Wine Pour -- Take 1

[Mike Buckley]

I often mention that I struggle more with designing a scene than anything else I do in my makeshift studio, so I make a point of looking for ideas in magazines and at websites devoted to discussing wine. When I came upon this scene in a magazine, I liked the general idea. However, I felt the image was more about the bottle and glass and less about the wine. And has hard as I tried, I never liked the background. That's because I never understood it and because the solid blue area with so little tonal variation in the center of the image seems boring to me.

So, I decided to do my own version of the shot making it more about the wine and glass and less about the bottle. To make that happen:

• I excluded all detail in the bottle.
• I included more detail in the wine. That was done partly by using a bigger pour, which provided more detail to display and emphasize. It was also done by lighting the scene to display the translucent characteristic of the wine.
• I used a glass that has a molded rim so the two parallel lines rather than the one single cut edge would make the rim seem more prominent.

Setup
One medium continuous-light lamp on each side of the glass and slightly behind it lit the background made of blue presentation paper. One small continuous-light lamp was positioned immediately above the camera and was fitted with a snoot to prevent the light source from being reflected in the bowl of the glass. It mostly lit the wine coming out of the bottle. All the interns and assistants at Makeshift Studio Galactic Headquarters had left to go to a Friday evening party, so I had to remotely release the shutter myself while I poured the wine.

Unlike most of my setups, I did a lot during post-processing to achieve the overall look that I had in mind.

[Dave Humphries]

EXIF data shows as: Nikon D5100, 35mm, 1/250s, f/5.6 and iso 1600.

Hi Mike,

I don't think "Take 1" is meeting your desired aim as well as I suspect you will achieve eventually; the wine appears both blurred and outside the available DoF. My eyes are drawn to the only sharp thing in the image, the rim of the glass.

I do see what you mean regarding the deficiencies of the linked example; there, my eyes latch on to the bottle, which is sharpest.


I am thinking this may be a subject where you'll have to resort to flash to freeze* the liquid and allow a greater DoF via use of a smaller diameter aperture.
* Although I appreciate you will want to retain some visible movement in the wine, or it may look to 'solid'.


The hand around the bottle also looks to have false colour/brightness/bokeh, whether that be the case or not.

I like the framing along the lower edge and either side of the glass and the translucency of the wine is good.

Looking forward to Take 2 already, Dave

[Wavelength]

This image fall short of the punch your images usually create.....

# The wine does not appear sharp focused
# It fails to make a distinction from the bottle
# Your palm looks off
#The froth were the wine lands in the glass alone can make this image complete, i feel....

Out of expectation

[Shadowman]

It looks like you focused on the glass instead of where the wine was flowing, unless you were looking for a different look than in the link you provided. When viewed with Lightbox the focusing looks a bit more even.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks to everyone for your comments! My thoughts in general are similar to yours, which explains why I titled the thread, "Take 1," with the expectation that there would be a "Take 2."

As for the focus, I think the wine is in focus but there is just a tad bit of motion blur. I actually like that bit of blur even though it's not my usual style. It was not possible for me to use auto focus because I was using my wife's D5100, which has no focusing screw, and a lens that has no focusing motor. So I had to manually focus in advance of taking the shot and pour into the area I believed to be within the depth of field. I had to use her camera because, unlike mine, it has an articulating LCD that allowed me to both pour the wine and properly position my hand, bottle and wine in the scene. I might resort to using her lens, which has a focusing motor but has optics that aren't quite as good.

I also might resort to using flash as Dave suggested. However, my wife's camera won't fire an off-camera flash, so I'll have to figure out a way to make the image work using an on-camera flash. [EDIT: I just now remembered that that's not entirely true. See my next post.]

[Wavelength]

You are the master of this genre, that was why i pointed out the things i felt; i am sure you take it in that spirit only

[Mike Buckley]

I mentioned in my previous post that my wife's Nikon D5100 won't fire an off-camera flash and I just now remembered that that's only when using the Nikon SB600 speed light, which is my go-to unit. I also have an SB800 speed light. If that speed light is mounted on the camera, I can use it to fire the SB600 off-camera. I may not need to do that but it is good to remember that I've got that capability for this shot if needed.

i pointed out the things i felt; i am sure you take it in that spirit only

Absolutely! Thanks again to you and the others for your comments.

[mknittle]

I will be watching this. I know the end result will be of excellence. It looks like a fun project. It is going to be interesting to see how this all works out. with the glass being the only stable element it sure adds a bit of a challenge.

[Mike Buckley]

My eyes are drawn to the only sharp thing in the image, the rim of the glass.

I forgot to mention that important detail, Dave. If your eyes aren't immediately drawn to the wine, the image fails insofar as the story I am trying to tell you is concerned. It doesn't matter that my eyes in fact are immediately drawn to the wine if the same isn't true for others. It's never a concern for me when people don't see certain relatively unimportant characteristics of an image that I see. However, in this case the wine is intended to be the primary subject and the glass the secondary subject. So, it does no good when someone who looks at images as closely and seriously as you do isn't immediately drawn to the primary subject and is instead drawn to the secondary subject.

[Mike Buckley]

It just now occurred to me that I posted a message in the past few days explaining that one of the most enjoyable characteristics of photography for me is that it is always at least fascinating and sometimes enlightening to realize that we see some things in a photo that others don't see and vice versa. This thread is a perfect example of that because it has been so enlightening for me.

[mknittle]

First thing I noticed was the wine. when I noticed it was OOF my imagination kicked in and I saw what you are trying to achieve in my mind's eye.
Once you get the technique down some side shots will surely follow?

[Mike Buckley]

First thing I noticed was the wine. when I noticed it was OOF my imagination kicked in and I saw what you are trying to achieve in my mind's eye.

Way too funny! At least I won the first half of that battle.

Once you get the technique down some side shots will surely follow?

If you're referring to shots of the setup, maybe but probably not. My makeshift studio is so small that it's not conducive to making informative shots of the setup.

If instead you're referring to shots of a wine pour displaying the side of the bottle, view the first four shots and the sixth and ninth shots in this gallery. For a bit of humor, also see this side shot.

[Wavelength]

What an awesome set of images in those gallery!!! No word of appreciation can be enough!!!

[mknittle]

Way too funny! At least I won the first half of that battle.



If you're referring to shots of the setup, maybe but probably not. My makeshift studio is so small that it's not conducive to making informative shots of the setup.

If instead you're referring to shots of a wine pour displaying the side of the bottle, view the first four shots and the sixth shot in this gallery. For a bit of humor, also see this side shot.

Yeah that is it. Love the one with the garden hose

[Mike Buckley]

A much improved Take 2 can be seen here.