A bottle with history

[TonyW]

In 1894, the barque Cambus Wallace ran aground in heavy seas off Jumpinpin, a narrow part of Stradbroke Island which forms part of the eastern boundary of Moreton Bay. In about 1974, I was in a party of scuba divers who visited the wreck and we found some bottles, of which this is one. The cargo of the ship was listed as salt, whisky, beer, pig iron and dynamite so that this bottle might have held whisky or beer. Another bottle which was full of liquid we tasted - it was foul.

Not being a bottle expert, I found it difficult to get a photograph even as good as this one, but it does show something of the patina of the glass. It has obviously been worn and chipped over time as it lay in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The bottle is one of many made by John Lamont of Glasgow. He was in the habit of embossing bottles specially for his customers, in this case for J. Ryan of Woolloongabba, a part of Brisbane.

[Mike Buckley]

Fascinating story and terrific display of the color and embossing! My experience is that embossed glass can be really difficult to display well. You also did a great job of bringing out the subtle detail of the imperfections indicating both its age and the results of being subject to all the havoc that the bottle has endured over the decades.

A few ideas you might want to consider:

• The color at the very bottom of the glass seems more saturated than the color elsewhere. Perhaps tone that down a bit.
• Use a background color that complements the color of the glass better and use a gradient or at least a subtle vignette rather than the same color throughout.
• Include a horizon (edge of the tabletop) to provide more of a three-dimensional feel and less of an impression that the bottle is floating in air. If you prefer not to use a clear-cut horizon, you can still provide a greater sense of the third dimension if the transition between the tabletop and the background is indicated by a subtle change in lighting even when that transition is seamless.
• Depending on your taste, perhaps use a reflective tabletop (glass for a lighter reflection; black plexiglass for a more intense reflection).

Coincidentally, I recently posted this photo of green translucent glass (though more clear than yours) that is an example of the last three suggestions that I made.

[Shadowman]

Nice story and image.

[Manfred M]

That reminds me of some of the intersting bottles I've picked up in the past on bottle dives.

As a comment on the image; nice, but it looks a bit detached an appears to be hanging in space; a small reflection or shadow helps anchor the bottle to reality.

[TonyW]

Mike, John and Manfred, thanks for your comments.

Manfred, this is another but very similar image almost straight out of the camera except for some cropping which shows the setup. Perhaps it is better than the one I posted first. It shows the bottle sitting on the table and some three dimensionality.



I rationalised the colour as representing the sand on the bottom of the ocean. You can see how crude the setup is - I don't have anything like a studio. This was on a kitchen table with sunlight coming in through the open door and some side light coming in from high windows on the side. The reason I messed with the background was that I was not sure about the brightness towards the top.

Mike, the intense green colour around the bottom was how it actually looked. I did not increase the saturation. Getting the embossing around the bottom to show up was hard. The angle (i.e. the declination of the camera) had to be just right to get the light going through. I will try with the bottle closer to the edge of the table so that it shows but it might be that the light reflected from the table top is important.

[IzzieK]

Very interesting find...and the story to it, Tony. I like both shots but as the others already mentioned, the first one seems like it is floating. The second one has a more earthy feeling to it. Since you are near the beach, I suggest you find some sand and stand the bottle in it instead or lie it down on the sand then take a shot of it. Your efforts doesn't disappoint. I like the fact that you are able to credit to the bottle maker too.

[Mike Buckley]

The second one works a lot better for me, Tony. The shadow and the gradient in the tabletop (probably caused by increasing amount of glare) results in a very nice three-dimensional look. No horizon is needed in that situation, though you might like including the horizon but only if the background is suitable.

About the saturation at the bottom: That area doesn't look overly saturated in the second one. Keep in mind that even though the camera captures the light a certain way, that doesn't mean that none of the scene appears to be overly saturated. Sometimes you need to make adjustments for whatever reason to make a better image.

I prefer the relationship of the camera to the bottle in the first photo. If you could combine that with the other aspects of the second photo, you might like the results more. You could also try giving the shadow more prominence for additional character, which could result in attractively positioning the bottle off-center in the frame rather than using the static, centered position. For an example, see this.

[Mike Buckley]

Another idea: If you could obtain an image free of copyright of a newspaper from 1894, perhaps even one with an article about the ship, you could use that as a background. As an example, the U. S. Smithsonian has a web site that makes information available free of copyright. Maybe Australia has a similar institution that does the same.

Similarly, if you have desktop publishing skills, you could search the web for copyright-free stuff and create your own newspaper page using information extracted from newspapers of the time. There's lots of that stuff on the Internet.