Photographing Wine Bottles

[brownaddesign]

Hi.

I need some help photographing wine bottles. I have a Canon EOS Rebel (300D) and no studio lighting equipment. I constructed a light box by taking a large cardboard box and cutting out holes in each side, covering them with muslin fabric, placing white posterboard inside bent at an arch for a seamless background, and used two clamp-on lights bought at Wal-Mart with 150 Watt "Reveal" bulbs. I realize my setup is not ideal, but I am a graphic designer by trade and don't do enough photography to justify purchasing a lot of studio equipment. I positioned my lights on either side of the bottle, one a little further away than the other. All of the bottles are dark glass. I thought the reflections I was seeing were OK (not great) but all of my photos were coming out too dark. And the very edges of the bottle were almost vignetting. Of course I want a shot with "hard" or defined edges and nice, pleasing reflections. Any suggestions on getting good results with what I have to work with?

Thanks in advance!
Neil

 

[jimiismydaddy]

Samples would be good so people can see what you need to correct.

 

[RacePhoto]

Sounds like a good starter setup. Are you spot metering on the bottle, not the whole scene? Meter for the bottle, let the background wash out.

Samples will get you much better answers than my guess.

 

[brownaddesign]

Sorry, I'm not sure if there is a different way to post a pic? I inserted a link and uploaded a sample pic to my website. My "Posting Rules" says "You May Not Post Attachments" and I went into my control panel, but didn't see an option to turn that on???

Anyhow, here is a link to the pic I posted on my website.

I did meter for the scene rather than the bottle, so thanks for the tip. Also, on this one I used the Auto White Balance setting, but on some I changed it to Tungsten which helped get rid of the yellowish tint, but of course didn't do anything to solve my lighting problems. And I didn't use a tripod on these photos but will in the next round. I'll take ANY suggestions I can get because I'm not really even in the ballpark on my first round of photos (hey, I'm not even in the "parking lot"...it looks more like my car broke down on the way to the game...)

Thanks!!!

 

[usayit]

Here's an old thread I started that hopefully will give you some ideas. Similar subject... wine bottles.. but on a rack.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2631

It was a progression and the original photo I took is no longer on my picturetrail site but the final image is still there towards the bottom of the thread.

Just brainstorming...

I'm assuming this is a DSLR and a white backdrop. Take a picture of just the backdrop without the bottle and set your white balance.

Is the camera on a tripod? If not, set on a tripod (or some support) and stop down your aperture (higher f number). Use a remote shutter or timer and don't worry about slow shutter speeds.

Perhaps use a spot light of some sort to backlight the bottle itself.

 

[morydd]

In addition to the suggestions usayit made, I'm seeing the same problem I had when shooting a bottle in a similar setup. The reflection of the frontside of the box, and what's in the room beyond. I haven't figured out how to solve that one myself.
Does your lightbox have an opening/fabric in the top. A third light directly above may help too.

I think you're wrong about not being in the ball park. I'd say you're at least taking some batting practice swings.

 

[brownaddesign]

Here is my second shoot. This time I set up outside and metered the bottle rather than the overall shot. One of the challenges was the label itself, which is screenprinted directly on the bottle, has parts that are highly reflective, like foil. So there was some retouching I had to do in Photoshop in regards to that.

Any feedback and suggestions on what else might help improve would be appreciated!!!!

Neil

 

[Leigh]

Ok Obviously thats a better shot!

In fact, I really like it

 

[Weaving Wax]

Here is my second shoot. This time I set up outside and metered the bottle rather than the overall shot. One of the challenges was the label itself, which is screenprinted directly on the bottle, has parts that are highly reflective, like foil. So there was some retouching I had to do in Photoshop in regards to that.

Any feedback and suggestions on what else might help improve would be appreciated!!!!

Neil

Looks professional.

 

[JIP]

One suggestion might be to mask off an area around your self with black. I think your lighting and WB in the later images is good but you are getting reflections of your lighting and mabye yourself in the bottle. You really need to try and control the reflections in the bottle.