My Birthday Table Setting

[Mike Buckley]

I celebrated my 65th birthday with friends at seven small dinner parties this year and still have one more to go. We ate out only twice, so I had a fabulous time cooking the other five meals and look forward to cooking for the upcoming celebration. My wife surprised me by preparing menu descriptions that were part of her place settings at each celebration. As one way of thanking her for doing that, I photographed her most recent place setting. She added a candy cane for this particular celebration as a nod to the Christmas season and because the brownies for dessert were sprinkled with chopped pieces of candy cane.

Unlike when I made the photo of this year's Christmas table setting, I removed photos from the nearby wall to prevent their reflections from making the spoon look bad. Similarly, I digitally removed a reflection of the dining room light fixture and all reflections of the camera and boom it was mounted on.

Setup
Nothing other than mounting the camera above the scene on a boom. The lighting was solely natural light and I used no reflectors, flags or diffusers.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, very elegant looking.

[Manfred M]

Great shot Mike. Strange as is might seem, I think the positioning of the wine glass is what makes this shot so special.

[Wavelength]

Superb; i would like to see half of the wine glass into the frame with some red liquor in it

[Adzman808]

FWIW... I can't decide if I like the 'hint' of the wine glass, but the colour and lighting are superb!

[bnnrcn]

Great!

[rpcrowe]

Fine image of an elegant place setting...

[Shadowman]

I think the partial view of the wine glass is one of those elements where your mind fills in the rest and like Nandakumar your desire is increased to want more.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Considering the discussion about the wine glass, it might be interesting to some to understand my thought process about it when making the image.

The first question was whether to include the wine glass in the scene. I included it for two reasons: No evening meal in our home no matter how informal would be served without wine and I wanted the photo to be representative of meals served in our home. Indeed, this place setting is reasonably representative of six celebrations of my birthday in our home and each occasion includes at least one wine and up to four wines. As far as the composition is concerned, it would appear too static to my eye if the wine glass was not included.

Having easily decided to include the wine glass, it was a bit more difficult to decide how much of it to include and whether wine should be displayed. I decided (without setting it up) not to display wine in the glass because doing so would have added another color to the composition; to my eye, one of the strengths of the image is the simplicity of colors and I didn't want to make it more complex as a result of adding another color. Also, displaying wine in the glass would have required shooting the scene from a greater distance and that would have added negative space in the middle and left areas of the top that to my eye would have been unattractive. Solving that issue by adding other table items to the scene would have made the scene too complex for my taste.

It was more difficult for me to decide whether to include more of the empty glass, so much so that I set it up both ways. I settled on displaying as much of the glass as I could without displaying any of the top because the top was distracting for me.

[pnodrog]

Very good photographic skills from such a youngster although I do notice the symbolic walking stick. Nice menu I hope you enjoyed the meal.

I have no problem with the hint of the wine glass. It certainly differentiates it from my tin camping plate and plastic mug that strangely enough can also be full of Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir.

[Mike Buckley]

such a youngster

You made my day!

my tin camping plate and plastic mug that strangely enough can also be full of Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir.

Not at all strange, except that I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out why you would fill your tin plate with it! Glad to know you've come to like it too!

[pnodrog]

You made my day!



Not at all strange, except that I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out why you would fill your tin plate with it! Glad to know you've come to like it too!

The mug sits on the plate and I am very sloppy and impatient when pouring. Waste not want not! Unsure of why there are still so many things I want!!! For instance being 65 again.

[mugge]

Loved it. The wine glass did it for some reason, contrast perhaps. Don't care. Good lighting, good shot.
Cheers Ole

[Donald]

I think the positioning of the wine glass is what makes this shot so special.

I agree and am grateful for an insight into Mike's thinking at post #9.

And I like the menu!!

[Sam W]

Hi Mike - great photo as always and the menu really adds to the whole effect.

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

And I like the menu!!

The only disadvantage of including menus in the table setting is that the element of surprise is eliminated as each course is served. One of our guests read the menu and joked that he wanted to skip the main course so he could immediately get to the chocolate-peppermint brownies for dessert. Once we finally got to dessert, he liked it so much that he asked that I serve it every time we get together regardless of whether the chopped candy cane sprinkled on the brownies is appropriate for the time of year.

When I get that kind of request, I always comply. Indeed, we already have plans to eat at a Chinese restaurant on July 4 (an important holiday in America) that serves the most amazing Peking duck. When we leave the restaurant, I'll send him home with a batch of those brownies.

[IzzieK]

OK...I am late again to your party here...but I enjoyed the conversation so far...Good shot.