Inanimate Object 2

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7 Feb 2012 - 12:55 PM

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Sooty_1 (Critique Team)

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7 Feb 2012 - 12:55 PM

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The problem you are going to have whatever you do here is the horrible reflections in the shiny bottle. With shiny materials, you really need a light tent around the set.

For me, there are a few things I'd try with this set up:
1. Move the items further away from the backdrop, and balance the DoF to render the backdrop out of focus while keeping all the main subjects sharp. This will make it seem more 3-dimensional. You can find out the ideal depth of field with your lens and set the focus and aperture appropriately so that the field only covers the subject and a little either side, leaving the background out of focus.
2. Use (or make) a light tent to surround the set, and light it from outside. If the camera is on a tripod, the length of exposure is immaterial, so if the lighting low, it doesn't matter. Instead of balancing flash etc (which will probably have a different colour balance to the continuous light), use a white reflector to bounce light into areas you want lifting. Using thin material or tracing paper between the lights and subject is one way to experiment, and white card/tinfoil/paper....etc as reflectors. This will enable you to move the lights closer, thus softening the light.
3. Maybe just me, but I would prefer to see the fallen glass in front of the upright one, and pointing into the picture rather than out of it, as it is at the moment.

A few ideas.....still life is all about details. Only when you try it do you realise just how hard it can be!

Nick

Lynamick

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7 Feb 2012 - 1:18 PM

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Hi,
Relection from glass or silver has always been a problem. Many years ago it was possible to buy
an anti- shine spray from your local camera shop I do not know if it would work on glass but it was very good on silver. If you used a bounced flash you might cut the reflection a bit. As Nick said still life is not easy.
Michael

Sooty_1 (Critique Team)

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7 Feb 2012 - 4:41 PM

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Quote: Light tents/cubes, no doubt, have their uses but ......, much of this exercise, and subsequent ones, is to learn photographic art, far removed from bland shadowless, reflectionless product phortography.


Then I suggest you are looking at the wrong kind of subject for direct light, as shiny surfaces will always reflect the lights, the room, you, etc. Light tents do not have to be shadowless or bland, you can still be creative with the lighting, but reflections from subjects like this will always be ugly and distracting, unless you can find a way (as above) of rendering the reflections invisible.

Bounce flash will not significantly reduce reflections, as the light will still be a small source. Better to shoot through a large softbox close to the subject
In fact, traditionally, one way to shoot glass is to use a black card each side, in order to make the edges of the glass stand out from the background.