- This topic is empty.
Light Cocktail
-
I’ve seen shots like this many times and I have always wanted to try one of my own. So today, I took the opportunity to grab some food colouring (red, green, blue, yellow) while out doing some grocery shopping. The setup for this shot is identical to the ‘Bright Field Lighting’ setup used for my 365 day 4 Glass Study shot (http://www.sheridanphotography.ie/blog” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;), except this time I introduced a sheet of glass borrowed from a picture frame to give the reflection underneath the glasses.
In terms of lighting, I used a single Elinchrom D-Lite with a large softbox on power setting 1.0 (lowest). I used a large portable diffuser as my background as it gives a nice smooth look and the extra diffusion does no harm either.
C&C Welcome
Hi all,
Thanks for the positive comments on this shot. There is one thing that really bugged me about this shot that I just could do anything about. You might notice all the small little bubbles clinging to the side of the glasses. Anyone know how one might stop this from happening? I tried stirring and even resorted to scrapping most of the bubbles away with a spoon just before the final shot. I just used tap water maybe thats the problem, impurities and all the rest?
I wonder is it more to do with the glasses rather than the water?
microscopic deformities in the glass trapping air, maybe filling the
glasses very slowly with warm water might work.Hi Jenny,
Hmmm interesting. They were very cheap glasses so maybe it has something to do with deformations in the glasses. Don’t Carlsberg beer glasses do something funny that creates lots of bubbles? Good idea with the warm water. I will give it a go next time as an experiment.
A slow pour should remove most bubbles from clinging & you could try using a wet glass. Also not pouring directly from the tap & angling the glass while pouring (like pouring a pint of beer) will help. The glass surface could be trapping air as Jenny said, as the bubbles are confined to certain parts only. I don’t think the food colouring would be the cause, but stirring too quickly will cause more bubbles.
it could just be that the glasses need is a really good clean in ridiculously hot water… you should always do this with champagne glasses to prevent over bubbling and loss of aroma…
you’re right about carlsberg, there is a laser etching on the inside bottom of the glass, these surface “imperfections” encourage the release of CO2 bubbles thus giving a head for longer….
you’ll see this more clearly (and more often) with guinness, you’ll see a patch of bubble on the inside of the glass on the side… this is down to grease in the glasswasher….
imperfections shouldn’t trap “too” many bubbles in still water, you could try bottled water maybe also!!
lovely shot though…. very eyecatching!
Very good Ted, I think next time I will try a bit of the alcohol first myself.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. This was a really fun shot to try. BTW, I highly recommend the book “Light Science & Magic” by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua – Focal Press (2007) – Paperback – 308 pages – ISBN 0240808193.
Great book for trying out different lighting setups.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
