Glass Bottle Dark_lightfield Help

[cargo]

I was bought this for my Birthday the other day and after thinking yummy yummy yummy ;-)
I thought maybe I could photograph it. I had seen the Gary Edwards tutorial on White and dark field lighting.I really liked the idea of doing the shot with the colored circle of light on the background.
I am assuming that because the bottle had liquid in it I maybe should have lite it from the front ?
Anyways I have attached the pictures which have just been cropped to loose the flags.I was in a rush as the second half of a TV show was on last night so didn't take the set up shot for the Black background but all I did was place black mount board on the table and a piece up the middle of the softbox then the 2 pieces of white card as in the other set up shot to reflect back.
Oh and it's a 580 ex in the box.
These are not great photos hence the post and asking for help.
Will have another pop and hopefully have a stab at the colored background one.
Any help/comments are welcomed.

Gaz

 

[Garry Edwards]

I was asked to do a tutorial showing these techniques so I did, and someone also commented that they would like the lighting to be very simple, so I did that too - but it isn't especially easy with just one hotshoe flashgun...

You've done a pretty good job, but there is room for improvement. With each shot, the camera is too high, you're distorting the perspective by looking down and, more importantly, you are including the unlit 'floor'. In the first shot, the background is far more brightly lit at the top than at the bottom.

Backlighting can be very good for translucent liquids, but the lighting needs to be even. There is another technique that can also be used, called underlighting, this tutorial shows how it's done but, normally, it's done in conjunction with other lighting techniques, not as a standalone method.

A couple of other points: You should have removed the labels on the back of the bottle. Looking at your brightfield shot, you can see why

And, if this was a commercial shot, you would have lit the label separately - but we are now leaving the realms of using basic equipment, although it can be done with just a bit of cinefoil, a stanley knife and an extra light...

 

[cargo]

Yay thanks for the reply Gary.
I didnt think I was shooting to high so I will take a look at that but to be fare the camera was just a few inches above the table top.
Yes I agree I can see the labels through the glass.
I couldnt get the reflectors any closer to get more light onto the label.Which was annoying me at the time.
I do have another speedlight and smaller softbox so could add some more light up front.
Not sure how I can resolve the light being brighter at the top of the white image as I think that is due to the speedlight not filling the whole softbox evenly.
Will have another play though.

Thanks again

Gaz

Just took a few more and tried to address some of your points.

I hope there is at least a bit of improvement.

I couldnt figure out how to light the label at mo but I think I must have better placed the reflector cards as they seem a bit brighter.

Gaz

 

[Garry Edwards]

Your camera position is still too high and the top one looks a bit overexposed to me, but I think you've done a great job.

Lighting the label, or at least lighting it well, with limited equipment isn't easy. If you want to try, there are a couple of ways...
1. Use a small mirror, the type used for facepainting, see if you can position it in such a way that you can pick up spilled light and reflect it back on the label. If you can, find a way of fixing it in position, or get someone to hold it perfectly, or do it yourself using a self timer or remote release.
2. Use a piece of cinefoil (aka blackwrap), cut out a hole the same shape as the label but about half the size, place it just out of shot and shine a light through it. If push comes to shove, you can use a long shutter speed and a torch.

The pro way of doing would be to use a focussing spotlight. They have adjustable shutters and can create a sharply focussed beam of light of any size, any shape - but they ain't cheap. Like many tools, they make the job easier but there are always much cheaper workarounds that produce pretty much the same results.

 

[cargo]

Thanks Gary.

I'm glad I am moving in the right direction. I may have nudged the exposure up a third on the top one in Canons raw processor.
I am struggling with the camera position as I was sure to have the lens pointing directing at the middle of the label on a tripod. So I guess the easy answer is to just lower it and probably angle slighty upwards ?

Thanks for the tips for the label, if I get a chance tommorrow evening I will give it a try___but then it has got to be opened

Gaz

 

[jennyb]

Hi Gary,

You have done really well with these. The second attempt is much better than the first. I just wish you had started this thread earlier. I spent much of last weekend trying something similar with a whisky bottle and did not manage anywhere near the quality of these shots.

But, I had not seen Garry's tutorial! Garry, I went through your tutorials last night and they are so useful Many thanks for posting them.

I guess the moral is - check out TP tutorials before trying something new :bonk:

Jenny

 

[Garry Edwards]

But, I had not seen Garry's tutorial! Garry, I went through your tutorials last night and they are so useful Many thanks for posting them.

I guess the moral is - check out TP tutorials before trying something new :bonk:

Jenny

I've posted a link to a few of my tutorials on TP, nobody ever comments on them and I had no idea that anyone had actually looked at them

The best thing to do is to look at the Lencarta lighting blog, they are all there. Just click on 'subscribe' to be notified about new ones.

That way, you don't only get to see mine, you get to see all the ones by other people too - the latest one, by a customer, is here. I think it's great!

 

[jockwav]

I have looked at a lot of Garry,s tutorials & they have came in really handy as references,great work Garry.
Well done with the bottle shots Gary they are getting really good,well done.

 

[arad85]

Just click on 'subscribe' to be notified about new ones.

Done. I've only just started using subscriptions as I've found a decent reader that integrates with Google reader (which is a horrible interface IMHO) across all my environments (FeedDemon FWIW). I'm finding them super useful - thanks.

 

[cargo]

Thanks for the positive comments "really helps"
Yep Garys lighting tutorials are vey good for sure. Shame Gary didnt know peeps were reading and using them.
I was unaware of the subscription thingy so I will nip off and do that now ;-)

Thanks again
Mr Edwards

 

[jennyb]

I've posted a link to a few of my tutorials on TP, nobody ever comments on them and I had no idea that anyone had actually looked at them

The best thing to do is to look at the Lencarta lighting blog, they are all there. Just click on 'subscribe' to be notified about new ones.

That way, you don't only get to see mine, you get to see all the ones by other people too - the latest one, by a customer, is here. I think it's great!

Thanks, Garry, I've subscribed.

Jenny