A line drawn in the glass

[Mike Buckley]

It's not that I forgot to take my meds or that I took too many of them. The style of this photo is explained by the fact that I simply had an idea that is in a very different direction than I have ever gone.

[Brownbear]

Creative as always, and decidedly different. My eye is drawn to the glass table (a little slanted) more than the glass vessels? Is the glass in the background, a little bright?

[Mike Buckley]

I accidentally deleted a post that I had written in response to Christina. Doing so was probably a Freudian slip, as it contained the following ridiculously incorrect statement (written by me, not Christina):

I think the two glass vessels are lit the same; the difference is that the rear glass ...[is] closer to the background light.

Rather than have someone point out for me that it would be extremely difficult to think of something more stupid for me to write, I'll point that out myself. Two objects that are exactly the same, especially clear glass objects, will appear different when one is positioned dramatically closer to the source of back light than the other one, as in this case. That's because, ahem, they are lit differently by virtue of being different distances from the light source.

I feel better now that I have beat everyone to the punch.

[Brownbear]

Thanks Mike.. Is the table top akin to the horizon in say a landscape photo? I'm curious.

[Mike Buckley]

Is the table top akin to the horizon in say a landscape photo?

Exactly the same concept. The horizon is the horizon is the horizon regardless of the context.

[Mike Buckley]

Christina: Please review post #3. I changed it since initially responding to you.

[FootLoose]

Like Christina, I find the triangular shape taking more of my attention that the bottle(s).

[Mike Buckley]

Like Christina, I find the triangular shape taking more of my attention that the bottle(s).

That's what I wanted to happen.

Christina and Greg: Look for something else in the image that neither of you have mentioned.

[Plumcrak]

Mike, the line between the two vessels...is that the bottom edge of a mirror making the left hand vessel a reflection of the right hand vessel???

I really like this!!!

[Mike Buckley]

I see that Greg, Jon (and my wife) think there may be only one glass vessel. There are two vessels separated by a piece of clear plexiglass set on top of and perpendicular to the glass tabletop. The black diagonal line is the bottom edge of the clear plexiglass.

There is still something else to notice about the photo.

[FootLoose]

That's funny, Mike, because I studied that 'reflection' for some time: I thought it seemed a bit ghostly and it didn't seem like an 'identical' reflected image of the object on this side, but I thought your earlier explanation above about the lighting and and another post about reflections elsewhere probably accounted for that.

However, is the 'something else' the reflection of the bottle behind the plexiglass? You explained to me previously that reflections don't have reflections, so if the rear bottle is a reflection then it shouldn't have a reflection on the surface beneath it.

[Mike Buckley]

Greg's guess is close in the sense that the characteristic that has not been mentioned has to do with the reflection of the rear bottle in the tabletop. Notice that it stops at the diagonal line. Despite that it looks good (or at least I think it looks good) as a graphic element in the image, that's a physical impossibility; the reflection continued all the way to the bottom of the frame until I digitally removed that part of it. As I removed it, I was thinking of Escher's drawings that look great but are physical impossibilities.

You explained to me previously that reflections don't have reflections

Sorry, Greg. If I wrote that I really messed up because reflections can indeed be reflected. Imagine two mirrors facing each other. Whatever is being reflected in one mirror is also being reflected in the other mirror an infinite number of times. The only reason we don't think it's infinite is because eventually the reflection gets so small that the human eye can't perceive it.

[Brownbear]

Is it that the reflection of the glass on the table top is reflected inside the glass but inverted?

[Mike Buckley]

Is it that the reflection of the glass on the table top is reflected inside the glass but inverted?

No, but thanks for playing my game. See my previous post for the explanation.

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

Thank you. It would have never occurred to me that it was impossible for the reflection to be cut off but yes, of course.

Why is the lighting different on the table top segments but the same in the background? Is that just the way the lighting falls? What are the inverted lines inside the glasses?

Thank you.

[Mike Buckley]

It would have never occurred to me that it was impossible for the reflection to be cut off

That's what I like about that part of the image; it looks perfectly natural despite that it's impossible to have happened without digital manipulation.

Why is the lighting different on the table top segments but the same in the background?

I think you're referring to the triangular area of the tabletop that is darker than the rest of the tabletop even though all of the background has essentially one tone. I'll explain: The so-called clear plexiglass is in between the camera and all of the background. However, it's only between the camera and part of the table top (the darker triangular area). If the plexiglass was perfectly clear, all of the tabletop would be displayed in essentially the same tones. Though we call the plexiglass clear or transparent, it's not perfectly clear, as demonstrated in the photo that it is blocking a small amount of the light coming from the rear.

Make sense? I ask because I'm not sure I explained it, ahem, clearly.

What are the inverted lines inside the glasses?

You'll have to be more specific. What lines?

[Brownbear]

Yes, that makes sense.. Thank you for the explanation.

The very last top lines (curvatures) in the upper clear portion of the glass vessels, perhaps they are shadows.

[Mike Buckley]

Sorry, Christina, but neither my wife nor I understand which lines you are referring to. If it's important to you, download the photo, add color to the area that you're describing and post the altered photo.

[Wavelength]

Excellent

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

It's not that important but not knowing is is nagging at me... Here are the photos with the shadows darkened and then just the lines darkened... My sincere apologies for destroying the beauty of your photos...

Sorry, Christina, but neither my wife nor I understand which lines you are referring to. If it's important to you, download the photo, add color to the area that you're describing and post the altered photo.