I'm not very good at this.....

[ST1]

I'm not very good at this genre of photography especially the Photoshop layers and masking techniques. |But I awarded myself an afternoon to have a go at it. The practice made me realise how little I comprehend about the use of editing tools that are outside of my normal work-flow. This is one of my attempts I like to say that I only wanted you to see a little bit of the text at the rear of the bottle. But really it was because I didn't light the rear sufficiently well. As well as the use of PS I really need to learn to shoot tethered to make this sort of play easier to see the impact of each aspect of the lighting used. I used two different files to create this image.
The bottle was standing on black perspex with a black card behind the bottle.
our thoughts and comments are as always very welcome.

[Wavelength]

Nice; i feel the heavy dark reflection on the right side is a bit problematic; let's wait for Mike's thoughts

[Donald]

The practice made me realise how little I comprehend about the use of editing tools that are outside of my normal work-flow.

And they will forever be incomprehensible unless you do exactly what you did - get your sleeves rolled up and use them. I congratulate for showing people that that is what we have to do. We can read all we want, but it's only when we start trying our things do we really start to learn

[Manfred M]

Nicely done Peter. I picked up a piece of plexiglas on Friday so that I can try these techniques as well. I think this is one of those projects that you need to pick away at and try new techniques until you get the look that you want. I think we all get into a bit of a shooting and PP routine that we are comfortable with and breaking out of that routine improves our overall skills and influences how we work with subjects in our comfort zone.

Being a realist, I suspect this might have to wait until the weather turns nasty, before I get into this style of photography more seriously, as I have a fairly busy, mostly outdoor, shooting schedule through into the fall right now.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, the glass looks good but the background looks a bit noisy and pixelated.

[John 2]

Not too bad at all Peter. Nice warm saturated colour and no nasty highlights. Can I borrow the Malt so I can give it a try?

[bnnrcn]

It works for me too Peter A bit of lighting of the BG (may be from behind) might look nice but you know that I'm not experienced in such shots at all. My comment is based on what I have learnt from Mike's images. So, Mike the real expert knows much better

[ST1]

Not too bad at all Peter. Nice warm saturated colour and no nasty highlights. Can I borrow the Malt so I can give it a try?

I've been tempted to open it on a number of occasions John. But I've promised Number One Son that it forms part of his inheritance

[Mike Buckley]

The practice made me realise how little I comprehend about the use of editing tools that are outside of my normal work-flow.

That's true for all of us and it's a total pain in the neck, at least for me. If we don't regularly use a particular kind of tool, it's sometimes difficult to use it the first few times, especially for certain types of tools.

I'll only mention for now that to make all the lettering stand out, you might like the image better if you had eliminated all unwanted reflections. The only way to do that is to shoot in a very dark environment and eliminate the few remaining unwanted reflections during post-processing. Another solution is to minimize the negative effect of the bright, unwanted reflections and perhaps even make them attractive. To do that, apply dulling spray or cheap deodorant spray to the areas displaying those reflections. (Expensive deodorant spray apparently is nearly transparent and doesn't work as well as the cheap stuff.)

The style of the image (plain tabletop and background with a reflection in the tabletop) has the look of a formal, highly controlled studio style but those reflections of so many other things in the room have the look of a much more informal style as if the bottle had been sitting on a kitchen counter. For me, the two styles don't mix well. That's why it's probably important to deal with the unwanted reflections so long as you use this style of tabletop and background.

You mentioned that you didn't light the letters on the rear side of the bottle well. It might be helpful for you to clarify what you had hoped to achieve and to explain your lighting setup.

[ST1]

I've been tempted to open it on a number of occasions John. But I've promised Number One Son that it forms part of his inheritance

Hmm maybe I should sell it and buy a present for the wife

https://www.thewhiskybarrel.co.uk/po...t-release.html


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[ST1]

That's true for all of us and it's a total pain in the neck, at least for me. If we don't regularly use a particular kind of tool, it's sometimes difficult to use it the first few times, especially for certain types of tools.

I'll only mention for now that to make all the lettering stand out, you might like the image better if you had eliminated all unwanted reflections. The only way to do that is to shoot in a very dark environment and eliminate the few remaining unwanted reflections during post-processing. Another solution is to minimize the negative effect of the bright, unwanted reflections and perhaps even make them attractive. To do that, apply dulling spray or cheap deodorant spray to the areas displaying those reflections. (Expensive deodorant spray apparently is nearly transparent and doesn't work as well as the cheap stuff.)

The style of the image (plain tabletop and background with a reflection in the tabletop) has the look of a formal, highly controlled studio style but those reflections of so many other things in the room have the look of a much more informal style as if the bottle had been sitting on a kitchen counter. For me, the two styles don't mix well. That's why it's probably important to deal with the unwanted reflections so long as you use this style of tabletop and background.

You mentioned that you didn't light the letters on the rear side of the bottle well. It might be helpful for you to clarify what you had hoped to achieve and to explain your lighting setup.

Mike for this image I was only using a table/desk lamp that is very minimalistic it is fitted with a halogen MR16/GU9 style lamp. I was hand holding it both in front, above and behind the subject. Not the easiest way to light it whilst trying not to knock the tripod, keep the light out of shot. All of that without being able to see the lighting effect in realtime. I wasn't shooting tethered and was basing my approach on a product shooting video that Richard (I think it was Richard) posted on here recently. With hindsight I should have had more space between the background and the rear of the subject. Sadly my desktop doesn't have that luxury.
Thanks for taking time to look and comment.


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