Wireless Lightbulb

[Rita]

The lighting for this came exclusively from the light bulb. I had a white sheet of paper arced over the bulb to create the line of light around the bulb and black card stock was used to create a kind of tunnel around the bulb to cut out any unwanted reflections. Some reflections did creep in though and I tried to remedy those in post. The image was also flipped 90 deg and the reflection was added in post. I have been playing with this idea for awhile now and this is the best I have managed. I had no idea how difficult it would be to do this. Any feedback for improvement is much appreciated.

[Wavelength]

Lovely; i think the outline of the bulb could be thinned a bit more

[Manfred M]

Nicely done Rita. I find these types of experimental shots teach us a lot about light, reflections and other fairly arcane matters in photography. I find that shooting on black takes a lot of patience in PP just to retouch out any reflections and dust.

The one thing I find a bit strange is the hard cutoff you have on the reflection. The bottom of the reflection just seems to have disappeared.

[Mike Buckley]

Nice job, Rita! Very creative!

I gave up long ago figuring out why certain parts of an object are reflected and others are not. So, I just now reviewed all of my photos displaying a reflection and realized that your image is not realistic (though I realize you may not want it to be realistic). If realism is the goal, one of two characteristics will be displayed: either the reflection will extend to the bottom of the frame or, if not, the entire reflection rather than part of it will be displayed.

[mknittle]

Very nice Rita, I think a little experimentation is in order as you are onto something here.

[Rita]

Thanks for the comments and helpful tips.

Nandakumar, I will need to re-shoot to play with the outline of the bulb. I will try this but probably not till sometime this weekend.

Manfred, thanks for the feedback. I have another version done now with the full reflection that I will post. Yes, it did take a lot of patience but it was a good learning experiment too.

Mike, this is one time that I was trying for something that would look quit realistic. I do see what you and Manfred are saying about the reflection though. I will post the full reflection version in a few minutes.

Thanks Mark. I am going to experiment more with this idea. There are some images in my head involving this I just have to play around and figure out how to do them. That is part of the fun of photography getting to play around and experiment

[Rita]

OK, here is a version with the full reflection in it......

1.

And a partial reflection coming to the bottom of the image

2.

[Wavelength]

Rita, i think if you maintain the black -instead of brown- within the bulb. it would give the transparent look more

[Mike Buckley]

The composition of the third photo in the thread is by far the strongest for me. Consider converting to monochrome.

It's a bit confusing that the second and third photos in the thread are numbered #1 and #2. I recommend numbering the photos beginning with the first one.

[Shadowman]

Cool capture.

[John 2]

Just out of interest and in case you are tempted, I tried the same idea but used a sheet of glass on black paper. I managed to get the image of the bulb to what I wanted by powering it from a rheostat through wires soldered onto its base (ultimately cloned out) but the reflection was odd because it was reflected from both surfaces of the glass sheet. Your way of producing the reflection is much more effective.

[Mike Buckley]

John,

Try using a black background and using nothing under the sheet of glass. Alternatively, replace the sheet of glass with a sheet of opaque, glossy, black acrylic. If you don't want the horizon that is created using either setup, eliminate it during post-processing.

If you use a standard mirror as the tabletop, you'll definitely get a double reflection unless you use the very expensive kind of mirror designed to produce just one reflection. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the special mirror.

[mknittle]

John,

Try using a black background and using nothing under the sheet of glass. Alternatively, replace the sheet of glass with a sheet of opaque, glossy, black acrylic. If you don't want the horizon that is created using either setup, eliminate it during post-processing.

If you use a standard mirror as the tabletop, you'll definitely get a double reflection unless you use the very expensive kind of mirror designed to produce just one reflection. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the special mirror.

Mike, that would be a front surface mirror.
I have a thin piece of glass from a picture frame that I spray painted one side black that works pretty good. that might change though at different angles. or with the subject emitting light.

[Mike Buckley]

That looks pretty good, Mark. Did you use a flat or glossy paint and would it matter?

You jogged my memory about the mirrors. The front surface mirror is also called a first surface mirror.

[mknittle]

That looks pretty good, John. Did you use a flat or glossy paint and would it matter?

You jogged my memory about the mirrors. The front surface mirror is also called a first surface mirror.

The paint is semi gloss and I don't think it matters as the gloss comes from the top surface of the glass. I will eventually get around to trying other colors.
Yeah front surface mirrors are used a lot with lasers. as there is no distortion.

[madcrow]

Every image on this thread, to me is a standout, well beyond my abilities. Well done to everyone.

[Loose Canon]

Excellent work Rita.

All are good but to my eye the last shot is The One!

[Manfred M]

+1 to Terry's comment. I like the last one (#2) best as well.

[Rita]

John, I also tried with a mirrored base but it came out much like yours. I ended up "cheating" and creating the reflection in PS

[Rita]

The composition of the third photo in the thread is by far the strongest for me. Consider converting to monochrome.

It's a bit confusing that the second and third photos in the thread are numbered #1 and #2. I recommend numbering the photos beginning with the first one.

My apologies on the numbering, I was getting tired when I did it and my brain was shutting down.

An interesting thought of turning it black and white, I hadn't thought of that but I will give it a try.