looks weird, of course.

[Bill Ward]

Yeah...gaffer's tape and hair. Remind me to tell you the story of the pistol-packin' Santa and getting his flowing Santa locks stuck in duct tape sometime....