Broken Glass: Formerly a Pitcher, Now a Candle Holder

[Mike Buckley]

This is one of the pieces from the remains of my sister-in-law's favorite pitcher.

Setup
The tabletop and background are separate pieces of the same textured art paper. The background is lit from below by a small continuous-light lamp. A medium continuous-light lamp is positioned at the right rear and above the scene with very little of the light falling on the scene. A reflector on the left side fills in the shadows of the candle to enhance detail and to help define the shape of the smooth part of the candle.

[Dave Humphries]

This is one of the pieces from the remains of my sister-in-law's favorite pitcher.

I hope you had a good story for her Mike

The only suggestion I have would be to consider reducing the amount of foreground surface in shot by cropping about half of it away from lower edge.

Everything else works for me Mike.

Cheers, Dave

[Chri5]

I cant add any critiqe to this photo as i dont really know anything about this style of photography but it certainly looks good to me. The exposure and texture of the image looks very pleasing to the eye.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image and very interesting composition Mike I wouldn't crop the image from the bottom as I like the reflections and colors there but I would like to have a bit more space at the top of the frame if possible.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Dave and Binnur: You mentioned different framing possibilities at the top and bottom. There is considerably more space in both areas in the original that would allow for those changes. That's because the sensor has a 2x3 aspect ratio and I envisioned the 8x10 aspect ratio shown here. I'll take into account your ideas once I have "fresh" eyes.

I hope you had a good story for her Mike

I wasn't within 50 miles of her house when she broke it.

[chauncey]

John, IMHO, this is one of your best ever studio shots. It's the subject/light that grabs me.
The way that you handled the flame is perfect...it can't be the luck of one shot.

It might be worth working the subject some more without changing the lighting...
rotate the bottle various amounts/maybe shoot through the battle/repeat the whole scenario
after allowing the candle to burn down about 25%. Just thoughts...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Chauncey!

I tried many angles and settled on this one. I have one more angle to try again that had possibilities but the candle had no interesting drips at the time. Now that it has them, I'll consider that one before taking down the setup. I didn't even think of shooting through the bottle, so I'll also try your suggestion about that.

You mentioned the flame. When photographing a flame, I always overexpose the brightest part of the flame to get the rest of the scene exposed properly. I then select the overexposed area, use a color picker to fill the selection with the color of the flame immediately adjacent to the selected area, and reduce the opacity so the selected area is still the brightest part of the flame though without being overexposed.

it can't be the luck of one shot.

You're right. It is the luck of 35 shots including several compositions and slightly altered positions of the main light. This one is the last shot.

[chauncey]

I think that I'm gonna try that technique on my next sunset...thanks.

[Mike Buckley]

I think that I'm gonna try that technique on my next sunset...thanks.

It works just as effectively with an overexposed setting or rising sun as with a candle. I've used it several times.

[Mike Buckley]

I posted a new image here.

[IzzieK]

Mike I did not see the other one until you pointed it out...between the two of them, I like this one better...the other one is a bit too clean....

William, the poster's name is Mike...you fell asleep again...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Izzie!

William, the poster's name is Mike...you fell asleep again...

He wrote an amazingly good post considering that he was sleeping.