Glassware

[Jim A]

Something different for me - all critique will be gratefully received.

[billtils]

The glassware looks to have been handled very well, but items at the back are lost in the shadows and the table at the front is a bit bright. Could you tell us someting about how you set it up? (the blackbar in the middle looks like there may have been 2 tables?).

[Manfred M]

Jim - transparent glassware is virtually always back-lit, not lit from the bottom.

When photographing glass, the material itself can be dull and we want the light to hit the edges of the glass to give it depth is a fairly common approach. Mirrors (reflective surfaces) are often used in this type of work, but you appear to have reversed how this is done more commonly; the subjects sit on the mirror and the light is at the back. I suspect if you did this, the image would have more impact.

[xpatUSA]

I am curious about the Art Deco(?) rectangular plinth for the middle glass. It is disobeying the rules of perspective both vertically and fore-and-aft ...

... speaking of which, would a bit of correction be needed to compensate for the camera vertical angle - the outer glasses are apparently leaning out quite a bit. But that would make the plinth look even odder than it does now ...

[Jim A]

Thanks, Bill, the glasses and table at the rear are just reflections. There were definitely not two tables.

Thanks Manfred, both you and Bill have asked or commented about how it was set up. Now, I have to come clean. The shot was taken through a window of the shop when I was standing outside in the street. So, my control of the lighting was nil. I have carried out quite a bit of post processing, including taking out a further reflection at the rear, which was very faint as you can imagine, but spoiled the effect quite a bit.

Thanks Ted, not sure why it seems not right. The plinth did not show up very well, so I enhanced the very faint lines at either of the top two sides and dimmed it. However, I suppose there may have been an area which was too faint to see?

Overall, I could make the table less bright and tinker more with the shadows, however, it seems from what has been said that overall this would be a waste of time.

[xpatUSA]

Thanks Ted, not sure why it seems not right. The plinth did not show up very well, so I enhanced the very faint lines at either of the top two sides and dimmed it. However, I suppose there may have been an area which was too faint to see?

That would explain it, Jim, ta.