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[pnolan48]

David,

Are you using front-surface mirrors? If so, where did you get them?

[DKS]

David,

Are you using front-surface mirrors? If so, where did you get them?

Yes, it's a first-surface mirror. I got it years ago from a stained-glass supply house (brick-and-mortar). You should be able to find them online at most any stained-glass supply site. They sell them for making kaleidoscopes and suchlike.

EDIT: The big names in stained glass supply are:

Delphi http://www.delphiglass.com/index.cfm?page=itemView&itemsysid=130206

Warner Crivellaro http://www.warner-criv.com/product.aspx?id=9980-29

Glass Crafters http://www.glasscrafters.biz/Merchant2/merchant.mv? (search for 'front surface')

You can also try:

http://www.frontsurfacemirror.com/

http://www.clarityglass.com/fsm.asp

[pnolan48]

Thanks, David!

I had a small one years ago, and it required very delicate treatment--white gloves, even. I destroyed it just by slipping it into my pocket for a few hours. Are they any harder today?

While I don't spend a whole lot of time setting up photos, mostly because I don't have a whole lot of time any longer, most any studio shot that's any good takes a lot of time and physical energy. I'm not a spry 25-year-old like I once was; I'm kind of a lumbering 60-year-old linebacker playing in an old-timers game.

I'll be getting a new one soon.

[DKS]

I had a small one years ago, and it required very delicate treatment--white gloves, even. I destroyed it just by slipping it into my pocket for a few hours. Are they any harder today?

The ones I have are fairly robust. They came with thin plastic protective sheets on the silvered side. One mirror shattered as I was peeling the film off, but this was my fault--the glass was super-thin (so thin you could almost use the glass side instead), and I wasn't being careful enough. No biggie, as I need smaller mirrors on occasion, so I just cut down the larger pieces into useful squares.

While I was setting up one shot, I dropped a freight car onto the mirror, and I feared the worst. But it was not damaged. I've even been brazen enough to touch the surface; with very gentle cleaning, the silvering survives nicely. As I used the mirrors more and more, I came to realize that dust, fingerprints and small imperfections disappear in the image, because the flaws fall outside the focal range. (Kind of like how Ansel Adams shot some of his most famous images with a cracked lens--some people don't believe you when you tell them this.)

[pnolan48]

David,

How big a mirror do I really need? My wife, before her shoulder and neck went bad, was an accomplished stained glass artist, so cutting them down won't be a problem--I did her cutting near the end. I have problems envisioning how I'd use a 16" x 20" mirror--how would I fit that into the scene that need a mirror? I know the real answer is: how close do you want to be to the mirror? But any practical advice? For some scenes, I'm thinking a 4 x 5 mirror would just barely fit. BTW, the prices are way below what I expected!

[DKS]

How big a mirror do I really need? My wife, before her shoulder and neck went bad, was an accomplished stained glass artist, so cutting them down won't be a problem--I did her cutting near the end. I have problems envisioning how I'd use a 16" x 20" mirror--how would I fit that into the scene that need a mirror? I know the real answer is: how close do you want to be to the mirror? But any practical advice? For some scenes, I'm thinking a 4 x 5 mirror would just barely fit. BTW, the prices are way below what I expected!

Yes, you sort of answered your own question--it depends on how close to the mirror you'll be working. But the angle of the camera is also a factor. If for example you were shooting straight down at a mirror set at 45 degrees to capture an eye-level shot, you could use a piece as small as 3 x 3 inches or so. For the under-bridge shots I made of my Z scale layout, the piece was around 4 x 6 inches because I was working at a low angle. I don't think there would be much call for a 16 x 20... the largest mirror I own is 9 x 12. Having said that, I tend to use the largest mirror possible because it reduces the setup time, since you have more freedom to move the camera around.

BTW, interesting coincidence, my ex-wife is an accomplished stained glass artist as well, and I helped her cut and grind, too (hmmm, that sounds a bit odd). The mirrors are very easily cut with any plain glass cutter. Just press gently, as the glass is thin.