Wine being poured into a decanter (thanks to Shadowman!)

[Mike Buckley]

My wife and I gave this decanter to friends for Christmas 2014. I made the photo displayed here before giving it to them. When they went on vacation last week, they temporarily returned it to me so I could photograph wine being poured into it. My next project is to photograph wine being poured from it.

Thanks to Shadowman (John)
If it hadn't been for him, these photos would have been a lot more difficult to make. Unwanted reflections in the decanter were created by the camera's built-in flash even though it was being used only to fire the two off-camera flashes. He told me about an inexpensive filter that is placed in front of the built-in flash that solves the problem.

Set up
An off-camera flash facing the subject and camera transmitted light through translucent vellum to create a bright background. The tabletop made of glossy black acrylic reflected that background and the subject. A second off-camera flash lighting the bottle is placed to the right of the camera. It is flagged by an attachment that is part of the Spinlight 360 system (recommended by Bobo a long time ago). The power and firing of the off-camera flashes are controlled by the camera and an infrared signal transmitted by the built-in flash.

[Mike Buckley]

Ignore this post if you're not interested in the details of wine decanters.

I was really disappointed when we visited my friends for dinner a couple weeks ago and learned that the decanter we gave them for Christmas is designed very poorly. Once a bottle of wine is poured into a decanter, the top of the wine should be at the widest part of the decanter so the largest possible surface is exposed to the air. Though this decanter will hold an entire bottle of wine, the widest point of the decanter is reached when only half the bottle is poured into it.

I also assumed the punt was designed not just for pouring the wine but also for creating a splash when the wine hits it. The splash would help aerate the wine, which is a primary purpose of a decanter. It is so difficult to aim the wine well enough to hit the punt that that aspect of it is impractical. Moreover, once about half of the bottle is poured into the decanter, the top of the punt is no longer exposed and won't cause the desired splash. The box the decanter comes in doesn't mention the detail about pouring wine onto the punt and I now realize that's for darned good reason.

[KimC]

Gorgeous Mike! Love the tones in this one.

[Loose Canon]

I love that piece of glass Mike. These are great shots as usual.

Could you say what flash power setting you used?

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Kim and Terry.

I didn't record the flash power settings, Terry, but I'm reasonably confident the flash shining toward the camera from behind the subject was set to about 1/32 or a little less. I definitely remember that the flash lighting the wine bottle from the front was set at 1/128 (its lowest power) and I put two layers of translucent vellum over the head to reduce the brightness hitting the bottle even more. Those settings produced the results I wanted in the sense that, surprisingly, I didn't have to manipulate the brightness or saturation of the wine or the bottle during post-processing.

[chauncey]

Aah...decanter...I think that's to let the wine breathe. I never let my plonk breathe.

[Loose Canon]

Thanks Mike. Do you record the aperture and ISO?

I'm just curious.

[Mike Buckley]

I don't record the aperture and ISO because they're always easy to look up in the EXIF data. (In this case they are f/5 and ISO 100.) I always record the basic setup in the XMP data and I do occasionally look up past setup information when contemplating a new setup. The reason I don't record flash settings is that my experience, albeit limited, is that every new shot is so different from previous shots that such specific settings aren't helpful to me. As an example, I've never referred to aperture or ISO settings.

[Loose Canon]

Thanks Mike.

I’m sorry! I wasn’t particularly interested in whether or not you recorded them but more interested in what they actually were. I didn’t word it well.

It’s really hard to tell with these shots. When you zoom in to 100% does the pour look sharp?

[Mike Buckley]

Terry,

The pours seem sharp to me but you have a lot more experience with knowing what to look for. Please let me know your thoughts of these two at 100% of the full-size images:

[Shadowman]

Mike,

Nicely captured and very informative on both flash and wine decanting. That second pour must have some effect on the aeration of the wine or was this for photographic effect? Surely this method would not take advantage of the punt but may have similar effect to swirling prior to tasting.

Thanks for the nod.

[Mike Buckley]

That second pour must have some effect on the aeration of the wine or was this for photographic effect?

Both. However, the sad fact is that I was aiming for the punt and missed so badly that I almost missed the entire opening.

Surely this method would not take advantage of the punt but may have similar effect to swirling prior to tasting.

I think this method aerates the wine more aggressively than swirling in the glass but I really don't know.

[Mike Buckley]

My photo of the wine being poured from the decanter into the wine glass can be seen here.

[Loose Canon]

Terry,

The pours seem sharp to me but you have a lot more experience with knowing what to look for. Please let me know your thoughts of these two at 100% of the full-size images:

They look excellent Mike, thank you.

Very sexy pours!

They looked really good at the size presented. I was curious because I thought your set-up was absolutely perfect for getting the results you nailed. I apologize for grilling you Brother but since you are the only one doing this here I wanted to know.

[Mike Buckley]

No apology needed, Terry! Exactly the opposite, I appreciate your interest in any details that might enlighten you as to how I should improve my image-making. (It took a moment for me to think of a way to end that sentence with a hyphenated word. ).

Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go warm up the bread and lamb stew so I can drink this wine with dinner.

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

These are both absolutely gorgeous! (favourites of mine, along with the truly exquisite original)... The first of this set is my favourite for the capture of the beautiful flying droplets and reflections of the droplets, with the ones seen in the punt being magical.

I envision these images of yours (among others) being displayed in the finest restaurants and wine bars all over the world... Yes, that is a hint.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Christina!

[NorthernFocus]

These are awesome, Mike. I like them both. I like the pour in the first but not particularly the splash. I like the liquid film in the second but it lacks the pour. Interesting stuff and nicely done.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Dan!

I actually wanted more of a splash in the first photo but it's not possible for a klutz such as me to hit the punt with a stream of wine that is powerful enough to create a bigger splash, at least not while including the bottle of wine in the photo. I also like the liquid film in the second one, which is made possible only by the very short pour that strikes the top of the decanter.

It's physically not possible to create that liquid film and the long pour at the same time. I didn't want to merge two images that would suggest otherwise for the same reason I wouldn't create an image suggesting that it's possible to stand a chicken egg upright on its end.

[Donald]

Just looking! Plenty of folks are making good photographic comments already.

Decanter with a punt? Mmm! Bit too gimmicky for me. But then I'm just an traditionalist grumpy old man.