Wine and the Letter "A"

[Mike Buckley]

Not much to say about this photo other than that I sure did enjoy making it.

Setup
The tabletop is clear glass and the background is black fabric. Two medium continuous-light lamps behind the camera facing away from the scene lit a white wall that reflected light onto the bottle tops. A small continuous-light lamp on the right side of the scene and above it lit a reflector on the left side of the scene. That part of the setup added a reflection to the shoulders and brightened the necks to help define the shape of the bottles. A black card with a rectangular hole in the center was placed in front of the lens to eliminate flare caused by the small lamp. A speed light lit the background from below and bounced light toward the scene that defined the rear of the tabletop. The bluish tone of the background light was achieved by strongly pumping up the saturation.

[John 2]

........ but how did you stop the bottles at the bottom rolling away? Another good tutorial Mike. Also a good image. Particularly like the way you have (deliberately?) turned one of the "A"s upside down to add some quirkiness.

[Stagecoach]

This one's a cracker Mike.

Now here's something, the upside down 'A' has obviously been done for effect and works well but what if you had just rotated it slightly? Would viewers have gasped thinking it was an error

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, guys!

About the upside-down "A:" A year ago I made an image of six small glasses standing on top of each other almost as if they were a gymnastics team with three on the bottom, two in the middle and one one top. All glasses were standing upright until somebody here suggested that I invert one of the glasses in the middle row. The image became much stronger, so I applied the same principle here.

John: Click the image to enlarge it and you'll easily see a dark red thing on the tabletop on each side of the lower wine bottles. That's actually a pair of silicon pieces in the shape of a wine bottle. Great friends gave them to us as a departing gift when we visited them in South Africa. They're designed to hold up to nine bottles in this fashion and I look forward to sharing this photo with those friends.

[Mike Buckley]

It just now occurred to me that a summary of the setup is that there are four light sources and the background is the only part of the scene being lit directly; all other parts of the scene are lit by reflected light.

[Brownbear]

A belter! And another one of my favourites of yours, so much so it's near the top of my list. Love this one, a lot!

Aside... I think this one has a built in optical illusion. When viewed from a distance it almost looks like a set of billiard balls (with the initial A engraved on them) stacked vertically.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Christina!

When viewed from a distance it almost looks like a set of billiard balls (with the initial A engraved on them) stacked vertically.

When my wife viewed the image from too far away, she said exactly the same thing. It was only when she moved to a reasonable viewing distance that the subjects appeared to her to be wine bottles.

The explanation is that when viewed at too great of a distance, the viewer won't see the length of the wine bottles on the lowest row and their reflection in the tabletop. Lacking that important detail, the subjects appear to be spheres.

[Downrigger]

Just great. A lot of fun. I'm quite partial to the soft green horizon lines at each side. Gives it an interplanetary cast.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Mark!

I have to admit that those green lines defining the rear of the tabletop were completely unexpected. That's because I didn't think the light being reflected off the black fabric would be bright enough to light the edge of the glass so predominantly. Thankfully, it was and this detail that I learned can be applied to future images.

The green color is created because glass that is thick enough to be used safely as a tabletop is not perfectly clear. We don't notice the green color until we look at a cross section of the glass or light a cross section from behind, which is what happened in this case.

[Mike Buckley]

All glasses [in the photo made a year ago] were standing upright until somebody here suggested that I invert one of the glasses in the middle row. The image became much stronger, so I applied the same principle here.

I just now looked up that year-old photo. It was Greg (FootLoose) who made that suggestion. Thank you, Greg!

[Barbara Ponder]

I have to admit I thought they were billiard balls. Very nice!

[Shadowman]

Thought I was looking at orbs at first glance. Nicely presented.

[bnnrcn]

When I looked at the image for the first time , I asked myself what the red things were at each bottom sides. After reading your comments it is all clear now. Super image, I love the harmony of colors among the BG , bottles and metalic covers with letter A. The composition is very nice too. Upside down -A- adds to the composition. The bottles at the bottom have labels and their depth can be seen clearly. Loved it

[Rebel]

Such a great image!

[deetheturk]

Really like this one Mike, great image

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

[Rob Ekins]

I have to admit to not seeing the inverted top at first, I have an excuse though.. I was so absorbed in the lighting and the set-up notes that accompany this image that I did not notice that element of the scene.

If you are interested in learning about lighting glass or table top photography like I am this image and the annotation are definitely worth poring over.

For example the use of the reflective card CL, its positioning and fall off not only create reflections it produces scoops of darkness that emphasize the shape of the object around that particular element and gives those pieces curvilinear dimension.

That's only one element.. I could go on and on...

Thanks for sharing Mike!

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, Rob!

I have to admit to not seeing the inverted top at first

Not being especially observant (actually, being very non-observant), I doubt that I would immediately notice the inverted "A." The reasons you so nicely gave for not immediately noticing it are especially gratifying.