Martini Final product

[minicoop1985]

First, the setup:

2016-02-24_02-29-19 by Michael Long, on Flickr

And now the shot:

Glass lighting experiment: Cosmopolitan 2 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Comments/critique welcome and appreciated. Oh, and I cleaned my sensor.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Tiny bubbles... (who did that song? lol) Lookin' nice.

 

[limr]

Picture's fine, but that's not a martini.

 

[Didereaux]

Yep, not a a Martini I ever come across. Pretty well done, but the bubbles look like debris in the drink.

 

[Derrel]

I like the lighting in this very much, for the most part. Almost everything looks perfect, with only three tiny sensor dust spots, and the black card tops showing their reflected height just below the surface of the drink...I think taller black subtractive boards would make this a little bit better lighting set-up. The glass is fairly tall, but the black subtractive foam cores on the left and right are not quite tall enough, or large enough to prevent the white/black juncture that forms at the top of each black board where the brighter light suddenly meets total blackness.

I really love those delicate highlights inside the rim of the glass! Those add great shape and dimension clues, even though they're small.

One small issue I can see when I scroll up and use the top of the screen as a level is that, while the glass is sitting straight up and down, it looks like the camera might be positioned just a little tiny bit out of perfect alignment to the subject. Looking at the outside radius of the glass rim and the outside radius of the glass base, if you scroll the image and use the top of the browser's hairline border, it looks like maybe there's a tiny bit of distortion of the actual SHAPE of the glass, probably due to using a fairly short lens from so close-in, and things not being quite perfectly aligned. Not that this is something to worry about in a lighting exercise, but the shorter the lens focal length you use on a round item like a plate or wheel or bowl or glass like this, the more actual shape distortion you can get, either deliberately, or accidentally.

 

[minicoop1985]

Well, you guys are right, it's NOT an actual martini, but I've seen martinis that exact color (fruity ones at a local martini bar). I wanted color in the shot, and decided on CHEAP white zinfandel to replicate that as best as I could because I'm a sh*tty bartender.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. My options for lens were limited by space and cropping issues, so I did this with my 80mm f2.8.

 

[minicoop1985]

Also got rid of the sensor spots. I know why I missed them-cleaned my sensor and wasn't looking for them. Not sure where all this dust is coming from or how it's getting in there...

 

[minicoop1985]

Fixed those reflections in the... corners of the booze. Sorta. You know what I mean.

 

[LarryLomona]

Excellent shot.

 

[Derrel]

Fixed those reflections in the... corners of the booze. Sorta. You know what I mean.

YEAH, eliminating that black/white juncture I mentioned in my post above made a major, unifying correction to the glass-and-liquid sides of the glass area! The way the image looks now is much more, well, unified, in how the black outline now touches the top of the liquid.

 

[limr]

For the record, anything pink is still not a martini. It's a cocktail, perhaps, but a martini has gin, dry vermouth, and olives. Done. A twist instead of olives is an acceptable variation. Anything else and it becomes a different drink. Even switching an onion for the olives? Now you've got a gibson.

Now you know

 

[minicoop1985]

Fine, we can call it a cosmopolitan. As long as it's something served in a martini glass, that's what matters here.

 

[PropilotBW]

Is this for fun or for business? The glass appears to be leaning ever so slightly to the right...enough for me to look at it sideways and think something looks "off". If for business, I'd try to fix it. If it's just for your fun and enjoyment, then I'd say nicely done!

 

[minicoop1985]

It isn't for business-yet that is. It may help GET me business, I hope. You're right, it's JUST off to the right. I just fixed it and will update the OP.

 

[minicoop1985]

To appease @limr I changed the title of the shot on Flickr. And removed some remaining dust spots I had confused for crap on my monitor. And removed that little bubble at the top.