I am currently shooting chandeliers with plenty of crystals involved. I managed the star effect but the crystals seem and look dead with no colors in them. I have seen pictures with crystals really shining with the colors of spectrum. Any idea how to achieve that ? I use studio flashes and not tungsten lighting.

-- Tarek El Baradie (tbaradie@yahoo.com), October 09, 1999

Answers

You probably want to get some light shooting through the prisms from behind or to the side. Maybe mount a bare bulb unit up inside the tiers of prisms. Make some Polaroids.

-- Tony Brent (ajbrent@mich.com), October 09, 1999.

If you cross light the chandelier using a direct gel light you will get color. Adjust the color by moving the light back and forth. Don't diffuse this hot light. If you diffuse it you will loose its brilliance. The crystals will pick up color from the gel and other colors will magically appear.

-- jacque staskon (jacque@cybertrails.com), October 10, 1999.

You need a point source. Try painting the inside of one of your reflectors black (with heat resistant paint!). If you use a diffused light or even a standard reflector and a grid refractor, the size of the light source will cancel out the effect.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), October 11, 1999.