Taking photos of Glassware.

o hey tyler · Jul 19, 2010

So there is a local blown glass shop in my town that has a lot of very impressive pieces in there (at least by Maine's standards). Are there any recommendations for a strobe setup (I only have one 430 EXII, and no wireless triggers yet) to take photos of glass pieces? I guess black would be the best backdrop to get the most color detail out of the actual glass...?

Here's what I tried at my friend's house, not really looking for C&C as this was taken a loooong time ago. But this is what I had set up for the first general idea. This was constructed using a crappy black pillowcase and a single desk lamp as a hot light diffused through paper. I also would have moved the end of the slide that's sticking in on the left side of the frame, but meh.

Robin Usagani · Jul 19, 2010

I think you need to shoot it toward a dimmed light so you can see the transparency of the glass. Shooting toward black does not look appealing to me. Maybe similar to what I did here? I used Target paper light btw.

Chris Stegner · Jul 19, 2010

I'm no studio master for sure, but I disagree with the black background. I shot a collection of Pharmacy bottles and I used a white seamless roll. Here's one of my images, an iPhone shot of the setup (actually in the store all day), and a link to the gallery of shots. Once I got my exposure down, it really didn't take much editing to get everything cleaned and posted.

Here's the setup:

And one of the images

And the entire gallery: Chris Stegner - BluegrassPhotography.Net | White Pharmacy Collection

o hey tyler · Jul 20, 2010

Thanks for the help guys. So it looks like I need a bunch of strobes and/or hot lights? I might be able to make something work. I just only have one 430exII right now. Should I haul out a CPL too? Also, bawmp.

Robin Usagani · Jul 20, 2010

My newbie oppinion thinks you should not use a flash. Just some minimal lighting/natural light in the back to make it glow, tripod, long shutter, and low ISO.

o hey tyler · Jul 20, 2010

I dunno man. It looks to me like Chris used hella strobes and got some nicely balanced shots. The only gripe I have with Chris's setup/execution is that some of the detail in the glass and the actual outline of the pieces I feel would be lost on the white.