Strawberries and champagne

[Rhoads238]

Hey all,

Heres another one from yesterday's shoot. The plate consists of vanilla panna cotta, poached rhubarb, champagne foam, white currant and micro pea shoots.


_DSC3624small by rhoads238, on Flickr

CC always welcome,

Jason

[Digital]

Nice photograph. I really like the reflection.

Bruce

[Rhoads238]

Thanks!

[Loose Canon]

The shot looks good Jason. Beautiful culinary composition.

But let me bounce a theory or two off you and see what you think.

Always an issue with clear glass, the edges of the glass are lost in the background causing no separation.

In the reflection the edges are there and the glass’ outline is beautifully displayed.

You have a fairly complicated problem with this shot. The reflection is white line, but the subject needs to be black line to define the edges.

Then you have the level of the liquid, which also needs to be white line in the subject so that we know it’s there. You have it to some degree coming from both sides of the glass, but it does not make it all the way around the edge of the liquid to the center of the glass.

The liquid is completely lost in the reflection, but that may be a matter of “who cares”!

Not that this is the greatest shot ever produced, Jason, but it is a pretty good example of black line glass lighting. Its just that the edges of the glass have that black lack of reflection (black line) that separates it from your clean white BG!

[Rhoads238]

The shot looks good Jason. Beautiful culinary composition.

But let me bounce a theory or two off you and see what you think.

Always an issue with clear glass, the edges of the glass are lost in the background causing no separation.

In the reflection the edges are there and the glass’ outline is beautifully displayed.

You have a fairly complicated problem with this shot. The reflection is white line, but the subject needs to be black line to define the edges.

Then you have the level of the liquid, which also needs to be white line in the subject so that we know it’s there. You have it to some degree coming from both sides of the glass, but it does not make it all the way around the edge of the liquid to the center of the glass.

The liquid is completely lost in the reflection, but that may be a matter of “who cares”!

Not that this is the greatest shot ever produced, Jason, but it is a pretty good example of black line glass lighting. Its just that the edges of the glass have that black lack of reflection (black line) that separates it from your clean white BG!

Good point. I really like the graphic quality of your photo. I think it would work really well for stock. Probably plenty of people looking for something like that.

I don't know how to do that though. Any thoughts? the setup involved three flashes. The subject was on black plexi with a white board for a background. Two flashes on both sides were bounced at 45 degree angles off the board. The third was used with a softbox but i forget the exact positioning.

Maybe if i bounce the light off of a black poster board from out of the shot it would have the rim clearly defined?

[Rhoads238]

The shot looks good Jason. Beautiful culinary composition.

But let me bounce a theory or two off you and see what you think.

Always an issue with clear glass, the edges of the glass are lost in the background causing no separation.

In the reflection the edges are there and the glass’ outline is beautifully displayed.

You have a fairly complicated problem with this shot. The reflection is white line, but the subject needs to be black line to define the edges.

Then you have the level of the liquid, which also needs to be white line in the subject so that we know it’s there. You have it to some degree coming from both sides of the glass, but it does not make it all the way around the edge of the liquid to the center of the glass.

The liquid is completely lost in the reflection, but that may be a matter of “who cares”!

Not that this is the greatest shot ever produced, Jason, but it is a pretty good example of black line glass lighting. Its just that the edges of the glass have that black lack of reflection (black line) that separates it from your clean white BG!

Good point. I really like the graphic quality of your photo. I think it would work really well for stock. Probably plenty of people looking for something like that.

I don't know how to do that though. Any thoughts? the setup involved three flashes. The subject was on black plexi with a white board for a background. Two flashes on both sides were bounced at 45 degree angles off the board. The third was used with a softbox but i forget the exact positioning.

Maybe if i bounce the light off of a black poster board from out of the shot it would have the rim clearly defined?

[Loose Canon]

That’s not exactly how you go about it Jason. If you hit a black card directly with light it will reflect gray. Enough light and it will reflect white. Lack of light in selected areas on the glass is what you are looking for so black cards/flags are involved.

You have a fairly complex shot here to light correctly and the process/setup is pretty involved. It's something you really need to study so you know the theory behind it.

So if you really want to get into it my thoughts/recommendations to you would be to get yourself a copy of Light Science, and Magic for starters.

I also recommend: Lighting and Photographing Transparent and Translucent Surfaces

And this is pretty good too: Lighting for Product Photography

[ggt]

Light Science and Magic is very helpful book for me. I recommend it as well.

I'm interested in the top of the glass in your photo. Is there something covering it? There is a "bumpy" surface in the reflection.

THanks!

ggt

[Mike Buckley]

Another vote for Light: Science and Magic.

Thanks, Terry, for your recommendations about the other two books.

[Rhoads238]

Ah I forgot i even have a copy of that book! I'll break it out and take a look