Case Lighting Glare Problem

Hello All,

The post regarding case lighting has prompted me to write in my
question. I have display cases from Dynamic Display Systems that
have 30 degree glass angled tops. I have real problems with glare at
both indoor and outdoor shows. The bases I have them sitting on are
approximately 36" high. When I do indoor shows I have terrible
reflection off the track lights no matter where I position them. At
outdoor shows I have nasty glare all over the place. Customers have
to really strain to see what is inside. The cases were very
expensive and they generally look very nice, clean and contemporary.
I don’t know anything about the science of light or how it bounces
off objects so any suggestions to combat this problem would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Grace

have you tried changing the color of the background on the inside of
the cases? dark to light or vice versa . isn’t there some sort of
glare resistant glass used for picture frames? good luck-goo

Thanks for your suggestions, but nothing I do to the inside helps. I
have tried changing the display colors, etc. - no difference. The
problem is definitely from the outside - the light bouncing off the
glass. I was thinking that maybe if I raised the cases so the light
hits at a different angle it might change the reflection. But I worry
about the work being too high. I can’t really lower them because my
bases (counters) are not adjustable. What is the optimum height to
view jewelry?

i had some show cases built back in 1993 and the cabinetmaker said
"42" you do busines at 42?. are they hinged in the front? so the top
lifts up? or are there sliding doors at the back? send me a picture
offlist. -goo

I had the same problem with my dynamic display cases, they were kind
enough to exchange them for the flat topped ones for me. Other
crafters at the time told me that it would happen with any slanted
top jewelry cases. I was very happy with the flat topped dynamic
display cases.

Betty Belmonte

Grace:

Light behaves like poolballs. The secret to reflections is the same
as a good bank shot. Baffled yet?

Quoting from
hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/fermat.html#c1

  "A light ray incident upon a reflective surface will be
  reflected at an angle equal to the incident angle. Both angles
  are typically measured with respect to the normal to the
  surface. This law of reflection can be derived from Fermat's
  principle" 

Translated into English, this adds up to “imagine a plane
perpendicular to the surface of your glass. (If the glass is laying
flat on a table, the plane is sticking straight up.) If the light
comes in from the left at 30 degrees of angle, relative to your
perpendicular plane, it will bounce out at 30 degrees to the right of
the plane” Play around with mirrors and a laser pointer for a really
good visual example of this. (For real fun, stand the mirror up so
that it’s standing up out of a carpet, then shoot the laser across
the carpet. Very clear what’s going on.)

Every case will have some glare, somewhere. It just depends on where
the lights are, and where the viewers are. If you can light them
internally, and have no exterior lights, that’d be best, Failing
that, try to figure out what the average viewer height and distance
will be, and try to keep the lights out of those areas. Again, a
laser pointer can be a useful toy: Get someone about average size to
hold the pointer at about eye-level in your booth, and ‘look’ at the
cases, both from “ooooh, look at this!” range, and from browsing
range. Get a white sheet and string it across the top of your booth
at about the level you run your lights. (Flat, like a ceiling.)
Watch where the reflection of the pointer dot goes. Don’t put lights
there.

Hope this was some help.
Brian Meek.