Crazy balls

[GiacomoD]

I've been far from CiC (and from my camera too ) for some time.
Today I'm back with a kind of photo that is quite unusual for me.
I tried to take some shots of my "crazy balls collection" into a crystal pot, playing with lighting. Lacking of specific equipment for this kind of shots, I tried some handycraft solutions. The pot was in an almost dark room, the camera set in B mode and with the external flash - handheld - of my old film camera I provided two flash shots, perpendicular to the view angle, on the two sides of the pot.
After several trials, I added some additional lightning from the top with a white light ordinary lamp.
I did not do much in post-processing, just levels and sharpening.

The result is perhaps not so great, but it has been funny!

As usual, C&C welcome

[Mike Buckley]

This image has a lot of potential in my mind.

If you could arrange your lighting so the shape of the glass vessel is defined only by the dark edges, such as in the bottom right corner, the brilliant color of the balls will be more pronounced. That's because the bright edges of the vessel in this current version are distracting.

Also try to arrange your lighting so all of it is coming from the sides, rear and/or front. Using the top lighting removed most of the shadows on the colorful balls, which makes them look flat. It's their shadows that will help define their shape and display more of a three-dimensional look.

Last, a tabletop material that has less texture and tonal variation will provide a less distracting background that allows the subject to be emphasized. A high-quality felt in whatever color you prefer would be ideal.

[GiacomoD]

Thanks Mike,

Actually, this is only one of the many versions I took, trying different flash incident angles and directions. It looked to me that the more interesting shots were those with the flash positioned at the same height of the table, while when I raised it there was too much lighting on the tabletop.
I'm aware that flash position is critical and that it will not be easy to get the vessel shape with dark edges. Do you think that a polarizer could help? Is the flash light polarized?

Also, I agree with you about changing the tabletop, I will look for some alternative surface.
Giacomo

[Mike Buckley]

The best information that I can provide is to be reminded that glass is one of the very most difficult subjects to photograph effectively. Now that we have gotten that little tidbit out of the way ...

Though I have a lot of experience photographing clear glass, I have little experience photographing colored glass (though that shall soon change). For more helpful information, I recommend that you ask Terry (Loose Canon) to join in the thread, as he is an expert at photographing colored glass. Also pick up Lighting and Photographing Transparent and Translucent Surfaces, authored by Glenn Rand. Terry recommended that book to me and it explains the lighting setups and why they work that would apply to your very nice subject. In fact, the cover photo requires using many of the same techniques required for photographing your subject.

I will mention that one way to create the black edges of the glass vessel is to place a light directly behind the subject, shining toward it and the camera and to project that light through a white, translucent, diffusing material such as plexiglass, vellum or any photo diffuser. If you use that method, you will need to provide additional light on the colored balls but you'll need to avoid lighting the clear glass with direct light. One way to do that is to use only reflected light on the colored balls; if it also falls on the clear glass, it may actually add character to it. Another way is to use direct light on the colored balls while blocking the portions of the light that would otherwise fall on the clear glass.

The only other thing that I can add is that you don't have to feel limited by the number of your direct light sources. Many times the only way to achieve the desired image is to add white and/or black reflectors and sometimes even mirrors to the sides of the subject. I'm rather certain that that is true of your subject, which requires considerable skill and time to photograph just right.

Though it's always quick and easy to determine if using a polarizer will help, I doubt that it will in this image.

[mknittle]

I agree with Mike, I think there Is potential here. Experiment with different angles and lighting . above all have fun

[GiacomoD]

Wow Mike, thanks a lot for all this info!

The best information that I can provide is to be reminded that glass is one of the very most difficult subjects to photograph effectively. Now that we have gotten that little tidbit out of the way ...

Good to know

Though I have a lot of experience photographing clear glass, I have little experience photographing colored glass (though that shall soon change). For more helpful information, I recommend that you ask Terry (Loose Canon) to join in the thread, as he is an expert at photographing colored glass. Also pick up Lighting and Photographing Transparent and Translucent Surfaces, authored by Glenn Rand. Terry recommended that book to me and it explains the lighting setups and why they work that would apply to your very nice subject. In fact, the cover photo requires using many of the same techniques required for photographing your subject.

The vessel that I used is transparent and the colors, visible especially on the left side, are generated by the balls. This was actually something that I liked much during the first attempts and that I tried to valorize.

I will mention that one way to create the black edges of the glass vessel is to place a light directly behind the subject, shining toward it and the camera and to project that light through a white, translucent, diffusing material such as plexiglass, vellum or any photo diffuser. If you use that method, you will need to provide additional light on the colored balls but you'll need to avoid lighting the clear glass with direct light. One way to do that is to use only reflected light on the colored balls; if it also falls on the clear glass, it may actually add character to it. Another way is to use direct light on the colored balls while blocking the portions of the light that would otherwise fall on the clear glass.

The only other thing that I can add is that you don't have to feel limited by the number of your direct light sources. Many times the only way to achieve the desired image is to add white and/or black reflectors and sometimes even mirrors to the sides of the subject. I'm rather certain that that is true of your subject, which requires considerable skill and time to photograph just right.

OMG, this means that I will need some 50 attempts or more before reaching something acceptable

Though it's always quick and easy to determine if using a polarizer will help, I doubt that it will in this image.

Me too, but I will try.

Thanks again

[Mike Buckley]

The vessel that I used is transparent and the colors, visible especially on the left side, are generated by the balls. This was actually something that I liked much during the first attempts and that I tried to valorize.

Yes, I like that aspect also. Those colors are definitely reflections of the balls but a small amount of them might also be refractions of the spectrum of light caused by the clear glass. Thankfully, the methods that I mentioned will not get rid of those colors.

Are the balls colored glass?

[GiacomoD]

No Mike,
unfortunately the balls are in rubber... I can't imagine what I could get if they were glass balls!!!

Yesterday I tried to follow your suggestions but I couldn't get great results. I realized that it's actually difficult to obtain an uniform diffused light without specific equipment, but I will try again and I'll post the results, it getting more and more funny!