Wine for my month of celebrations

[Mike Buckley]

I turn 65 in December, so I'm going to celebrate with a series of five small dinner parties from December 5 to the New Year weekend. The wines shown in this scene will be paired with the various servings. No two servings will be the same.

My concept of using the off-white fabric came about for two reasons. I wanted the light to be reflected among the interior bottles. I also wanted to display the bottles very much in the same way that portraits are made with the subject standing on and in front of an informal, rumpled drop of off-white fabric.

In the first image, the labels are displayed sufficiently on seven of the nine bottles to indicate the wine. In the second image, sufficient information is displayed on all nine bottles.

Setup
The tabletop and background are a single piece of textured off-white fabric. Two medium continuous-light lamps are positioned above the scene on both sides at the rear. A white reflector is at a 45-degree angle to the scene on the right front.

[Manfred M]

Another nicely executed image (actually two images), Mike. It looks like you are going to try for an enjoyable December!

I'm wondering about the white balance between the two shots. In your first shot the Sauternes has an almost greenish cast and in the second image, it has an almost amber tone.

[Shadowman]

Nice formation and patterns, that gold bottle really throws a nice reflection.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Manfred and John!

I'm wondering about the white balance between the two shots. In your first shot the Sauternes has an almost greenish cast and in the second image, it has an almost amber tone.

That's because of the change in relationship between the wine and the camera. (Everything else remained the same in the two images except that I raised one of the lamps about two inches for one of them. [Edit: I also had to move the bottle with the red neck to the left in one of them.]) The camera is raised in the second image, so it is "looking" downward through more of the wine than when "looking" through the side of the wine bottle. Imagine looking downward upon a glass of fruit juice that is half full and then doing it with a glass that is full. The greater amount of juice will appear darker because you are looking through more of it. Indeed, notice that the bottom of the wine bottle in the amber version has tones that resemble most of the wine bottle in the other version. That's because the camera is looking through the similar amounts of wine.

Having said that, I used Auto White Balance purely for the sake of convenience. (I always use Auto White Balance until I come upon a situation that doing so seems ill-advised.) So, it's conceivable that the camera could have gotten it wrong. The white wine labels appear the same in both images, proving that the camera got it right.

[Brownbear]

Happy birthday! What a wonderful idea to celebrate such a special birthday with a series of wine parties... (do be careful who you invite )

I like the 1st image, and absolutely love the 2nd image. There is something very different about the 2nd image that I have yet to figure out.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Christina, for the nod to the upcoming birthday and the photos!

There is something very different about the 2nd image that I have yet to figure out.

Perhaps it's the perspective; relatively few photos of wine bottles that I've seen are made from above.

[Chrisclick]

Beautiful images, Mike. I think the lighting looks good, and well distributed. The light through the golden coloured wine in the middle looks great.

I notice the lens distortion mostly in the second shot, predominately affecting the two frontmost bottles. I suppose it's to be expected from a wide angle lens. Of course, not knowing much about product photography, it looks kind of strange to my eyes. I don't drink wine, so what would I know?

I like the shots overall, and I respect your opinion on these things. Just wondering if you could add your thoughts on the distortion?

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Chris!

Just wondering if you could add your thoughts on the distortion?

Heck if I know! Seriously, I really don't know much about it because I so rarely do the kind of photography when it's a concern.

There are two kinds of distortion (for the benefit of others) that could be apparent in these images -- perspective distortion and lens distortion.

Lens distortion: The lens is a Tokina 12-24mm. Though I configure my post-processing software to automatically adjust lens distortion, the software is made by Nikon and I actually don't remember whether it makes adjustments for non-Nikon lenses. I doubt that it does. Even so, this scene isn't likely to display lens distortion as dramatically as other kinds of scenes.

Perspective distortion: Both images displayed perspective distortion at the time of capture. That's because the lens was slightly above vertical level in the first image and very much above it in the second image. The focal lengths were almost exactly the same (17mm and 19mm) and the camera has a 1.5 crop factor. So, I used Lightroom to correct the perspective distortion. I may not have gotten it right in Lightroom though I displayed a grid overlay to get it as close to right as I could. Indeed, notice that the second image still displays a little perspective distortion. That's because eliminating it gave me the impression that the bottles looked stretched from top to bottom. So, I settled for the current look.

If there is a problem, it could also be that I didn't have the camera horizontally dead level at the time of capture. Unlike my camera which has an electronic level, my wife's camera that I used for both images doesn't have that. (I have never bought a hot-shoe level to use with her camera and I probably should.) I used her camera because the second shot was made with the camera so high that it was helpful to use its articulating LCD, which is not available on my camera.

Adding to the confusion is that some wine bottles are relatively tall and skinny. Some are relatively short and fat. And there is everything in between. This scene displays many shapes. So, it's really difficult at least for me to know if the software "stretched" any of the wine bottles when changing the perspective distortion despite that I looked for that as I was making adjustments.

