Teapot with hot glow

[Manfred M]

When my wife saw my original work on the teapot, she suggested in might look nice if I could work in a source of "glow" as if there was a source of heat under the trivit. After much pulling of my few remaining hairs (nicely said, nothing was working), I stuck the rear light of my bicycle underneath the trivit and really dragged the shutter (8 second exposure), so I have my glow, but does it work? I had to shoot at a much sharper angle to hide the light.

I suspect something a bit more orange might be better, but I don't have anything suitable; perhaps a bit of CTO on my bike headlight. I'm not planning to buy anything, so I'm scrounging around the house for alternatives.




Thoughts?

[Mark von Kanel]

MMM a bit over done for me Manfred, i dont think this method works but i can see where you wife is coming from, i dont think you were far off with your first attempt.

[Mike Buckley]

You have your glow but, unfortunately, that's all it is -- a glow that's supposed to look like something that it isn't. Tell your wife that if she wants a glow, she should provide it or return to the workforce and stop coming up with all these suggestions in her spare time.

If you want more of an orange look, why not use software to change the hue from red to orange?

You might want to cut a hole in the paper, place the light underneath the hole and cover the entire tabletop with clear diffusion material. It will still be a glow (I'm not sure a glow will ever work quite right) but it will have a different, softer look. I would use a white light and I would change the color during post-processing, but that's because I like to cheat.

[ShaneS]

Manfred, it's a good concept but I don't think you have it quite right. First of all I wonder if a slightly less downward angle on the shot might work better (I understand that you may have been trying to hide your light source). As is I think that the straight line reflection under the cozy could be toned down or eliminated so the glow is more uniform.

I have no idea on light sources or even how to create a shot like this so please take my comments with a grain of salt. The only thing that comes to mind is directing a light upward through something like black semi opaque plexiglass?

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred, you can change the hue of the glow with PP as Mike suggests, a more orange colour works better

[dennybeall]

You could do something like this with Photoshop:
[IMG][/IMG]

[Manfred M]

I could Denny, but that would not give me the look I'm after. I'm looking for something a lot more organic in light distribution.

[dennybeall]

What does "organic" mean in this context? Do mean like flames or a different color? I just banged out a rough example - the color or texture could be anything.

[Manfred M]

The original I posted would count as "organic"; i.e. loose, unstructured and natural looking; i.e. not a man-made source.

The disk is too structured for what I'm after; more of the look of something sitting on a small open flame or glowing charcoal ember.

[KimC]

I prefer your original teapot, it was crisp and beautiful.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, I think you could make some realistic flames by just light writing with a flashlight.

[Mark von Kanel]

I prefer your original teapot, it was crisp and beautiful.

+1