Lighting red wine.

Interesting video, I would like to see a video of replicating his results with the kit that most hobby photographers have.

You can pretty much make everything that you need out of cardboard and Rosco paper if you just have a few speedlights. You could also do the entire shoot on one light if you just stick it on a tripod and do multiple exposures.
 
But there is still a red rim light (to the right) on the glass ABOVE the level of the wine. There wouldn't be a red highlight from the wine itself - it would be clear/colourless!

Back to the drawing board and use Pringles' tubes! (All the gear, no idea! --- jesting of course).
 
Finally I got some lights out, and whilst I didn't have all the ingredients to hand, I thought I could add similar challenges as elements.

Let me know what you think...
I agonised when I was shooting it and thought I'd got it bang on - but now I can already see what I'd do different - but my first real go at still life last night.

edit - this is a bit darker than it was in LR, but it's more or less SOOC as you can see from the creases on the BG.
 
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You were losing valuable drinking time ;)

MIke
I'm trying to keep off it in the week, which I suppose explains why I was bouncing about setting up lights for this at gone 11 last night o_O
 
Finally I got some lights out, and whilst I didn't have all the ingredients to hand, I thought I could add similar challenges as elements.

Let me know what you think...
I agonised when I was shooting it and thought I'd got it bang on - but now I can already see what I'd do different - but my first real go at still life last night.

edit - this is a bit darker than it was in LR, but it's more or less SOOC as you can see from the creases on the BG.
It's... interesting, although I'm a bit lost when it comes to hte scarf (?) suspended above. But it's difficult to say anything without knowing what you set out to achieve here - hopefully, once we know this you will get some comments.
 
It's... interesting, although I'm a bit lost when it comes to hte scarf (?) suspended above. But it's difficult to say anything without knowing what you set out to achieve here - hopefully, once we know this you will get some comments.

It was Phil's attempt (a very good one) to emulate the very elaborate lighting set up in the OP's link.

I believe Phil attempted to achieve the same effect but 'on a shoestring' - I'm not saying he couldn't do it more elaborately but the gist of the thread was 'anybody could do that with all that kit but is it possible on a limited budget/kitbag'.
 
It's... interesting, although I'm a bit lost when it comes to hte scarf (?) suspended above. But it's difficult to say anything without knowing what you set out to achieve here - hopefully, once we know this you will get some comments.
The scarf (doesn't work as s visual element) is in place of the rope in the background of the original. It's lit in the same manner, more proof of concept than anything worthwhile.
 
Looks like Karl was listening :-
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bziSAb7wo


Light is light. You can do this in an enclosed space, but a big space makes it so much easier. I shot some bottles a while back in my attic. Admittedly with 2 Lencarta SF600's, but a regular studio strobe would work just fine with these static subjects. The main thing was using big swatches of tracing paper - pop-up diffusers have black borders, and soft-boxes have very defined edges too. Put them behind some tracing paper though and you effectively have a variable diffuser by moving the soft-box back and forth behind the paper. It's a bit like bounce flash, but from behind the surface - you can make a light of whatever shape, size and falloff you need by projecting onto the back of the paper. I used a hand-held £30 YN460-II with a snoot on it for the highlights and comped it in afterwards.

http://owenlloydphotography.com/?p=1595
 
Good points, but light is light - without serious comping you would need at least 4 lights to get anywhere close to it - but with 4 speedlights, some gels and imagination you could get close, and with comping I reckon you could do it with 2 and get very close (depending on your photoshop skills.

What kind of kit do you have available?

I could probably do the whole thing in one, but it'd take some bodging, and I'd be mixing speedlights in for the backgrounds etc. (and I appreciate I have a bit more kit than the average hobbyist - even though I rarely use it) - the tricky bits for me would be the wood and the rope
I think he's been watching this thread! :-)
https://www.karltaylorphotography.com/blog/product-photography-hack/
 
Gonna give this a go myself.......
 
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No. Not yours. Lastolite posted one. It's gone. He was my hero. (Floyd, not Lastolite! )
 
Obviously it (I) was RTMed for "trolling" - I ask you

(I saw my comment as a tribute to Keith)

but I said in a post which was just to add interest to the thread
"I wonder what Keith Floyd, god rest his soul, would say to this'

.......... as I said to add interest as when I see a glass of Red white .... which I do most evenings I sometimes think of Keith and his marvellous cooking programmes

my post seems to have gone
 
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4 lights. Gelled SB600 on the BG. SB800 in smallish SB thru shower curtain left rear (curtain was complete side, SB was left rear angled forward to create gradient). AD360 in large para rt rear angled forward/down. Large foamcore reflectors left and right front (fill/"hard" catchlight). Silver reflectors (foil) behind the glass/bottle. The fourth light was a small led torch on the label.

Of course it could be done with one light and compositing... in fact, my biggest weakness is probably trying to get it all in one shot rather than compositing.


Flying Fish
by Steven Kersting, on Flickr
 
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I'm a bit stumped by something in the original video...

He complained about the hard light from the softbox and added a slightly larger diffusion, mostly behind. It seems to me he could have just rotated the softbox 90*, moved it forward and angled it out a bit to get the same result.
 
I'm a bit stumped by something in the original video...

He complained about the hard light from the softbox and added a slightly larger diffusion, mostly behind. It seems to me he could have just rotated the softbox 90*, moved it forward and angled it out a bit to get the same result.
I haven't tried it, but I've seen Karl do that in 2 different videos, what he did had the desired effect, when I'm back to try the beer bottle, I'll have a go.
 
I'm a bit stumped by something in the original video...

He complained about the hard light from the softbox and added a slightly larger diffusion, mostly behind. It seems to me he could have just rotated the softbox 90*, moved it forward and angled it out a bit to get the same result.
Isn't this the point I made in my first reply?
The whole point of lighting is to keep things simple, and adding extra and useless "solutions" to overcome "problems" that don't exist just makes a simple job look complicated, and puts people off of trying it for themselves.
 
Isn't this the point I made in my first reply?
Sorry Garry, I didn't read your post... I looked closely at the "moving it closer" option...it would have required moving the arrangement on the table and the table itself (certainly possible).

Because the box was excessively tall for the need, I think rotating it would serve the same purpose as moving it closer... well, largely... closer at a lower power setting would also make the highlights more translucent.
My only question was because the hard specular edge is due to the edge of the softbox (spill control). But my thinking was there should have been enough room/size (sideways) to move it forward and angle it away to get the gradient to fall off before the edge of the softbox showed.

In the DIY video using home lights, I didn't really like his use/explanation of using the gel with the LED... He explained it as warming up the led, and it did to an extent, but it's not as simple as that. A warming gel over a (blue) LED light really kills the light...because it's absorbing all of the blue. So what the filter actually did was cut the light by ~ a stop and left just a little bit of "warm" light. That's the problem with mixing light sources... particularly incomplete light sources.

I did the same in my image, but because my label was orange/black, the "blue" the LED added there I don't feel was problematic. Plus, I wasn't mixing it with lights as warm as incandescents.
FWIW, I'm not 100% on my image either... the fake ice/foam stuff I tried looks kind of "dirty/messy" to me, the reflectors behind the glass/bottle are less even than I think they should be, and I should have added more beer to get the head to the top (I drank the other bottle instead)... it didn't bother me as much at the time...
 
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