Wine: Blend 2

[Mike Buckley]

I made this photo in April of the 2012 harvest of the wine. The photo shown below is of the 2013 harvest, which I can't find on the Internet. Even the winery displays information only about the 2012 version (using a really bad photo).

I just love the colorful triangular shapes in the wine label, so I created a background that complements those shapes.

Setup
The background is art paper attached to black foam core. Two medium continuous-light lamps are on the front right and left sides above the bottle. Two white reflectors are on the right and left sides to uniformly light the gold letters on the label and to add reflections to the glass.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Sam W]

Hi Mike,

Beautiful sharp colorful photo. I know you are striving for perfection so the little things I first see are: the light edge on the top part of the red triangle background. If it could be dark like the lower half I think it would be better. Also, I am sure that the bottle is placed in the center but I think there is an optical illusion for which you may want to compensate that makes the bottle look a little off-center to the left. Lastly, you may want to see more of the "O" in Piazzano. These are just little nits and novice comments. Best regards - Sam

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to John and Sam!

the light edge on the top part of the red triangle background.

I'm reasonably confident that is caused by an uneven cut in the paper. I used scissors and probably cut the paper at a bit of an angle that showed up brightly in the lighting setup I used. There are certainly better methods of cutting the paper.

I am sure that the bottle is place in the center but I think there is an optical illusion for which you may want to compensate that makes the bottle look a little off-center to the left.

Fascinating comment! I intentionally placed the bottle a little off-center to the left and did it only by eye. I just now placed a grid over the image and am shocked to learn that the bottle is actually positioned exactly in the center. Gotta love it!

Lastly, you may want to see more of the "O" in Piazzano.

If I turn the bottle to display more of the "O," I would then want to see more of the "P." The "P" is the first letter in the name. It also has more detail, which makes it a bit more difficult to immediately recognize when displayed at such a small size. So, the "P" is more important to me than the "O" and is more prominently displayed.

[FootLoose]

Good idea for the background, Mike, it works well.

[ucci]

Very nice, sharp capture with good use of the diagonal in framing shot.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Greg and Ken!

[Wavelength]

Excellent job; i know it is a tough job to work out a thing, but easy to suggest ideas...with some reluctance i have a suggestion...instead of two colors with a sharp boundary in background, it would be more lively if the two colors in the background diagonally merge slowly .... just a thought

[Mike Buckley]

That would definitely be an idea worth trying, Nandakumar. I'm not good enough at imagining photo styling to know without doing it. The only thing I do know is that your idea would be far more difficult to execute.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Mike, I like the BG Is the bottle standing a bit tilted backwards or is it your shooting angle? Or is it my eyes ?

[Donald]

I like how all the attention has been thrown onto the label. Everything else is a supporting act. Important, but supporting. Beautifully designed and constructed image.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you also to Donald and Binnur!

Is the bottle standing a bit tilted backwards or is it your shooting angle?

The bottle is on a flat table, not tilting backward.

The photo suggests to me that I shot it at a slight upward angle. That would make sense because I was emphasizing the label, which is in the lower part of the image. Making that happen and including the top of the red background probably would have required shooting upward just a bit. If I'm right about that, the very smallest amount of apparent perspective distortion has been created that I can detect only when viewing the image at at least 100% with a grid overlaid. However, using the same grid and examining the vertical line in the background on the left indicates that there is no distortion. So, perhaps the main part of the bottle gradually becomes slightly smaller from bottom to top. The only thing I am certain of is that I like the effect and overall impression, whatever is causing it.

[Mike Buckley]

For those who find the technical aspect of design appealing, you might enjoy learning how I designed the triangle displayed in the background. Considering that I always struggle with design, I determined that the safest approach was to make the background triangle as similar as possible to the triangles on the label.

The color of the background triangle happens to be by sheer dumb luck almost the exact same color as the darkest of the red triangles.

Notice that the degree of angle at the top of the white triangles in the label is the same as the bottom of the other triangles. So, I cut the background triangle so its degree of angle at the top would match the corresponding degree of angle of the triangles in the label. Doing so inherently makes the diagonal side of the background triangle parallel to the diagonal sides of the triangles on the label to the extent possible when dealing with a label that is attached to a round bottle.

I believe all of that along with the positioning of the background triangle relative to the bottle allows the background triangle to play a supporting role, as Donald mentioned, that emphasizes the label on the bottle.

[Kaye Leggett]

Outstanding....I've just been sitting looking, and I can't seem to stop.

[Mike Buckley]

I've just been sitting looking, and I can't seem to stop.

As you know, no better compliment can ever be given to a photographer. I seriously doubt that this image deserves such a fine compliment, but I'll take it with great thanks!