Champagne

[mugge]

Both images are absolutely stunning. Who cares what's inside those bottles. Weeeel maybeeee
Ole

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Matt and Ole!

Who cares what's inside those bottles. Weeeel maybeeee

50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay

[chauncey]

Mike, the more I looked at that image, the more I thought something was amiss...it was.
I pulled a screenshot into PS and applied a grid, sure enough...the neck is bowed to the left.

Rolling the bottle on the table to see if the neck remains parallel would be a way to check...
maybe a hand-blown bottle???

[Mike Buckley]

When I view the image with a grid displayed, I detect no bowing in the neck. Even so, the foil could be applied in such a way that would make it impossible to know without removing it whether the bottle neck itself is perfectly straight. I very seriously doubt that the bottle is hand-blown.

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

Gorgeous image! I like the b&w but I'm head over heels in love with the colour version. The colour version is extra special to me because of the beautiful gold tones throughout and also because of the gold sparkly reflections seen in the swirls of the glass, and the goldish reflections on the black material.

[Mike Buckley]

Glad you like it, Christina! It's the gold tones you mention associated with champagne that motivated me to "think" in color when creating the original image.

[terrib]

Beautiful job, Mike.

[Hawki]

Really well done Mike, I truly like every aspect of your choices. My preference would be the color shot. You have some great hues working with the glass that you lose with the B&W.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Terri and Dave!

[Otavio]

Great work, Mike. Awesome light and an interesting PP, producing a very clear and pleasant image. Well done!

[D L]

A really nice image.
I prefer the colour image, mainly for the background. The bottle works really well both monochrome and colour.
This learner can't comprehend or appreciate the technical issues in capturing and the post processing involved. (Not a request for explanation, my brain will probably explode ).
I checked out your website too. That image of red wine going into the decanter is amazing.
Good to see some Barossa Valley Shiraz made the cut

[ShaneS]

What a lovely image of a very beautiful bottle Mike! Great use of the doormat too

Like you I prefer the glow of the color image and after seeing that the black and white image, while very well done, just loses some of the 'glow' for me.

I'm always impressed with the technical detail that goes into the planning and shooting of your studio glass work!

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

It might be helpful to know that the lighting is the sort of thing that when you don't know how to do it, it's extraordinarily difficult to figure it out. I would never have figured it out on my own. Yet once you learn how to do it, the concept can be very simple. In the worst-case scenario, the setup is tedious. In that situation, it's helpful if that aspect is enjoyable at least on some level such as for the challenge if nothing else.

To get the ideal exposure, I always use a series of bracketed shots using the histogram as my guide and then determine the one I like best once I'm at my computer. (My makeshift studio doesn't allow me the luxury of tethering the camera to the computer.)

Almost all of my post-processing time was spent cloning out some unwanted reflections and cloning in some wanted ones in very small areas because doing so was quicker than getting the lighting setup ideal. There was one nasty situation in which I liked my lighting setup until I reviewed the photos on the computer and had to repair that situation by doing painstaking cloning.

Aside from that, the post-processing was very basic: adjusted the tone curve to my liking, applied my normal capture sharpening, changed the color balance ever so slightly, applied a vignette to the background (far quicker to do that than make it happen in the lighting setup), and dodged and burned a couple areas.

[Bobobird]

Great looking bottle and not surprised that you bought it just for a photograph. After taking such a splendid shot, I would have downed it all in celebration of my excellent work.

But a charity donation is a good thing too. hehe

[Mike Buckley]

I would have downed it all in celebration of my excellent work.

Everything I do, whether deserving or not and whether pertaining to photography or not, is celebrated with a glass of wine.

[Mike Buckley]

I received the print today of the color version and I really like it. The background in the print serves that role even better (without detracting from the subject) than in the electronic display.

[Barnwell]

I read all the posts and I still can't forget this part.
" I bought the bottle because ... I wanted to photograph it. "

I like to photograph mountains and race cars but... The 1st one is a nice photo though.

[Mike Buckley]

Good point, Barnwell!