Japanese teapot -again

Today, I left that dark and moody teapot behind and head to the light-hearted view. Basically the same setup, without the blue gels and on white seamless. Two sets of barn doors to control the light spill on this one, and no snoot.


https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5594/...bec6e11e_o.jpg

And before anyone asks; this is a colour shot, not a B&W conversion.

Absolutely beautiful!

Yup, like it now lets see you shoot it shadowless....;) no photoshopping! or how about on glass with a deep reflection?..... im sounding like your wife now arnt i ? :eek::D

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Originally Posted by Mark von Kanel

Yup, like it now lets see you shoot it shadowless....;) no photoshopping! or how about on glass with a deep reflection?..... im sounding like your wife now arnt i ? :eek::D

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Actually she beat you to it Mark; she thought it would like nice with a bit of steam rising from the spout, with some nice tea steeping inside of it.

Might as well add some Japanese tea cups and some tea leaves to the scene while you're at it! :)

A great example of how lighting totally changes the mood of an image.

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Originally Posted by Loose Canon

Might as well add some Japanese tea cups and some tea leaves to the scene while you're at it! :)

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dont forget one of those cute little bowels with the whisk in it as well ;)

Do I get points for simply explaining that I like it a lot without requesting changes to be made? The shadow is exquisite and I especially like how it exits the frame. All shapes, texture and form of the teapot and stand are displayed very nicely. People who have never photographed metal will understandably think this image is easy to make but it's not.

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

Do I get points for simply explaining that I like it a lot without requesting changes to be made? The shadow is exquisite and I especially like how it exits the frame. All shapes, texture and form of the teapot and stand are displayed very nicely. People who have never photographed metal will understandably think this image is easy to make but it's not.

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Thanks Mike. And in total agreement. Photographing metal and glass well is extremely difficult and usually only appreciated by someone who has done it. Note to readers: Try it sometime; photographing metal and glass is sort of like herding cats, only much harder...

Coming from someone who has mastered shooting glass as well as you have, I appreciate the compliment even more!

I love the texture of the pot. It really stands out in this lighting.

Great job. Lovely.

Marie

Hi Manfred, very nice shot, I like the texture very much :)

Nicely done.

I prefer this shot to the earlier versions; and I like the shadow. Without it, the teapot would be floating in space

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

Today, I left that dark and moody teapot behind and head to the light-hearted view. Basically the same setup, without the blue gels and on white seamless. Two sets of barn doors to control the light spill on this one, and no snoot.


https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5594/...bec6e11e_o.jpg

And before anyone asks; this is a colour shot, not a B&W conversion.

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I have no idea what all the tech talk means but it is a beautiful shot. However... could you not have saved yourself a lot of work and waited a month or so and then simply put it out in the snow? :D

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Originally Posted by Mark von Kanel

dont forget one of those cute little bowels with the whisk in it as well ;)

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Manfred
I like this very much, Mike has already put my thoughts into words

But.... please don't listen to Mark the images is absolutely fine without it needing any cute little "bowels" with or without a whisk thank you.

Sorry Mark I couldn't resist the light hearted banter 😉

Another extremely good version of this pot Manfred.

I have one query, on this version and I'm sure it was the same on the last, one of the forward top sloping edges (front left) of the stand 'appears' softer than the other three edges that can be seen. Is this the lighting on it or is it intentionally slightly OOF?

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Originally Posted by Stagecoach

one of the forward top sloping edges (front left) of the stand 'appears' softer than the other three edges that can be seen. Is this the lighting on it or is it intentionally slightly OOF?

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If you view his image in the largest size in the Lytebox, you'll notice that the forward foot and nearby areas of the stand are a little out of focus. That doesn't bother me at all; just the opposite, whether intentional or not, it gives the image a little depth.

Very personally, I would have turned the tea pot 90° to the left so the beak
( is this the right name for it?)would face the light source and thus reducing
greatly the surface exposed to specular lights not to mention the shadow that
is breaking it in the actual composition.
Textures and exposition are spot on but this shot would get more points
without the shadow of the pot. Very personally!

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Originally Posted by Kodiak

Very personally, I would have turned the tea pot 90° to the left so the beak
( is this the right name for it?)would face the light source and thus reducing
greatly the surface exposed to specular lights not to mention the shadow that
is breaking it in the actual composition.
Textures and exposition are spot on but this shot would get more points
without the shadow of the pot. Very personally!

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Thanks for your thoughts, but no, I tried that and the shot did not work that way. :)

Actually, as this is not a catalog shot, so shadows, which give the image more dimension are okay (and in this case, a compositional element). Had it been a catalog shot, I would have used a nice diffuse light source and cleaned up any spill over in post, rather than using harsh light sources to cast this shadow.

This shot is part of a 2-shot set, so positioning is meant to be complementary to the other shot. For me, both shots were a training exercise, and while the shots are not perfect. I'm quite happy with them, given the constraints I was working under.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1879...e-same-subject

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

this is not a catalog shot

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My interpretation: this is not a boring shot, as almost all catalog shots are relatively boring despite that the really good ones are great documentary shots. Manfred's shot is not about being documentary; it's about moving people, and it definitely moves me.