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Photographing glassware.
Photographing glassware.
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Aug, 2016Views
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brianthelion
October 17, 2016
This shot is very creative and nicely composed. Just a thought, if you make a slight structure adjustment it might be even more powerful. Only an idea.
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was a glassware assignment for my final portfolio shot in the commercial studio at Hallmark Institute of Photography. I decided instead of doing the usual glassware shot on glass or an infinity table I would try to showcase this amazing glass ship in a bottle in a more mystical ship environment.Time
This photo evolved over a six to seven hour shoot, I was in the studio setting up and playing with composition and lighting for hours. Then I had to add the smoke machine and try and get the smoke to photograph before it floated away into the high ceilings of our studio. I wanted to evoke a mood of mystery and decided slat lighting with blue gels would make it seem like moonlight streaming through the wood of a ship's cabin.Lighting
I really wanted to highlight the glass ship in a bottle while creating a natural looking light in studio, as our assignment was to make the glassware the focal piece of the image. I hung wooden slats on the left of my set from a C-stand and used a Profoto strobe about 8 feet high and about 10 feet away from my set with a fresnel and a blue gel creating hard light to emulate the moon. After lots of of positioning, I found the perfect spot for my wooden slats to cast a large bean of light directly onto the glass bottle a little bit from behind, as well as having other shafts of light be less pronounced by making the openings of the wooden slats smaller for those parts. The lamp in the lefthand upper corner actually plugged in and I had a few images including the ambient light from the lamp but decided I enjoyed it better with the ambient light off as it told more of a story. I decided against using a fill light to add more mystery to the photo.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon 5D Mark III, using a Canon 70-200mm lens at 100mm. Using a tripod I shot at ISO 100, F5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second.Inspiration
My father was in the United States Navy so I have been interested in maritime history ever since I can remember. Growing up an hour outside of Boston, MA and studying history as an undergrad I have always been fascinated by ships and nautical knick knacks. I wanted to use personal items my family owned to create a scene I could see in an old maritime book or history museum for my final portfolio, rather than pick a piece of glassware for the assignment and work around the piece. My father and I enjoy going to model ship exhibits and have visited many historical tall ships as well as spending much time on the USS Constitution and neighboring museum in the Charlestown Navy Yard. This photograph is an homage to my father and his favorite things that shaped me and my interest in naval warfare and ships. I knew I wanted to light it in a way that seemed natural and dramatic and looked to old film noir types of photography for inspiration. The smoke was a last minute addition to not only bring out the shafts of light more prominently but also as a way to make it seem as though this ships captain just finished smoking his pipe and decided to lock up his cabin and go to sleep for the night.Editing
The only post-processing I did in this case was to sharpen up the file, enhance some of the color, and remove a small modern-looking label on the ship bottle that clashed with the vintage feel of the scene. Although I love retouching, especially creatively, I spent a lot of time on set to make sure I captured what I wanted to see in camera so as to save time on the post-processing aspect of this photo.In my camera bag
I always carry my Canon 5d Mark III and my 50mm 1.4 prime lens. I also love my 85mm 1.8 and my 20mm 2.8. Next on my list is to get the Canon 100mm macro lens! Usually I keep an extra set of camera batteries with a wall charger and car charger (necessary for long rides), and an extra set of flash batteries (can never have enough AAs when your pocket wizard decides to die) and a set of circular polarizing filters for shooting landscapes or interiors. While I'm building up my gear collection, I rent lights from local companies along with any other lenses I need for shoots, though I find myself sticking usually with the 50mm. I love the natural vignette the lens gives, along with the amazing bokeh quality!Feedback
Paying attention to light is the most important part of your photograph. Play around with different ways to shoot different types of light. Lighting through things, such as fabrics or wooden pallets while in studio can bring such a different quality of light to a scene. Here I tried pallets first, then wooden boxes, and finally individual wooden slats so I could control where the light was landing on each specific part of set. I also find it easier to find my composition first, then start lighting said composition. Studio photography is all trial and error, think problem solving. The best advice I can give is to play around and practice as much as you can. When trying to stop motion with flash (as I did here with the smoke), try shooting at a lower flash power and always shoot below 1/160th of a second.
