Wine Shadows

[Mike Buckley]

This is very different from my normal style; it's much more edgy. Lots of fun to make!

Setup
The camera is held above the scene on a boom. A small continuous-light lamp is positioned above the bottle and glass near the bottom right corner of the scene.

[Rebel]

I really like this Mike, it has an abstract feel to it.

Quite creative !

[Dave Humphries]

Oh Mike,

I can see this new concept giving you lots of compositional, shadow angle (light distance) and surface texture/colour possibilities - with the added bonus that many will require an open bottle

On this one, I like the framing/cropping placing the glass so it doesn't quite touch the right hand edge.

I do find myself intrigued by the brighter patch of refracted light within the shadow of the bottle at the top edge, almost dead centre - I just haven't decided whether 'intrigued' means I want to see more of it, or whether I'd rather that weren't there, perhaps via a slightly tighter crop along the top edge.

I hope my musings are helpful, Dave

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[gregj1763]

A very interesting angle Mike, I really like how the shadow of the wine glass fades out so softly and the golden glow from the upper stem really compliments itself against the purple background.
I'm guessing the bottle was empty to allow light to penetrate all the way through base. Sorry for that, nothing worse than an empty bottle
Greg

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Dave: I agree that this concept opens up a whole new realm of interesting possibilities including some for use with my upcoming macro lens next year (that my wife doesn't yet know about ). Your musings are indeed helpful.

Greg: You're correct about the empty bottle. A bottle nearly full with red wine produced a boring, dark shadow so I chose an empty one and positioned the front and rear labels to allow light to transmit through parts of the bottle.

[Kris V]

Since I know very little about wine (and glass photography), I usually refrain from commenting on these.
But I make an exception here: This would be a wall hanger for me. I love the colours and the composiition.
BTW: I collect odd-shaped bottles, and old bottles with porcelain caps.
I haven't figured out a way yet of photographing them.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Kris!

I collect odd-shaped bottles, and old bottles with porcelain caps. I haven't figured out a way yet of photographing them.

I highly recommend Light: Science and Magic.

[Kris V]

I highly recommend Light: Science and Magic.

Thanks Mike.
Just checked on Amazon. The book has nothing but 5* reviews, even with a price tag of about $32.00.
I'll sleep on it.....

[Donald]

Creative; Imaginative; Different ... and well executed.

Wonderful, Mike.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Donald!

Kris: You may be able to purchase the fourth edition of the book for less money than the fifth edition. The parts of the book that explain how to photograph glass are exactly the same, word for word, in both editions.

[Rita]

Kris, if you purchase the electronic version it is much cheaper but either way it is well worth having.

[Rita]

Mike, I totally love this image, everything about it. It also makes me wonder, is there another glass there, is the person enjoying the wine on their own......

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Rita! It's interesting that the questions the image suggests to you actually never occurred to me. Apparently your imagination is better than mine, which comes as no surprise.

[Kris V]

Thanks, Donald!

Kris: You may be able to purchase the fourth edition of the book for less money than the fifth edition. The parts of the book that explain how to photograph glass are exactly the same, word for word, in both editions.

Thanks for the info, Mike. I'll check into it.
I really would like to take a printable photo of some of these bottles.
Looks like it might be a project for the coming winter.....

[Kris V]

Kris, if you purchase the electronic version it is much cheaper but either way it is well worth having.

The Kindle version is the $32.00 I mentioned.