Macro sunrays from glass

[Harpper]

I came up with this idea while eating lunch and decided to try it out...

1

2

3

4

5

6

 

[vonnagy]

Hi Harpper,

I find the pictures interesting, but nothing really grabs right off the bat with these. When I look at these I am more interested in the shadow than the vase.

My favourite is the first narrow strip because it has an 'aqueous' feel to it.
I would go with aqueous feel, perhaps fill up the vase with water, perhaps add food colouring to it for different colours. perhaps even put ice in to see if they act as 'catchlights'.

What kind of lighting are you using for these? Artifical or natural light? Its hard for me to tell, but it doesn't seem to have the warmth of natural light. Perhaps put it somewhere where you can catch the afternoon sun when its quite strong.

Anyways thanks for sharing that, you've given me some ideas! So as soon as i can pinch a crystal vase from someone i'll be copying you mate

 

[Harpper]

When I look at these I am more interested in the shadow than the vase.

What kind of lighting are you using for these? Artifical or natural light? Its hard for me to tell, but it doesn't seem to have the warmth of natural light.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it was more about the shadows. I didn't really have much time to work on these. It was something I rushed through while I was on lunch. Anyway, I wanted to take pictures primarily of the shadows and light like I did in picture 1 but my P&S camera doesn't have a zoom which makes true macro shots kind of horrible with its fixed wide angle lense. :evil: Picture 1 turned out ok but my other macros didn't make the cut so the others shots are zoomed farther out then I would have liked.

Oh well, I'm going to try and retake these shots once I get my DSLR and a true macro lense. I'm currently on the waiting list for a Nikon D70.

As for the lighting, it was natural sunlight but my camera tends to neutralize all warm tones. I've artificially given a warm tone for picture 3 below...

I agree with you about the aqueous feel and I was actually trying to go for a crystal-like feel but only my macro shots had that. I had to dump most of my macro shots because they turned out too blurry. A tripod wouldn't help either because the wide angle lense means I have to get about 1 inch from the object and my camera can't focus at that range. *sigh* Oh well....

I also like your idea about filling the vases with water. I just couldn't get around to it at lunch but now it looks like you are going to beat me to it. I edited the following below but I still can't quite get what I was going for. Cropping the shots in PS doesn't quit give me the angle and feel that I want...I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turn out von.

 

[vonnagy]

lol don't know when i'll get around to it, I need a fancy schmancy vase for that but i look forward to future shots you take 8)

 

[LaFoto]

Well, to my mind, your photo #4 quite nicely captures what I assume you had in mind. A lot of multi-shaped shadows, and just about enough glass to show where they come from. For an on-the-spot-idea and its realization with a p+s camera (which I take means "point and shoot"?), I find this quite amazing!
The warmer tone in your photoshopped version is nice. But I personally can do without it. And I also like #4 uncropped, though both versions have their virtues.

As an idea I very much like this (and tried to do the same one day - equally inspired spontaneously by what the sun did to my drink on the table - you find the outcome in the themes-section under "Food and drink").

 

[Harpper]

lol don't know when i'll get around to it, I need a fancy schmancy vase for that

My mom has got plenty if you need one.

As an idea I very much like this (and tried to do the same one day - equally inspired spontaneously by what the sun did to my drink on the table - you find the outcome in the themes-section under "Food and drink").

Thanks LaFoto. I've seen your pictures in the "food and drink" section and applaud your work.

As for my P&S (does stand for point & shoot) it does ok within its limitation. It's horrible at macro shots because of its fixed prime wide angle lense. For landscape shots it's not so bad but the pictures are usually underexposed and it's more biased to the cold tones as opposed to warm tones. It's weakest point is that it has basically no features. I use a better camera at work and always get the desire to steal it...or I mean borrow for a few days. I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind.

 

[Goofup]

These are pretty neat, but I kept looking for the fish that shows up in the shadow. It wasn't until #5 that I realized that there wasn't a fish in the vase!

Duh!