Blue glass lit completely differently

[Mike Buckley]

This is the same glass displayed in this other photo.

Setup
The tabletop and background are a single sheet of gold semigloss presentation board with metallic flecks. An LED flashlight on the left lights the blue stem and the tabletop and creates the shadow. An LED flashlight above the glass lights the background. The light reflecting from the background creates the dark outline of the bowl.

[Davejl]

I like this and love the blue light transmitted to the table. I just wonder whether the gold background would look better if it had less of a texture.

Dave

[bnnrcn]

Hi Mike I find the angle of the shadow of the stem better in this image. The gold color is nice but I'm sure this image would also look very nice with the gray BG in the Bluberry shot.

[ionian]

I'm always facinated by your still life stuff Mike, it's something I've never really tried (at least not successfully) and I'm constantly trying to take in the way you light the shots to help my learning.

I like this but the slightly twisted logo on the glass is grating my brain in an otherwise geometrically perfect image. I realise it's probably a distortion of the glass but is there any chance of fixing that in post?

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Simon: One of the things that I enjoy about photographing glass is deciding which imperfections to eliminate. I'm sure some people would find it odd that I would not eliminate such a major imperfection as the crooked logo, especially when I eliminated some really minor imperfections. Even so, that kind of imperfection is charming to me. So it stayed as is.

Binnur: I think I have some grey presentation paper. If so, I'll probably make an image in this style that includes the blueberries.

[Astramael]

Mike,

The bright light behind the logo is great, works very well, brings out the logo and supplies the shape of the bowl. The camera position is good too, I would even go a little lower. Would bring the viewer closer to normal with the logo, and exaggerate the proportions of the top rim further.

The warm light however, not something I'm enjoying. I think it detracts from the starkness of the blue stem. Your control over warm and cool hues is admirable here, I am quite impressed with that. Table reflectivity is Goldilocks level, just right!

The stem, oh that glorious stem... you had it so perfect in the last round. A captivating pool of texture and alien glow. Bring it back, bring it back!

[Shadowman]

Mike,

Are you shooting from behind a blind or through a light tent with opening, just wondering how you counter reflections in the glass surface to eliminate either you or your camera? Nice capture.

[Mike Buckley]

John,

I almost always photograph glass from outside essentially a black tent for the reason you mentioned. Three of the walls are black fabric; the floor is black carpet; and the ceiling is black. Only the wall behind the subject is white so I can use it as a large reflector. In extreme situations when my camera is reflected in the scene in a way that is not easy to eliminate during post-processing, I hang a black piece of paper with a hole cut in it on the lens. Similarly, when I have to be inside the black tent and I am reflected in the glass, I will wear black clothing including a long sleeve shirt, black gloves and a black paper bag over my head. I had to go to that extreme only once.

I was inside the tent directly behind the camera when I photographed this scene. That's because I handheld the flashlight that created the upper circle of light. Surprisingly, I didn't have to go to any precautions to prevent being reflected in the glass. I think that's because my only light sources in the room were two small flashlights putting out relatively small amounts of light. Such a small amount of light was falling on me that my reflection wasn't recorded in the scene.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Julian!

The warm light however, not something I'm enjoying. I think it detracts from the starkness of the blue stem. Your control over warm and cool hues is admirable here

I'm apparently misunderstanding you because the last sentence seems contradictory to me with the first two sentences. Please elaborate.

alien glow. Bring it back, bring it back!

Sorry, but the aliens went on strike. It has something completely unreasonable to do with poor working conditions.

[xpatUSA]

One of the things that I enjoy about photographing glass is deciding which imperfections to eliminate. I'm sure some people would find it odd that I would not eliminate such a major imperfection as the crooked logo, especially when I eliminated some really minor imperfections. Even so, that kind of imperfection is charming to me. So it stayed as is.

Well said, Mike! Much in keeping with the Japanese concept of wabi.

"Wabi" is the kind of perfect beauty that is seemingly-paradoxically caused by just the right kind of imperfection, such as an asymmetry in a ceramic bowl which reflects the handmade craftsmanship, as opposed to another bowl which is perfect, but soul-less and machine-made.

[Mike Buckley]

I had never heard of wabi, Ted. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[Shadowman]

John,

I almost always photograph glass from outside essentially a black tent for the reason you mentioned. Three of the walls are black fabric; the floor is black carpet; and the ceiling is black. Only the wall behind the subject is white so I can use it as a large reflector. In extreme situations when my camera is reflected in the scene in a way that is not easy to eliminate during post-processing, I hang a black piece of paper with a hole cut in it on the lens. Similarly, when I have to be inside the black tent and I am reflected in the glass, I will wear black clothing including a long sleeve shirt, black gloves and a black paper bag over my head. I had to go to that extreme only once.

I was inside the tent directly behind the camera when I photographed this scene. That's because I handheld the flashlight that created the upper circle of light. Surprisingly, I didn't have to go to any precautions to prevent being reflected in the glass. I think that's because my only light sources in the room were two small flashlights putting out relatively small amounts of light. Such a small amount of light was falling on me that my reflection wasn't recorded in the scene.

Mike,

Good additional information on your setup, I was playing around recently trying to photograph a bottle inside a light tent and trying to eliminate my reflection was foremost on my mind. I handled that problem by using a timer and leaving the room. My next issue is the reflection of the camera, I have a cover with opening so that helps somewhat but limits my choice of lenses, although I do have to manually focus, I have to be selective about the lens (usually needed to use 18-35mm focal length ) because the depth of the tent is only two feet and if I use my 85mm I'm cropping most of the bottle.