Wine: Swirling Tryptich #2 (this time with flash)

[Mike Buckley]

The tryptich shown below is using the same wine, same wine glass, and same basic setup as posted in this thread. The only difference between the two sets is that I used only ambient light in the other photos and I used only a speedlight in the photos shown below to produce a different effect.

If I were to hang these three on a wall, the top one here would be on the left and the bottom one here would be on the right.

[Digital]

Nice captures Mike.


Bruce

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Stagecoach]

Mike, I'm sure you can sell these to a wine bar.

They are all excellent pictures as we would expect from you and I'm assuming you tilted the glass with the wine in it, snapping, and the flash froze all?

But, the glass or camera could have been tilted and the wine dropped in

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Beautiful! Of this set, the 1st is my favourite. (magical!) For the colour and swirls... Followed by #3.

You know that looks like a little man springing out of the wine on the right hand side of image one, preparing to dive in on the other side of the glass in image #2.

[FootLoose]

I like the first for the stronger red colour, and the 2nd for the s-curve in the swirl. It occurs to me, though, that the shapes of the fluid in #2 and #3 could almost be yin and yang.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!

I'm assuming you tilted the glass with the wine in it, snapping, and the flash froze all?

Very close, Grahame. I began swirling the glass. When it felt or looked right, I released the shutter. The flash stopped the action. I then stopped swirling, waited for the flash to recharge, and repeated the process for the next photo.

I made 40 - 50 shots and kept 11. I had no idea my success rate would be so high. The photos in this thread are not only my favorites. They also complement each other.

Interestingly, of all the shots, none were leaning to the left. That's despite that I would capture three images, check them in the LCD, see that none were leaning to the left, and try to make the next set lean to the left. The one above and a few others that are now leaning to the left are that way only because I flipped them during post-processing.

[Jeffbridge]

Beautiful captures; excellent series!!

[NorthernFocus]

These are excellent, Mike. Another great idea. The various ideas you come up with using the same basic subject matter really demonstrate what can be done with a creative mind. It's really astonishing.

Pea brains like me have to go out and chase critters around the woods until they do something interesting

[ShaneS]

I really like these shots and am glad that you are featuring some movement in your shots. Wasn't it you who said they prefer shooting things that don't move? You are getting adventurous as you master your subject and lighting and I applaud that

These images would look just beautiful over the bar in a high end wine tasting room or wine store. I think a business trip to Napa is in order. But, unless you have great self control, you might spend more on your wine drinking hobby than you would gain from the sale of some prints

I prefer the first and second of this series (the third has a slightly different coloring in the glass on my monitor but appears to be due to the swirling of the wine).

Dan said:

Pea brains like me have to go out and chase critters around the woods until they do something interesting

I guess I am a pea brain too only I wait for light and try to find interesting compositions of Hawaii landscapes that have been photographed a gazillion time before. At least you can make your own light...

[NorthernFocus]

...At least you can make your own light...

Too lazy

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

Wasn't it you who said they prefer shooting things that don't move?

Yes, and I still do. Stationary subjects are a LOT easier to time, to compose and to get in focus.

(the third has a slightly different coloring in the glass on my monitor but appears to be due to the swirling of the wine).

Yes, that's due to the wine, though to my eye the coloring is the same as in the others. Thanks for mentioning it, though, because completely desaturating that area might make a more appealing photograph. It's almost as if that area needs either more wine on the glass or no wine; desaturating would provide the effect of having no wine.

compositions of Hawaii landscapes that have been photographed a gazillion time before

As if nobody has ever photographed wine in a wine glass?

Seriously, no two photographs are the same. Moreover, when I make a photo that is similar to photos already made, the process and results are no less satisfying for me. I eventually want to make abstracts in my makeshift studio and those will be the closest images to photos that have never been made. I'll be very surprised if that aspect alone makes the process or results more satisfying for me.

[Mike Buckley]

My aesthetic choices

Now that I have made two sets of wine in motion in the glass, I want to share the aesthetic choices that I decided upon before making the photos.

If you Google hundreds of wine photos as I have done, you'll notice that almost all photos of moving wine in a wine glass have the following characteristics:

• The motion is stopped;
• The color of the red wine is unnaturally bright and saturated; and
• The wine is splashing about so unnaturally that it has already exited the glass or is certainly about to do so.

About the first characteristic: My first set of photos does not stop the action. I didn't make those images because I couldn't find any examples of photos made that way. I made them because I thought I would like the overall appearance on a couple of levels. I was highly complimented when Donald mentioned that those images display the ambiance of drinking wine.

About the second characteristic: Some of the brighter areas of the wine in this set of photos are desaturated to make the wine appear more as we see it during typical drinking situations. No one drinks wine with a speedlight blasting behind it, so I chose to counter the unwanted effect of using flash.

About the third characteristic: I plead somewhat guilty regarding the splash in the first photo of this set, as it is borderline too aggressive and unnatural. That's true even though I don't have the impression that the wine in that photo is about to splash out of the glass. I like this photo so much because of the shape of the splash (notwithstanding Christina's likeness of a man appearing in it).

That's my thought process, for better or worse.

[Manfred M]

Two nice series Mike.

I think I prefer this second set; I do think that you do need the flash to freeze the moving glass. The first series was interesting, but the overall softness of the glass just did not do it for me. On the other hand, desaturating the image was brilliant, as this is truely the way we see wine in a glass. As you point out, we don't blast our wine with a bright light when drinking it; doing so in an image results in something akin to coloured water, not wine.

As for the title of a tryptich, you are stretching things a bit. I had expected the three images to be side by side, the more traditional form when that description is used...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for your feedback, Manfred. I'll use the term "trio" next time.

[Loose Canon]

Very nice Mike.

I like these much better as well. I don’t think the motion of the glass is necessary to convey motion. There is no doubt the wine is in motion even if stopped and makes for a nicer shot. Well, at least to my feeble mind!

I like them all but as you might guess I like the first two a little better since they are a tad more radical swills, um, I mean swirls!

[Mike Buckley]

Here's to radical swills, Terry.

[Loose Canon]

Now I'll drink to that Mike!