Grapes

[Mike Buckley]

This bunch of seedless table grapes is displayed exactly as it was taken out of the grocer's plastic bag.

The bright outlines of some of the grapes were created using the exact same principle as lighting transparent glass with a bright outline. The grape skins create enough of a direct reflection to make those outlines appear.

Setup
The bunch of grapes is suspended in the air by a wire attached to a boom. The background is dark red art paper taped onto the center of a larger, circular diffuser. The lower part of the art paper is draped onto the tabletop in a shape that bends it toward the camera. The art paper fills the frame, no more and no less. A medium continuous-light lamp behind the art paper and diffuser is shining toward the subject and camera. The light wrapping around the background lights the bent shape of the art paper to create the lighter areas in about the lower half of the background and creates the bright outlines on some of the grapes. That back lighting also helped enhance the translucent characteristic of the grapes. Black cards on the left and right sides of the subject eliminated flare and its associated lack of contrast by preventing that light from directly entering the lens. A white reflector on the tabletop immediately beneath and in front of the subject brightened the lower front area of the grapes.

[Manfred M]

Another sort of wine theme?

What strikes me about this image Mike is the edge lighting near the top of the bunch which give you great separation from the background. As you get towards the bottom of the grapes, the lighting is more subtle and the separation of the grapes from the background is not nearly as evident, and that is not working as well as it could. I wonder if introducing another light from the bottom might not be an approach worth considering?

[Mike Buckley]

Not a wine theme, Manfred, as these aren't wine grapes.

Your suggestion to light the lower grapes would work well if greater separation and/or more bright outlines are desired. You might have been thinking instead of using an extra light to brighten only the background. Either method would certainly create a very nice look. It's also possible that lowering the one light I used might have created bright outlines on more of the lower grapes, though I'm not certain of that.

However, I'm having no trouble noticing at a glance the separation between the background and subject on any of the grapes whether viewed on my calibrated computer monitor or my television, which isn't calibrated. So, I also like the look as this image is lit.

[Digital]

Mike, nice photo. Well done IMHO.


Bruce

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

To view a close-up image of the same grapes made using a macro lens, see this thread.

[Wavelength]

Such a beautiful presentation

[bnnrcn]

Lovely image Mike, I like the image as is, IMO there is enough seperation between the grapes and the BG