Glass: Bottled Water (with thanks to Kaye Leggett)

[Mike Buckley]

The primary reason I really enjoy CiC is that participants are so eager to make helpful suggestions about how to improve images and to offer ideas about alternative images to make. As a perfect example of the latter, when Kaye reviewed this image, she suggested making an image of the two subjects with a "false" background of a blue sky and sea. Her idea inspired me to make the image below in a similar but somewhat different direction.

Please click the image to review its details at a larger size.

Setup
I'll explain the setup after I have reviewed a sufficient number of responses to the image. That's also when I'll explain why I unusually prefer to wait this one time to provide the setup details.

EDIT: Setup Explained
The tabletop is "Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour." The background is a gradient printed on vinyl. A medium continuous-light lamp is high and directly above the camera to simulate the sun high in the sky. The drinking glass and bottle were coated with surfboard wax to give the dull look of cold glass. Water droplets are a mixture of light corn syrup and water, as the syrup holds the droplets in place. The simulated drip of water on the left side of the bottle and the right side of the drinking glass are Aqua Gel, which also stays in place.

[Shadowman]

Very nice, hard to tell if the bottle is half full or frozen at the top.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, John!

The water in the drinking glass implies for me that that water came from the bottle. Also, I just happen to know that if the water was frozen in the top of the bottle, the surface of water in the bottom wouldn't be apparent and the upper half of the bottle would look very different than in this image.

[rpcrowe]

Mike, have you ever used the plastic or glass "trick" ice cubes. It doesn't melt. However, that was more important in the days of tungsten hot lights than with today's flash, fluorescent or LED lighting. Still, it is handy not to have your ice melt.

http://factorydirectcraft.com/catalo...FQyRaQodu4YHZQ

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for that website, Richard, as it's new to me and has possibilities regarding future photos. The ice in the above photo is made of acrylic. It's handmade to ensure that no two pieces are alike.

[madcrow]

Mike, can not offer any suggestions one way or the other, just a very good image.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image Mike I feel as if I'm on the beach.But I'm sure that is not sand at the bottom. May be some flour or something like that

[bje07]

Nicely done Mike.

[Dave Humphries]

Mike,

You know I have an eye for the detail, so you'll know I'm being super fussy even mentioning these, but I hope I know you well enough to know that you'll appreciate them - or set me straight if I'm wrong.

The drip on the right of the glass looks to be just a bit too 'sticky'; I suspect it isn't just water - as that would have conformed to the side of the glass more, this 'sticks out' too far.

I feel the far edge of the 'sand' (at least) needs to be blurred to imply a greater distance, perhaps shoot with a wider aperture?

The shadow needs far more contrast if that's meant to be an imitation of sunlight.

I can appreciate the causes of these issues and how difficult or impossible some would be to get right in camera.

Cheers, Dave

PS
When I looked at the EXIF to discover the aperture used (f/22), I also saw the description you're holding back on
However, I wrote the above before seeing/reading it - honest.

[Mike Buckley]

Many thanks to everyone, with apologies in advance for such a long post!

The setup information is now displayed in the first post of the thread. I waited to post those details because I didn't want that information to unduly influence anyone in their assessment of the image. It was bad enough that everyone who has been following my photography knows so much of it is done in a makeshift studio that anyone would likely look for details in the image that would indicate that the image was not captured outside.

I also wanted to wait until Binnur and Dave commented, having great respect for their eagle eyes. Sure enough, nothing gets by Binnur, so I'm not surprised that she noticed that the simulated sand is actually flour. Even if others also noticed it, she gets credit for mentioning it first!

I worked the flour with my fingers, so at least in the first few hours after making the image I had a very difficult time seeing it as sand. Interestingly, now that more time has passed, I'm much more comfortable with the appearance of the look-alike sand. When I showed the image on a large television to my wife, she immediately asked where I bought the sand, thinking that it really was sand. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Unfortunately, my local landscaping shop doesn't sell sand. Otherwise, I would have used it.

I tend to like plenty of mid-tone contrast and various kinds of sharpening techniques when post-processing areas of an image that display texture. However, the more I did that when post-processing the flour, the more it looked like flour rather than sand. Similarly, when I lit the flour to bring out its shadows, the more it looked like flour rather than sand. So, I used flat lighting on the flour and I didn't add any sharpening or mid-tone contrast to it. Doing so made it look more like sand than any other solution I attempted.

Dave: About the drip on the right side of the glass. If the water was about to fall off the glass into the "sand" exactly at the moment of capture, I'm reasonably confident for that split second it would indeed have the look displayed in the image. As for the depth of field, I've always preferred horizons in landscapes that are in focus unless there is a specific artistic reason for it to be blurred. That explains why I used the largest depth of field available to me when making this image. As for the accuracy of the shadow as an imitation of sunlight, I agree that sunlight would have cast a darker shadow. However, it was amazing to see that when I lightened that shadow just a bit, the scene suddenly looked as if the temperature of the simulated outdoor scene rose by at least 15 degrees Fahrenheit. That was the feeling I wanted, so that explains why I treated the shadow as I did.

Indeed, I'm a lot less concerned about the so-called accuracy of any of these details when creating an image than the overall feeling I have in mind before I begin my setup, much less release the shutter. It's in that context that I'm actually surprised that this image comes so close to meeting my goals.

[Wavelength]

Superb

[bnnrcn]

Thanks for explaining your set up Mike. It seems that you did a lot to prepare such a scene. So, congrats for your efforts and thanks for sharing the result of your efforts with us

[Mike Buckley]

To change the subject, I had an interesting experience last night showing a good friend of mine my makeshift studio with the setup for this photo still in place. I intentionally left it in place because she had indicated an interest in the past in seeing my makeshift studio "in action." I even demonstrated my wireless, tethered solution by using the laptop computer to review the scene in Live View, to control the camera settings, to release the shutter and to display the resulting image and its histogram on the laptop's monitor. She has seen a lot of my studio photography and was amazed that so much can be done with tabletop photography in such a small space. Sometimes we perhaps don't realize that people who are not such avid photographers aren't aware of the tools of the trade we use.