Improvement: Concave inside convex

[ajohnw]

There's still some of Sharon's soot mostly at the bottom end of the glass ware and maybe super vague shadows in the low corners.

I wonder if some weak additional light from directly above might remove the soot?

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[Mike Buckley]

It would be easy to remove the "soot" using either increased exposure, moving the light positioned behind the subject closer to the subject, removing it in post-processing, or all of the above. For me, that less-than-white area adds shape to the glass and is typical of photographs made using a bright background.

While it's fairly easy to provide an image that displays everything white except the dark outline of the glass, that's not the look I'm trying to achieve in this one. Similarly, it would be reasonably easy to create the image using a black background that displays bright light only at the edges of the glass. Images made with a dark background often include reflected bright light positioned to provide shape to the glass.

[Daisy Mae]

It would be easy to remove the "soot" using either increased exposure, moving the light positioned behind the subject closer to the subject, removing it in post-processing, or all of the above. For me, that less-than-white area adds shape to the glass and is typical of photographs made using a bright background.
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Mike.... if you have achieved what you set out to achieve then what's the problem?

[Mike Buckley]

There's no problem, Sharon. I'm just curious to know whether you prefer or like any of the versions displaying less "soot." For myself, I'm still living with the various versions to determine which style I like the best.

[Daisy Mae]

Can I tell you what I would do in that situation Mike?

I'd nip up to the Chemist and get them printed out so that I could look at them side by side on a big sheet of black or white card.

Just a thought.

[Mike Buckley]

That's probably always a good idea, Sharon. Carolyn Guild is one of the few digital black-and-white photographers, possibly the only one, whose prints are admired by museum curators. (Most high-end buyers and curators shun black-and-white prints captured digitally.) Part of her workflow is to print the image before deciding whether an image requires more tweaking.

[ajohnw]

It would be easy to remove the "soot" using either increased exposure, moving the light positioned behind the subject closer to the subject, removing it in post-processing, or all of the above. For me, that less-than-white area adds shape to the glass and is typical of photographs made using a bright background.

While it's fairly easy to provide an image that displays everything white except the dark outline of the glass, that's not the look I'm trying to achieve in this one. Similarly, it would be reasonably easy to create the image using a black background that displays bright light only at the edges of the glass. Images made with a dark background often include reflected bright light positioned to provide shape to the glass.

I'm not so sure it would be easy to remove like that Mike. Some of it is due to light loss and refraction through the glass. For instance light passes through a greater thickness of glass according to it's orientation to the object - more refraction. The angle it strikes the glass at will also vary which will also vary the reflected light loss. At some angle rather a lot of it wont pass through. I'm toying with idea of trying it myself at some point as it is a difficult thing to do.

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[Mike Buckley]

The angle [the light] strikes the glass at will also vary which will also vary the reflected light loss. At some angle rather a lot of it wont pass through.

So true! That explains why the image can change substantially when varying the distance between the light and the subject even when the relationship between the two remains otherwise the same.

I'm toying with idea of trying it myself at some point as it is a difficult thing to do.

If "it" means this style of photography, I find it both difficult and enjoyable. I look forward to seeing your images, so get going!