Wine: Happy New Year!

[Mike Buckley]

A very happy New Year to everyone at CiC!

I rarely drink sparkling wine but it sure can be fun (though difficult) to photograph. I was fortunate that it only took about 15 tries to release the shutter when there was a similar density of bubbles in all four glasses.

If anyone complains at your party that the bubbly has gone flat, simply do what I did: stick a turkey baster in the glass, squeeze the bulb to withdraw some of the wine into the tube and squeeze it again to forcefully return it to the glass. The agitation will create plenty of bubbles as if you had just poured the wine from the bottle. And if you really do that at a party, please be sure to let us know!

This wine is a non-vintage wine, which means the wine is made from a mix of juice and grapes harvested perhaps from several years. The method makes it easy for wineries to maintain consistent quality from year to year, especially when the wine is cheap. The cost of this wine is only $7.

I got the idea for this photo from a wonderful full-page advertisement of Prosecco, which is an Italian sparking white wine. I shamelessly used a very similar composition and style of lighting with only minor differences.

The wine in my photo is a Spumante, which is a different Italian sparkling white wine. The designation on the label, vino spumante dolce, translates word-for-word as wine sparkling sweet. This one is made by Marchesini.

Most people call any bubbly wine a Champagne. France will get very upset if you do that because it's actually illegal for wine companies to use the term, Champagne, on the label unless the wine is made in that wine region of France.

Setup
The background is black foam core. First capture: A circular diffuser larger than the background is immediately behind the background. A speedlight fitted with a yellow gel (lightened to a lighter shade of yellow during post-processing) shining from the rear toward the diffuser, background, subjects and camera stopped the action of the bubbles. A small continuous-light lamp fitted with the same yellow gel lit the bottom of the background (though I changed the hue to blue during post-processing to add interest). A black card with a rectangular hole placed in front of the lens eliminated flare. Second capture: A small continuous-light lamp lit the bottle from the front center and below to create the natural curved shadow at the base of the bottle. The low position also raked light across the foil, which created a natural display of its texture. A white reflector is on the right side to cast a subtle reflection on that side of the bottle to help define its shape. The two images were merged to add the brightly lit bottle to the rest of the scene.

[Wavelength]

Awesome image

Happy New Year to all

[ST1]

Well done Mike glad to see you are keeping that edginess in your images by leaving out the base of the bottle and glasses. Well done and Happy New Year to you and yours

[bnnrcn]

Happy new year Mike I haven't seen wine with so dense bubbles before. The bottle looks gorgeous, very nice image

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to everyone!

Peter: Leaving out the base of the wine and glasses is a copy of the advertisement mentioned in my first post. I like the idea and will keep it in mind in the future.

Binnur: The bubbles really are that dense at the time the wine is poured into the glass. They dissipate almost immediately. I captured the image within seconds of agitating the wine to produce the bubbles. The lighting setup also features the bubbles in a style that would not normally be seen when the wine is being drunk under normal conditions, so you notice the bubbles in this image much more than if you were casually drinking the wine.

[Shadowman]

Nice, the bubbles look like they could have been created by using a film grain filter.

[Mike Buckley]

the bubbles look like they could have been created by using a film grain filter.

If it works, I wish I had thought of it. That would be a LOT easier to do.

[Donald]

Just passing by quickly as I prepare for my friends arriving in the next 20 minutes for us to enjoy our Hogmanay dinner together and see in 2016. Pic looks great.

[Ziggy]

Have a safe and happy new year all. Great image!

[DEAN01]

Great photo, Mike, I wish I had the patience to do still life. Happy 2016!

[Clactonian]

Happy New Year Mike and all.
I have a 1st Cru Burgundy on the table at present and I'm far too busy drinking it to bother with the camera! That's dedication for you.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!

I have a 1st Cru Burgundy on the table at present and I'm far too busy drinking it to bother with the camera!

It's comforting to know you have your priorities in line.

Red or white?

[Jeff Blakemore]

Love the lighting Mike! Great job.

[mknittle]

Beautiful image as always mike.

[Rob Ekins]

Nice image to finish the year Mike,

I really like the blue, that subtle touch works well.

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

I really like the blue, that subtle touch works well.

That cool color complementing all the other warm colors works really well for me too. Unfortunately, the blue tones don't show up in the slightest when I display the image on the television. That's because it's not calibrated.