Visiting Canadian Royalty

[Loose Canon]

In order to Honor visiting Canadian Royalty…

It has been far too long since I made a mess of any note in my studio/garage! So I decided to go for a three-fer this time to make up!

Two areas of moving liquid and a mid-air ice cube with a nod to all of my Canadian buddies who enjoy a taste of the Recipe from time to time!

I liked this bottle because of the embossing and I knew that would be a challenge to light nicely. Further, due to the angle I wanted to shoot from I didn’t want to shoot a “standard” bottle shape, such as a wine bottle, or the like. I wanted a shorter, more angled bottle because I’m not a fan of the distortion/compression caused by shooting this angle with these “standard” types of bottles. Everyone knows what they look like and that kind of distortion just doesn’t look right. A different type of bottle is less prone to this. Further still I shot from a high PoV to get the angle I wanted and add some distance to shoot with a higher focal length. I stood on a two-step to frame the shot through the viewfinder and used a longer lens.

I’m not really a huge fan of the contents but I’m not so much a brown liquor guy. I do, however, have some friends who swear by this libation and defer to the Canadian Crown. It will make a good holiday gift after I’m through with it and pour it all back in the bottle!

The shot:
F/13 with a 70-200mmL @ 75mm
Shutter 1/200th
ISO 1000
Four lights fired.

There have been a couple of threads lately regarding flash duration so I will note the longest (slowest) flash duration of the shot, which determines the “stopping power” of movement and in this case is 1/8382 sec. t.1 on the studio strobes. I like 1/8000th minimum for spash work to stop the movement

Shot on a piece of opaque black plexiglass with a piece of diffusion material behind it and a light wearing a 7” reflector behind that causing the spot to reflect on the tabletop surface. The spot was gelled with blue to go with the manufacture’s royal blue color scheme and primarily lights the flowing water and the surface.

The liquor bottle is wearing a piece of thin white open cell foam as a diffuser on its behind with a light behind and off to camera right lighting it and the glass from behind. Cut to fit the bottle shape. Rear label removed. The tumbler is also wearing a piece of the same foam diffuser also cut to fit. The diffusers gives the liquor in the bottle and tumbler a nice glow when lit and helps ease the diffraction that would be evident inside the bottle/tumbler and result in more uneven who-knows-what refracting who-knows-where without it.

There is another light in front and to camera right wearing a snoot to light the label and give some extra speculars to some of the embossing and give some love to the texture on the bottle cap.

There is still yet another light wearing a 7” reflector and barn doors firing through a diffusion panel in front and to camera left to help with the label, glass, embossing on the bottle, and cap. The trick to getting the embossing to show is lighting it such that you get speculars/highlights and shadow of varying degrees showing to get depth otherwise it won’t show as a texture. Typically, side-lighting of some sort is the ticket.

The shot is 5 frames composited all shot under the same lighting as described. One base shot. Another for the ice cube splash. Another for the ice cube caught in mid air, another for the tabletop hosing, and still yet another for the turbulence hitting the bottom of the bottle and tumbler. All hand blended.

The way I understand it, in Canada if you are invited out to a pub you are expected to pay for a round of drinks! Awesome tradition! The shot may suck but the mess was World Class! So in celebration of visiting dignitaries I dip my straw into the Little Blue Pool (where most but not all of this mess ended up) and suck a toast to my Canadian Friends, and anyone else who enjoys a wee drop occasionally no matter where you are from!

After all? We are all Canadians at Heart, eh?

So straws all around! This one’s on me!

[Manfred M]

Another gorgeous shot, Terry. I don't have your patience (or temperament) to do these types of shots.

It's getting far too cold up this way to spend a lot of time in my garage.

Just as a side note, one of the Crown Royal whiskies; Northern Harvest Rye was just named the best whisky of 2015.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/crown-...194500541.html


The whisky is made in the town of Gimli, Manitoba, which is on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. The town has one of the highest number of people of Icelandic descent anywhere outside of Iceland.

So much for a bit of trivia to go with your image...

[Loose Canon]

Thank you Manfred. Admittedly, these types of shots are a huge endeavor in PITA! involving a large time investment and lots of towels, mops and computer time. I guess we have something in common in that we have to set up and tear down the studio, not having a dedicated space. That takes close to as much time as the actual shoot! But hey! It keeps me from being too much of a menace to society!

I saw that about the Rye. Very cool! My choices for the shoot were that, the apple flavor, or the standard issue. The rye is a bit more of a neutral color scheme and I wanted to add an element of color for the shot so I went with standard. The apple would have been a fun subject too!

