First Venture Into Glass Black Line

[smoke665]

Rainy and cold outside, decided to attempt a glass shot. Did a lot of things wrong, but learned a lot in the process for next time. C&C appreciated.
no-image-available-grid.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

Nicely done, 'though I'm undecided on the red highlight in the stem; how did you do that?

 

[smoke665]

Nicely done, 'though I'm undecided on the red highlight in the stem; how did you do that?

I'd like to claim that it was intentional, but unfortunately NOT. The base of the set is plexiglass over black mat board. The base of the glass is ruby red (something that didn't render quite right in the photo). The red highlights on the stem, edges, and parts of the glass, are a reflection off that base, though I'm not sure why it reflected. There was a black flag on the left and right of the glass, no overhead lights. The strobes were set up left and right just slightly above the top of the glass, bouncing off the background. I didn't have any white paper, so I made do with a piece of foam mattress topper for the background. In retrospect that actually worked pretty well, blending with the plexi. The line at the back was the edge of the plexiglass. Supposedly if I had taken the time to polish the edge and angle one light down slightly toward the line, I could have minimized it.

I'd like to try it again with a larger piece of plexiglass so that I can capture the full reflection of the glass and maybe use a small light under the mat board with a hole the size of the base to bring out the ruby color.

 

[zombiesniper116 15]

Most of what I'm going to add is just personal taste so take it for what it's worth.
Overall I like the photo but a couple of things I think I would do if I were to try this.
I would try and bring up the background exposure to white/near blown out.
Keeping a dark colour under the glass will keep the etching darker and make it stand out.
If able move the red in relation to the glass so that it only shows on just the edge of the stem. I understand in this case the glass would actually move.

With these alterations I would expect the glass to look more bright and clear yet still have easily definable flower markings with a thin red accent down the left side of the stem.
This with the reflection I think would make a wall hanger for sure.

 

[Designer]

C&C appreciated.

For me, I think cropping the stem at some arbitrary point kind of spoils this shot for me. Since the plexiglass is doing such a good job of reflecting the image, make it a "tall" showing the entire reflection.

I agree that the line is not so good. Can't really clone out the line, either, due to the difference in tone between the two surfaces. Minimizing is probably the best you can end up with.

 

[Ysarex88 82]

Nice job lighting the glass. The final is dingy and needs more light, brighter whites, more contrast.

Joe

 

[smoke665]

I would try and bring up the background exposure to white/near blown out.
Keeping a dark colour under the glass will keep the etching darker and make it stand out.

Yup I agree see Joe's edit below. I used a flat black matt under the plexiglass. I thought about painting with a flat black latex for plastic, but couldn't find a spray can of it.

For me, I think cropping the stem at some arbitrary point kind of spoils this shot for me. Since the plexiglass is doing such a good job of reflecting the image, make it a "tall" showing the entire reflection.

Agreed!! See my comment above. I was limited on the reflection by the size of the piece of plexiglass I had. The cut crystal glassware is part of a set well over 100 years old, that also includes a pitcher. I'd like to be able to do a grouping, on a much larger piece of plexi.

Nice job lighting the glass. The final is dingy and needs more light, brighter whites, more contrast.

!!

Ok Joe, once again you pull my bacon out of the fire. Love this edit. You've got to tell me how you did such a nice job on the line!!!!!

 

[Designer]

The cut crystal glassware is part of a set well over 100 years old, that also includes a pitcher. I'd like to be able to do a grouping, on a much larger piece of plexi.

Don't overlook the chance to set the group on some other surface, white or black, or a table. Lace or linen tablecloth. red napkin, something liquid in the pitcher. We need a pitcher of the pitcher.

 

[Ysarex88 82]

!!

Ok Joe, once again you pull my bacon out of the fire. Love this edit. You've got to tell me how you did such a nice job on the line!!!!!

Designer was right the line was too difficult to clone so I just replaced the entire background with a gradient.

1. Create new layer and apply gradient.
2. Hide new layer and select glass and reflection.
3. Make gradient layer visible and use selection to create layer mask.
4. Feather layer mask.
5. Flatten and apply Levels adjustment to brighten and raise contrast.

Joe

 

[smoke665]

I just replaced the entire background with a gradient.

Suspected that when I hovered over the image and saw that you'd opened it in PS. I really didn't do much with the image out of camera other than a crop and minor adjustments in LR, as this was the first attempt. I really like where you've gone with this though.

Don't overlook the chance to set the group on some other surface, white or black, or a table. Lace or linen tablecloth. red napkin, something liquid in the pitcher. We need a pitcher of the pitcher.

More than anything it was a learning experience for lighting glass and forming the black line. With what I've learned I need to move forward with a more formal setup.