Broken Dreams Come True

[Loose Canon]

I have had something like this in mind for a pretty good while now.

In fact, a post several months old where I said that from that moment on anything done with broken glass I would consider as a “Mike Buckley”!

I needed to visualize how I might attempt a Buckley. After all he is the Master! When it came to me what I might want to do then the challenge was how to pull it off.

It had to be done in one frame, one shot. Of course it had to have a wine glass involved. It had to be broken and in this case I wanted to shoot it actually breaking. I missed the wine bottle but if would have had one on hand when I shot this I would have had the neck (and only the neck) at the top of the frame doing the pour (please just use your imagination on that!). I wanted the pour to blow the wine glass thereby creating the classic Buckley Broken Glass!

I had to stop the liquid and the blowing glass. I did this with strobe duration. I was at t.1- 7539 @56.3 Ws, which is an awesome studio duration and a decent working amount of light. ISO 200 to get this. This was shot with one light gelled, gridded, and doored .

I might add that while I adore my plexiglass, I went to Lowe’s (a home improvement hardware store) and picked up some picture frame glass and a can of flat black spray paint. Compared to what plexi costs it was dirt cheap. I simply painted one side of the glass with the flat black and let ‘er rip and that is the shooting surface in this shot! I’m going to add maybe a sheet of thin foam with double sided tape on the painted side to protect it and help keep it from sliding.

So I raise my broken wine glass (and hope I don’t cut my lips off) to the Forum and Mr. Buckley.

To you!

[flashback]

Mike, those footsteps you hear behind you...it's Terry!
Great shot Terry. I think you may *may* have out Buckleyed Buckley.

[RichardTaylor]

A big WOW on this one.

[travis4567]

Wonderful shot Terry. I really don't see the similarity to Mike's work except for the use of the wine glass. You are both masters of your craft.

[FootLoose]

That's a heavy red, Terry. I like the colours in this shot. Well done. (Mike will probably ask you for the glass now, so he take a shot of it)

[Stagecoach]

Stupendous Terry ! I look forward to hearing the finer details of how this was achieved.

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks to this photo, I'm going to stop photographing glass for good. This really puts to shame anything I ever thought of doing, much less doing.

I have no idea how you got the glass to break making just one exposure. If I had figured out how to make it happen, I wouldn't tell anyone.

Terry: I've actually thought of painting glass black as a substitute for black plexiglass because glass doesn't scratch nearly as easily. Is there any fundamental difference in the reflective quality of the painted glass compared to the plexiglass?

[deetheturk]

Superb Terry,really well captured!

David

[Paniaa]

Wow Terry! 103% for the idea, 104% for sorting out the ingenious How-to, and 110% for getting the fab image in one go!

[purplehaze]

Excellent, Terry. I have no idea how you did that and, like Pania, I am as impressed by the conception as I am the execution.

[IzzieK]

All the superlatives been used...sorry Terry... so I'll just say it is a wonderful, thoughtful shot...how did you get to break the glass while the wine was pouring anyway? Really curious about that.........how many glasses did you break for the shot to be successful?

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[dragon76]

I had to stop the liquid and the blowing glass. I did this with strobe duration. I was at t.1- 7539 @56.3 Ws, which is an awesome studio duration and a decent working amount of light. ISO 200 to get this. This was shot with one light gelled, gridded, and doored .

Terry,

Did you hypersync your strobe? What a great shot! very impressive with just one take. Like Mike I dont know how you broke the glass and captured it in one shot. I guess, it must have bounced off the glass from the pouring force. If that was the case, then perfect timing.

[Loose Canon]

Hey thank you everyone.

Jack there is just no way to “out Buckley” Mr. Buckley! He is the Master Glass Guru. In fact, had it not been for him and his broken glass I probably would have never even thought to shoot something like this! He is an Inspiration.

Travis I think the similarity stems (pun intended) from the fact that this shot, as well as a lot of Mike’s work, is lit using the exact same techniques and principles. We may have differing styles but there are only a few ways to successfully photograph clear glass. Same with clear liquid.

Mike, if you stop photographing glass then I’m selling all my gear and taking up knitting! (Probably should anyway!) You are my Hero man!

I really haven’t shot much on the painted glass surface yet Mike. I think if I were to shoot something like a necklace or something I might go with the plexi. I just don’t know yet. I wanted to go with the painted glass for liquid and rougher type shots because I was kind of afraid of trashing my plexi. Not to mention it is way more cost effective. I think I gave $7 for an 18x24” piece, $2.50 for a 10x12” piece, and $4 for a can of paint that will do several pieces. Of course that is not counting the postage it will cost to send the broken pieces to you when I break one! I don’t see me giving up the plexi, but I really don’t have a solid answer to your question yet.

I didn’t hypersync the strobe Dean. It’s a studio head and it won’t do that anyway. I was at f/16, 1/200 second (my camera’s X-sync), 70mm focal length. The pour was stopped with the flash duration and not the shutter speed.

[dragon76]

Hey thank you everyone.


I didn’t hypersync the strobe Dean. It’s a studio head and it won’t do that anyway. I was at f/16, 1/200 second (my camera’s X-sync), 70mm focal length. The pour was stopped with the flash duration and not the shutter speed.

Thanks. I could sort of work out the long focal length and the 10% brightness duration for the smoothing of the pouring liquid but I couldn't figure why there is no blur in the glass falling/breaking motion at FF x-sync speed. I thought you'd have used optical slave trigger of some sort to hyper sync with the head.

Cheers

Dean

[Brownbear]

Simply amazing!

[Wavelength]

Terry-fic!!!!!Did you make it in one go? if not how many broken glasses?

Regards

[bnnrcn]

Superb

[Kaye Leggett]

That's the March photo competition won then !

Terry its a terrific shot - well done on all the hard work setting it up - hope you had fun as you worked it all out.

[Rita]

Just one word....WOW.