So, I get back to my initial response to you: I just dunno!

[pnodrog]

Very nice but I see some of the use by dates have passed so you better send them to me and I will dispose of them for you...

[Mike Buckley]

the use by dates

Way, way too funny! I've never heard of anyone coming up with that. Good one, L. Paul!

[IzzieK]

I prefer #1 too, Mike...not knowing anything about wine nor spirits of the bottled kind that is, I prefer the normal look. #2 looks elongated because of the position of the camera and it doesn't look right to me...now if those are bottles of soy sauce, I will know the difference...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Mike,

I appreciate space is in short supply in your shooting situation, but the distortions visible in #2 are because you have (necessarily) shot from too close to the subject and used a wide angle of view to get them all in.

We'd never (normally) shoot a portrait at 17 or 19mm and get this close, even on a 'crop camera', because of what it would do to the subject's features.

The main problem is with the bottles; especially apparent where the label wraps around what our brains know are cylindrical shapes, but they're not portrayed as such here.

I'm not sure Lens Profile corrections, nor vertical perspective corrections, will resolve the complexities of the distortions at work here, but I'm not very experienced at it.

In #1, I was a little distracted by the pale background 'running out' at the top two corners, especially on the right, but again I realise you are struggling with space issues and I feel bad for even mentioning it.


May I wish you an early happy birthday and I hope that the wines, meals and company live up to expectation.

You could always ask for, or treat yourself to, a D750 for Xmas/birthday
(has tilt-able screen and is FF)

All the best, Dave

[Wavelength]

Great stills...and an enthusiast never grows old!!!! Happy Birth Day in advance

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Izzie, Dave and Nandakumar!

the label wraps around what our brains know are cylindrical shapes, but they're not portrayed as such here.

I'm confident you nailed it with that observation. Even so, the distortion doesn't bother me. Just the opposite, I like it and am going to experiment with it some more.

In #1, I was a little distracted by the pale background 'running out' at the top two corners, especially on the right

I could have comparatively easily done away with those two dark areas. I decided against it because I like the way they frame the bottles. Keep in mind that I'm going for something a bit different, so it might take repetition and time for any of us to get used to it. (Having said that, one of the leading wine magazines has been displaying wine bottles in photos in a distinctive way for awhile that I still haven't gotten used to and still don't like.)

I realise you are struggling with space issues and I feel bad for even mentioning it.

I wonder if I can convince you to stop feeling bad, so I'll explain. Rather than struggle with space issues, I do my best to take advantage of them as well as other limitations of my makeshift studio. All of the issues help me think a little bit out of the box.

Most important, it's my decision to make images using my makeshift studio with all of its limitations. Consider that I don't accept that it's okay for a street shooter to have a lamp pole "growing" out of the subject's head because of the limitations inherent with street photography. Similarly, I don't accept that any of the limitations of my makeshift studio are an acceptable excuse for any deficiency of any kind in any of my images.

You could always ask for, or treat yourself to, a D750 for Xmas/birthday

I had no idea it is so important to you that I become immediately divorced.

[Donald]

Pride of place at the front, quite rightly, to those two Burgundian Premier Crus. I just got delivery of my latest case today from David and Linda at Bringing Burgundy to You. It's a 12 bottle mixed case of white premier crus.

Not so keen on the angle of shooting of the second one. But the first one is, as usual, beautifully executed.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Donald!

Pride of place at the front, quite rightly, to those two Burgundian Premier Crus.

You're probably not gonna like learning that placement of the bottles was based entirely on the dominant color of each label and wine bottle as well as the height of each bottle. Add to that that the bottle in the far left rear is positioned there because the label is badly torn and I wanted to be able to easily hide the tear.

[Mike Buckley]

It might interest wine enthusiasts to realize that the wines in this scene are three from France, two from Italy, and one each from Virginia, Oregon, Russian River Valley (California) and South Africa.

[Donald]

It might interest wine enthusiasts to realize that the wines in this scene are three from France, two from Italy, and one each from Virginia, Oregon, Napa Valley and South Africa.

Be keen to hear your views about that Oregon Pinot Noir. I haven't tasted Oregon Pinot, bit there are increasingly very praiseworthy reviews of the what's coming out of there.

[Mike Buckley]

The most famous Oregon Pinot Noirs are from Willamette Valley and they can be tremendously good. However, there is no Oregon Pinot Noir in the photo. It's a Pinot Gris, probably the most elegant one I've ever tasted. It's so elegant that if the food requires more acidity, I buy a less expensive Pinot Gris made by the same company because of the increased bight. (It's always good when less expensive is better!)

I edited my previous post to correct a mistake about the wine. There is no Napa Valley wine. It's a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.

[Donald]

However, there is no Oregon Pinot Noir in the photo. It's a Pinot Gris,

Apologies. My mistake.