Congrats on the best whiskey of the year! You guys rock up there!

And thank you again for the additional interesting trivia, which I don't find trivial! As I was making a final on what and where I wanted to go with this shoot I ran into some of the basic manufacturing info for the libation, but I never knew that bit!

[Sam W]

Wow - I think the shot is awesome (all 5)! Great choice of colours too.

[NorthernFocus]

Really nicely done. I can only imagine the complexity...

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, very vibrant. I like the splash, bottle, and the reflection directly below the subject, the right hand side seems a bit soft but has the formation of various animals.

[FootLoose]

Well done, Terry, I admire your effort and expertise in creating this shot. The only thing that bothers me is the colour of the top of the liquid in the bottle - it seems inconsistent with the rest of it. I'm guessing that it has been lightened by the diffuser on the back of the bottle?

[Wavelength]

Perfect creativity...... Will it give a bit more life if the ice cube has a pinch of motion blur???

[Dave Humphries]

Awesome Terry

[DEAN01]

Great creativity and patience!

[Loose Canon]

Thank you for having a look everybody. I appreciate it.

the right hand side seems a bit soft

John, if you have a minute could you say where this area of concern is? I want to be sure I’m not missing something.

Will it give a bit more life if the ice cube has a pinch of motion blur???

It just might Nandakumar and that’s a good idea.

To do that I would look to do a shutter drag and a second curtain firing of a speedlight to do it in camera and get the motion blur and the stopping of the cube looking right. Unless you get lucky it would probably take a lot of tries to get the timing just right and it might be a little tricky to blend back into the base shot. Would definitely be interesting to give it a shot!

It was kind of luck playing with the ice cube. I got the set built and the lighting the way I wanted it and shot the base shot. I filled the tumbler with liquid and was going to shoot the cube dropping into the liquid next for that splash. The very first shot I blew the timing and fired the shutter too early and got the cube suspended above the tumbler! It was exactly what I was wanting for the suspended cube! Sometimes you just get lucky!

The only thing that bothers me is the colour of the top of the liquid in the bottle - it seems inconsistent with the rest of it. I'm guessing that it has been lightened by the diffuser on the back of the bottle?

It’s pretty amazing how much inconsistency you can get with liquids that you don't expect Greg. I appreciate you mentioning this.

To be honest the top surface of the liquid in the bottle would be blue reflecting the gelled background light and it was. Either way the surface of the liquid is naturally going to be a bit brighter from reflecting that light. The color of the liquid would have noting to with that reflection. It would be the equivalent of bouncing a colored light off a mirror! So since you mentioned it what could happen in post is de-saturate that area and add a blank layer. Set the blending mode for that layer to “color”. Choose a color tone from the bottle and paint that area on the blank layer and that would change the color. I did just that except I didn’t do the de-saturation step and maybe I should have. In other words it’s not a biggie to change the color of that area to something else.

[Shadowman]

Thank you for having a look everybody. I appreciate it.



John, if you have a minute could you say where this area of concern is? I want to be sure I’m not missing something.

Terry,

It's the area directly to the right of the Crown Royal bottle as it extends upward to the curve of the glass, it's also the spot where I can see animal formations. I think what makes it look soft is that it is the only area that has a whitish reflection near the edge, all other areas have a dark shadowy curve to the formation.

[Loose Canon]

Okay.

Thank you for that John.

[Donald]

Okay, I know people have already said it, but I didn't want this one to disappear off the list without me saying it too.

Superb!

There are many way of undertaking the art and craft of photography. This is a high quality demonstration of one of those and a lesson in the commitment that is needed to produce something of such a high standard.

[Loose Canon]

Now that is one helluva thing to hear from one of three of my favorite B&W landscape artists (two of which are deceased) and who also holds the highest of rankings in the All Around Good Guy as Well as Photographer Category. Not to mention a future Summa Cum Laude Degree Holder!

It means a lot that you would say Donald.

Thank you sir.

[JBW]

now if Canada could only make a single malt.

[JBW]

okay here is one of those suggestions you are always open to.... no drinking before the shot!

[Dave A]

Wow I can't even imagine the amount of planning and setup to capture an image like this. Outstanding image.

Dave

[tanys18]

Great shot !

[Loose Canon]

okay here is one of those suggestions you are always open to.... no drinking before the shot!

I never sip the Recipe before the shot Brian! If I did I probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of making it!

I necessarily assume then that a drop during and after you would find acceptable?

Dave, thank you for saying.

Yew-sung? Welcome to the Forum. Cool to have you here. Thank you for stopping in for a look at the Canadian Royalty that has graced my humble presence!