February - Project Love, Project Red

[Kaye Leggett]

This months 'calendar' project is to take pictures of things I love and red items. So I have combined these ideas into this image and gone for a kitcsh valentine theme. Thoughts for improvement welcomed - I'm just experimenting and learning.......only 9 shots in three hours this afternoon

[Geoff F]

Works fine for me. A nice lighting gradient from corner to corner

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Kaye,

Very good effort.
I would find it better to have a little more contrast separation between the stem of the left hand glass and background.
I also find the super bright left lower corner very 'attracting' to my eyes, but given it forms a gradient, as Geoff mentions, I don't know what the answer is.

I do like the background - it looks like wicker behind gauze.

Hope that's helpful, Dave

[wilgk]

Well done Kaye, great idea & execution, I'm with Dave though, in just that bright corner, detracts from the other parts of the image, being that tad bit bright.

[Shadowman]

Nice concept and capture.

[Mike Buckley]

I'm so glad to see that you're continuing with your calendar project. This must have taken a lot of time to set up. It's a very nice scene.

The characteristic that Dave mentioned about the left stem is not an issue for me; the separation exists if only slightly and it's not an important part of the scene.

One of the classic bits of instruction when setting up a scene is to ensure that the subjects and details of the subjects are either separated or overlapped; tangents are generally to be avoided. Perhaps my "upbringing" about that explains why I'm bothered by the two glasses that are touching. It is for the same reason that I would prefer that the glass on the right overlaps the label on the bottle more. Moving that glass to the right just a little will simultaneously address both details.

I realize this image may be in the realm of a test shot, so it's in that context that I'll mention that when I see an open bottle of wine accompanied by wine glasses, my eye wants to see wine in the glasses. Otherwise, I have no idea what story is being told.

Each glass has a strong, linear direct reflection on the rear right side. (Direct reflections are mirror-like reflections of the light source.) Sometimes I'm able to easily prevent unwanted direct reflections from appearing in the scene. Other times I'm able to easily place them in an area of the scene that makes it possible to easily eliminate them during post-processing, usually by using a clone tool. The latter situation applies to your image.

Perhaps an optical illusion is at work but it seems that the glass on the left and the wine bottle are leaning slightly to the right.

Consider toning down the bright area in the lower left corner. I'm confident you can do that without losing the very nice effect of the gradient already mentioned.

Try rotating the wine bottle so the name on the upper label is centered and hope that doing so doesn't make the main label appear off-center.

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks all for thoughts and suggestions. We are headed for a really wet day here, so a perfect excuse to go back to 'the studio' and put them into the mix.

[Wavelength]

In spite of the harshness of red, it is very interesting..much creative and artistic

[bnnrcn]

I can't make technical comments as I don't shoot indoors but I learnt a lot from Mike's comment . I can only say that I like your set up and colors. The gradient effect works very nice. A very creative effort, thanks for sharing

[IzzieK]

Very red, Kaye...works for me.

[Kaye Leggett]

Thank you all for comments - I have spent the last two afternoons furthering this project. Things I changed and learn't are

Totally agree with Mike that fluid is needed in the glasses and unashamedly used his New Year picture tips to achieve the bubbles. Found out I needed to carefully measure the amount of liquid before pouring in so both glasses would have the same amount.....I also polished the glasses numerous times before tipping in the fluid and quickly taking the shot.

I wanted the kitsch theme to remain so decided to tilt the glasses a little rather than to have the glasses touching. Getting the angle of tip was a challenge and I discovered that our Waterford handmade glasses are not of the same size. Adding the rose was in a similar vein of kitschness.

Hopefully I have the right balance between separation and overlapping of items.

Here is the result



Further C&C welcome

[Mike Buckley]

That works great, Kaye. I'm very surprised that I like the slightly blurred bubbles but I think that characteristic adds a nice romantic touch to the scene. (I would be willing to bet that you created the bubbles in the glass on the left last.) The warm tones in this scene also work better for me than the cooler tones in the first one. I also prefer that the embossing on the wine bottle is displayed so nicely now that it is separated from other reflections on the bottle. The first image had lots and lots of texture, so adding the rose and all of its texture is a natural fit.

Time to start thinking about what you'll do for March!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Kaye The composition in your second image looks so energetic and because the green stem of the rose is in the frame too, reds , green , drinks and energy remind me a new year party rather than the St.Valentine's Day.

I think I still prefer the softness and romanticism in your first image as the image suits your title very well. But this doesn't mean that I don't like the second image. It looks very nice too. If it was mine I would hide the wooden thing when shooting though.

[Geoff F]

This version presents a totally different scene. It is OK but appears to be somewhat 'harsher' than the previous shot.

All in all, I prefer the extra space and softness of those tints in the original; but adding a rose and filling the glasses is a nice additional touch.