Celebrating screw cap wine bottle closure

[Mike Buckley]

I have wanted for a long time to make what is commonly called a black-on-black photo and to make a photo featuring a red screw cap closure of a wine bottle. Today I made the photo shown below that allows me to check off both items on my list.

The entire photo is displayed in color; selective color was not used.

For those who are interested, the exposure compensation is -3.7 using matrix (evaluative) metering.

Setup
The background is black velvet positioned far enough behind the subject that very little light is falling on it. A medium continuous-light lamp shining from the front right of the scene was fitted with two layers of diffusion material to reduce the brightness and to create soft shadows. A reflector on the left side was casting light back into the palm. A small continuous-light lamp on the right was shining away from the scene into a reflector that was lighting the right edges of the fingers to separate them from the background.

Please click to view at a larger size.

[Donald]

Stylish.

[Shadowman]

Nice use of a jewelry stand. Nice capture.

[Donald]

Nice use of a jewelry stand.

Wondered what that was!! I've led a very sheltered life.

[flashback]

Okay Mikey, here's the thing; you do these shots of really cool looking bottles, glasses, broken s**t etc and the reality is you're shooting interesting things, but here you go and shoot a darn screw cap, a SCREW cap and...AND make it stupid sexy. Really? Really!!!

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, guys!

Jack, you're simply way too funny.

[TonyW]

Very nice and I wondered whose hand it was too. I obviously don't move in the right circles.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Tony!

About the hand: As John mentioned, it's intended to be used for displaying jewelry. It normally costs $10 but I bought it using a sale coupon for $6. Now my challenge is to determine how to include it in other photos.

[DougR]

Mike, because you don't seem to have any secrets about your setup, describing it in detail, what are your thoughts about including a shot of the setup, sometime later in the reviews. I ask because I am interested, as I'm sure there are others, in doing the same type of photography.

Doug

[Dave Humphries]

Mike,

Your "black-on-black photo" reveals my "dust on LCD"

Great shot, best 'enjoyed' in the LyteBox.


I have long believed that, especially for red, wine 'had' to be in a cork sealed bottle to be any good.
Or is that just fallacy?

[Shadowman]

Thanks, Tony!

About the hand: As John mentioned, it's intended to be used for displaying jewelry. It normally costs $10 but I bought it using a sale coupon for $6. Now my challenge is to determine how to include it in other photos.

I also recently purchased one and did the typical ring on the finger shot, you've used the prop in a more creative manner.

[Mike Buckley]

Doug,

I have rarely shown a photo of the setup because of the difficulty of making a particularly helpful one. That's due to the extremely small size of my makeshift studio and because almost everything in it is black by design -- the floor, ceiling, walls, light stands, clamps, camera, lamps, tabletop stand and everything I can think of except the reflectors and clear or translucent materials designed for light to pass through them. The very few times I felt a photo would be helpful without requiring a second setup to light the initial setup itself, I have posted one.

For me, the concept of the lighting setup is a LOT more helpful than seeing the exact setup, which is why I always describe it. As an example, the concepts garnered from my description of this set up are as follows:

• The background is far enough away from the subject that mostly only the subject is lit and the little light falling on the background is not reflected because the material is high-quality felt.
• Some light falling on the scene is produced directly by a lamp and some is directed there by reflectors.
• Light falling on the scene whether cast there directly by a lamp or indirectly by a reflector is coming from the left, the right front and the right.
• Lighting the subject to ensure that it is separated from the background is important regardless of the method used to make that happen.
• Diffusion material not only reduces the brightness of the light, it also softens the shadows.

I hope you are familiar with the details of Light: Science & Magic, now in its fifth edition. Honestly, I can't imagine anyone taking the time to at least occasionally do tabletop photography who doesn't take the time to understand the concepts explained in that book. Its explanations are so good and important that I would have no problem if they changed the title to The Bible of Light. I was reminded just yesterday before making my photo that its authors explain that we photographers often like to think that we control light, especially in a studio situation, when we should instead be acknowledging that we are really only cooperating with light.

Beyond that, if you ever have any questions about my lighting setup, why I did this or that, or why I didn't do this or that, please don't hesitate to ask. I very selfishly encourage you to do that because I'm so likely to learn something and get a great idea from whatever it is that you want to discuss.

[Mike Buckley]

Your "black-on-black photo" reveals my "dust on LCD"

I completely understand. I get tired of people displaying photos of a bright sky clearly indicating that they have a dirty sensor. Then I clean my monitor and realize that their sensor was actually in perfect condition.

I have long believed that, especially for red, wine 'had' to be in a cork sealed bottle to be any good.
Or is that just fallacy?

Considering that mankind figured out how to put humans on the moon and return them safely home more than 45 years ago, don't you think we have also figured out by now how to store wine safely using a screw cap? (I offered that explanation to a perfect stranger years ago in a wine store. Hopefully it's as convincing to you as it was to her.) Yes, your thinking about cork closures is a fallacy. I wish all wine was sold using screw cap closures.

[Dave Humphries]

Yes, your thinking about cork closures is a fallacy. I wish all wine was sold using screw cap closures.

I am genuinely surprised to hear you say that - if they did - I'd have no way to tell which bottles are liable to give me a headache.

I'm serious, the cork ones seem not to, but perhaps I pay more for the cork ones and if I paid same for one with a screw top, I would realise the fallacy

[Mike Buckley]

Your experiences are new to me, Dave. I've never heard of the likelihood of headaches being related to either the cost of the wine or the type of closure. Though this article is 15 years old, it reflects my general knowledge about this stuff, which admittedly isn't much.

[bnnrcn]

Both the idea and the image are great Mike

[deetheturk]

Another great capture Mike, very well done!

[Marie Hass]

What can be really appreciated here, is that there is not a speck of dust anywhere!

Nice job, Mike. Nice concept and execution.

Marie

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

there is not a speck of dust anywhere!

That's thanks to a clone tool. Trust me that it is absolutely impossible to capture a scene in my makeshift studio that doesn't have dust in it.

[davidedric]

Margalit wants one! The hand rather than the cap

Dave