A Sad Happening -- Take 2

[Mike Buckley]

If you think it might have been difficult to balance the upper half of the wine glass on the lower half, you are absolutely correct. For the record, I used no glue or any material to connect the two pieces of glass.

Do you see the particular flaw that I was never able to resolve no matter hard I tried? If so, does it bother you? All C&C encouraged, of course!

NOTE: If you don't like that not all of the glass is included, please see the second image shown later in the thread.

[Sahil]

Ouch! That's heart breaking Its amazing to see how broken glasses make good pictures. I took one long back & loved it.

I am not sure about the rim of the glass that hasn't been taken in the frame. Was it intentional?
Lovely lighting. Mind sharing the lighting setup?

Also, do you click in Raw or JPEG?

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for dropping by, Sahil. It's intentional that part of the rim of the glass is not included in the frame.

The order of setting everything up is important. First, the light source is larger than the background made of tracing paper. The light is positioned to shine through the paper toward the subject and the camera. The camera is then positioned so the field of view is exactly the same as the tracing paper. Last, the subject is placed on a glass tabletop. The magnification and other details depend on how close the subject is to the camera.

The entire setup is enclosed in black to prevent anything in the room from being reflected in the glass. The ceiling, sides and floor are black and the sawhorses holding the glass tabletop are draped in a black cloth. A black piece of poster paper hangs on the lens to prevent the camera and tripod from being reflected in the glass. I release the shutter using a remote device held from beyond the black enclosure.

For details about all of that, I highly recommend Light: Science and Magic.

The original image is a RAW file.

You might like my other photo of two broken wine glasses: A sad happening for wine lovers

[Sahil]

Thanks for sharing the lighting info.

[Clive Kirby]

I think if I were to put my hand in my pocket and pay for this to put on my wall, I would want the complete rim in shot. Having said that - I am in awe of this image. Great result for the set up effort. I really like the "two broken wine glasses" as well.
regards
Clive

[Mike Buckley]

Considering that both of you have mentioned that not all of the glass is included, I'll share the image as I originally envisioned it. I eventually chose not to include all of the rim for two reasons. I didn't get enough separation between most of the rear part of the rim and the background. It seems to me that including all of the glass takes the eye away from the point where the two broken stems meet, which for me is the most important part of the image.

Any comments about that would be appreciated. If I get substantial disagreement about my last point, I would retake the shot or rework the post-processing with the idea of improving separation.

[Sergio M.]

Another beautiful creation, Mike. Your time and effort are well spent.

By flaw do you mean the reflection of the bottom of the wine glass? If so, it does not and I don't see any flaws.

[Joerg]

Excellent work

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks Jorg and thanks to Sergio for looking for the flaw. The flaw in this image and the image of the two broken glasses is that there is no separation between two parts of the rear of the base and the background. I think that's because the base is reflecting the white background. If you look at the image on page 180 of the most recent edition of Light: Science and Magic, you'll see that that image has the same issue. That's a bit consoling, though I have to wonder if there is a solution to the problem.

[Andrew76]

Hey Mike - another great shot! I really like the concept! For me, I think the minor flaw that you detect pales in comparison to having the glass cropped out of the picture - so, if it was my shot, I would prefer the second one where you've included the entire top of the glass.

[Clive Kirby]

Mike
I can see what you're saying about the separation of the rim and now that it has been pointed out, the flaw and I agree that it would be better if you had achieved exactly what you intended. However, when I look, I'm too busy enjoying the whole image and I can't see these minor details. Now I have seen the image with the whole of the rim, I think this is definitely the better of the two. It seems complete whereas the first image left me feeling something was missing.
Thanks for posting this - it's made my day.
regards
Clive

[Mike Buckley]

Andrew and Clive,

Thanks for your comments explaining that you prefer being able to see the entire glass. On the other hand, now that you have given me reason to spend more time working on the image, I'm really mad at you.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks to everyone who wanted to see the entire glass, I learned a technique for improving the separation in the rim during post-processing. The technique will be extraordinarily helpful in the future. It actually required significantly less effort than I imagined. The technique wouldn't have worked if there had been no separation in the capture, but when using the full-size image the separation was present at least to a minimal extent; I just needed to emphasize it. So, the image shown below has been reworked.

[wtlwdwgn]

Ah, now you've got it. I like it.

[Rhoads238]

Thanks to everyone who wanted to see the entire glass, I learned a technique for improving the separation in the rim during post-processing. The technique will be extraordinarily helpful in the future. It actually required significantly less effort than I imagined. The technique wouldn't have worked if there had been no separation in the capture, but when using the full-size image the separation was present at least to a minimal extent; I just needed to emphasize it. So, the image shown below has been reworked.

So... What was the trick? Great shot by the way. The edges are very nicely defined.

I was also wondering about how you went about the lighting and what equipment was used.

[Mike Buckley]

Jason,

The lighting and equipment are explained in an earlier post in this thread that you probably missed. If you want more detail than is explained there, just ask.

To improve the separation in the rear part of the rim and its reflection, I displayed the full-size image at 125% and chose a tiny brush to select only the rim. I applied the Curves tool to the selected area and pulled the middle of the curve aggressively toward the bottom right corner of the graph. That had the effect of slightly darkening the rim but in a more reliable fashion than simply moving a brightening slider to the left. I then duplicated that adjustment step several times, which in the software that I use (Nikon Capture NX2), multiplied the intensity of the adjustment with each additional copy of the step. I had to erase some spillover into the area on both sides of the rim, but nothing more than would be expected.

[jeeperman]

Nicely done Mike. The edit works quite well.

[terrib]

I'm glad you were able to work through the separation issue. I do agree, though, with your earlier statement that including the entire glass moves focus away from the really cool things going on with the stem. So I still like the first comp better.