Emerald Green: the color of 2013

[Brownbear]

I think it is an amazing photo.. Inspires one to go out and shoot photos of glasses. I prefer the first photo but really I'm not sure why.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, Christina!

The glass looks like the 'traditional' Alsace wine glass, btw.

Sorry that I forgot to respond to that. I had never heard of that, but now that I have looked it up I see what you mean. This works well for me, as I really enjoy Alsatian Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gawurtzraminer.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Edit: I guess I have bad timing, as you just posted your new stuff 3 minutes after this. Sorry it took me so long to respond

Mike, the newer photo of this glass is much nicer. I prefer the subtlety of the green and the cleaner look overall, though I'd try a version without the reflection just for kicks. Forgive me if I am misunderstanding, but is this the version where you were trying to change the perspective as a result of my suggestion, or is that version coming soon? I read your initial reply about the lens mm and working distance, etc..and so I'm guessing that there's not much you can do to have the rim and base perspectives be similar (as you can't get far enough away, as you mentioned). I'm sure you understand what I meant, but it can't hurt to have a visual...see this link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...tail-glass.jpg

As you mentioned, it would probably take a good distance and a longer lens to get something like that.

[Mike Buckley]

The last three variations on this theme. The perspective is exactly the same in these last three photos and I think Matt will like it better than the perspective in the first two photos.

I couldn't believe how lucky I was to find the perfect shade of green poster board at the drug store, of all places, that is a block away from where I live. All three photos were captured with the glass sitting on the poster board, which is the same width as the background of black felt. That width was necessary because I extended the rear part of the poster board so it leaned up against the black felt. That eliminated the horizon and created a natural gradient that transitioned from green to black conveniently in the shape of the bowl.


Photo #3: The "straight" capture (no special post-processing required)




Photo #4: Added light to the green poster board to brighten it and, thus, the middle part of the stem and base just a tad (not a lot). Made JPEGs out of Photo #3 and #4, put Photo #4 on top of Photo #3, and erased everything in the top layer except the stem and base. The result is that Photo #3 and #4 are exactly the same except for the stem and base.




Photo #5: During post-processing, changed the green background in Photo #3 to the same color as the black background.

[Mike Buckley]

This has been an incredibly informative exercise that has resulted in two of the five photos that I really like a lot -- #2 and #4. Thanks for allowing me to share the process with you!

Your favorites, if any?

[FlyingSquirrel]

This has been an incredibly informative exercise that has resulted in two of the five photos that I really like a lot -- #2 and #4. Thanks for allowing me to share the process with you!

Your favorites, if any?

I have to agree, I like 2 and 4 the best as well. You've progressed nicely with this glass piece; I thought #1 was fantastic, but seeing what you've done in the later ones shows what can be accomplished with determination and experimentation.

Unfortunately I think I communicated my original comment poorly. I guess we were thinking in different directions regarding the perspective issue (as shown by looking at the wikipedia glass image I linked). However, I do like these newer ones more than photo #1 due to the overall treatment of the bg, lighting, etc, and I think foreground and background rims matching up does look nice.

[Mike Buckley]

Matt,

Thanks for providing the link to the photo of the cocktail glass. I think there are perhaps a few factors affecting the perspective that don't exist when I'm photographing my green glass.

One factor is that it was captured using a 50mm lens, as opposed to the 35mm lens that I used. (It was captured on a camera that has the same 1.5 crop factor as mine.) That longer focal length would have allowed a different perspective.

Another factor is that the rim of the cocktail glass is considerably larger than the base of the glass. Compare that with my green glass, whose rim and base are almost exactly the same size.

The last factor is that the rim of the cocktail glass is the widest part of the glass. That's unlike my green glass, whose widest part is the lower part of the bowl.

All of those differences add up to forcing the photographer (perhaps "allowing" is more appropriate) to make different decisions.

Notice how I solved the issue of light refraction ruining the rear rim of the glass when shooting it through the front part of the glass: I chose a perspective that allows the front rim to entirely hide the rear rim. In this case, the lighting and base provide a three-dimensional look enough so that I felt I didn't need to display the rear rim to achieve that effect.

[revi]

I really like #3. For me, the lighter colour of the base and stem in #4 make it less clear that they are of coloured glass (and I guess I like the deep green tones in #3)

Thank you for allowing us to participate in the exercise, I really have to remember the way you added the green background

[pasusan]

Thank you for the discussion as well as the pictures.

I like #2 best - as I really do think showing the bit of rear rim adds interest. But then I like #5... My favorite would probably be a mixture of the 2 - the base of #5 and the top of #2. They are all great though and strangely enough as I walk around I am now seeing colored glass objects differently.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Susan and Remco!

Now that I have gotten some sleep (not much, though ), I am reflecting (no pun intended) on two important details of using the green poster board.

For me, using that color in Photos #3 - #5 produces a far more successful image than using the white poster board in Photo #1. (No poster board was used in Photo #2.) The theory that I look forward to testing is that it might always be advantageous to using a color to light the glass or liquid from behind that resembles the color of the glass or liquid. Another theory to test is that matching the color as close as possible might be more important when the color is a medium or dark shade than when it is a light shade. Naturally, both theories have to do only with the goal of making the photo resemble the normal, physical appearance of the glass, as opposed to making a creative photo that intentionally has little resemblance to the glass.

Notice the rim in Photos #3 - #5. In the capture, that rim was reflecting the green light bouncing off the poster board and was much darker (because it was green) than the bright white reflection displayed in the final images. I made the bright reflection happen by using a very small brush to select the rim and using another small brush to erase where the first brush had gone beyond the rim. I then converted the rim to black-and-white using a green filter. Using the green filter ensured that the rim would be as bright as possible. I'm very pleased with how this technique worked.

[CLK]

Do you keep them on your desktop computer? If so then Adobe Digital Editions is a free download and you can open it with that. If you have an iPad or Kindle or Nook most of them have apps that allow you to use and read most downloads on the various devices. I keep all of my eBooks for photography on my iPad, I can take them with me where ever I go . The PDF formatted books will open in iBooks on the iPad, Kindle books need the Kindle app and Adobe Epubs are opened with Blue Fire Reader. Of course with a lap top you can also use the Adobe Digital Editions. Having said all of that you will see that I am a Mac user, but I think that the Adobe Digital Editions will work on a Windows machine. I don't know anything about Kindle books on the desktop or laptop. I have not explored, but will to see if this book can be downloaded as a PDF and let you know. Have you explored the eBooks available through Craft and Vision? They are all PDF. Also the magazine Photography BB is a free download in a PDF format.

[Mike Buckley]

Sorry, Connie, but I generally use books made of paper.

[CLK]

Well I used to, but once every room has a bulging bookshelf and I find myself having to dust them all (they absolutely won't do it themselves) I decided it was time to switch. The advantage of eBooks is that with all them on my iPad I can take them with me. It was getting harder and harder to carry all of the paper books in my bag. I have about 150 eBooks and they really are much lighter than the paper ones. I do understand though and I still use library "real" books when they are available, although there are more and more of those that are digital also.