Lighting red wine.

Interesting video, I would like to see a video of replicating his results with the kit that most hobby photographers have.
 
dizidav said:
Interesting video, I would like to see a video of replicating his results with the kit that most hobby photographers have.
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Must agree. It's OK showing off when you have a massive studio and loads of kit, but what about the rest of us?
 
dizidav said:
Interesting video, I would like to see a video of replicating his results with the kit that most hobby photographers have.
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mickledore said:
Must agree. It's OK showing off when you have a massive studio and loads of kit, but what about the rest of us?
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Good points, but light is light - without serious comping you would need at least 4 lights to get anywhere close to it - but with 4 speedlights, some gels and imagination you could get close, and with comping I reckon you could do it with 2 and get very close (depending on your photoshop skills.

What kind of kit do you have available?

I could probably do the whole thing in one, but it'd take some bodging, and I'd be mixing speedlights in for the backgrounds etc. (and I appreciate I have a bit more kit than the average hobbyist - even though I rarely use it) - the tricky bits for me would be the wood and the rope
 
This isn't actually all that hard to do with just one speedlight and a couple of modifiers - even homemade ones would suffice (softbox & scrim = blanket or two; top gridded light can be done with straws or an empty plastic drinks bottle)

You can easily take all the photos separately and provided the camera doesn't move, simply pop them into Photoshop and use the Lighten Blend Mode to control how they work together

As I see it the main problem, and its a big one, is space !!!

He's using an area at least 12ft x 12ft for this and higher than a normal house's room too - if I tried really hard I could do it like this in my conservatory, but would you really empty a room to shoot a bottle of wine ??? lol

Dave
 
Kit? 5D3 four speedlights and a small room to work in. Not much headroom for overhead stuff. Been messing with this sort of shot for years and never got anything that I'm remotely happy with.
 
mickledore said:
Kit? 5D3 four speedlights and a small room to work in. Not much headroom for overhead stuff. Been messing with this sort of shot for years and never got anything that I'm remotely happy with.
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The ceiling height is only a problem if you insist on the bottle being at table height; put it a foot off the floor and you'd have loads of space for a light above it. The width might be a factor though.

I've had a plan to do something similar for ages (never found the time), and I reckon if I use my kitchen (20" by 10") I can shoot from the hall :eek:
 
DG Phototraining said:
This isn't actually all that hard to do with just one speedlight and a couple of modifiers - even homemade ones would suffice (softbox & scrim = blanket or two; top gridded light can be done with straws or an empty plastic drinks bottle)

You can easily take all the photos separately and provided the camera doesn't move, simply pop them into Photoshop and use the Lighten Blend Mode to control how they work together

As I see it the main problem, and its a big one, is space !!!

He's using an area at least 12ft x 12ft for this and higher than a normal house's room too - if I tried really hard I could do it like this in my conservatory, but would you really empty a room to shoot a bottle of wine ??? lol

Dave
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mickledore said:
Kit? 5D3 four speedlights and a small room to work in. Not much headroom for overhead stuff. Been messing with this sort of shot for years and never got anything that I'm remotely happy with.
Click to expand...

Could we use this as a reintroduction of the 'copy my lighting technique' thread, at the very least it's an excuse to crack open a bottle of wine mid-week.
 
20' x 10'? That's luxury.
I'm working in a boarded out loft so the middle is just above my head high, and the sides are non existent!!

Where's the thread you mention?

I gave up trying to get the whole bottle and settled for this
which is shot in front of a flash mounted softbox with the middle blanked out.
Would like something more "visible"

Vin rouge by Frank Yates2010, on Flickr
 
mickledore said:
20' x 10'? That's luxury.
I'm working in a boarded out loft so the middle is just above my head high, and the sides are non existent!!

Where's the thread you mention?

..
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At the top of the lighting forum, it's always been there, and unloved for years.
 
Phil V said:
Could we use this as a reintroduction of the 'copy my lighting technique' thread, at the very least it's an excuse to crack open a bottle of wine mid-week.
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I liked that thread - may even have posted in it :)

I'm not sure I could keep a bottle of red still (or full) long enough :D

Dave
 
I use two flush guns with a pringle's tube mounted on each with a section cut out of the tubes to mimic strip lights. Then a third flash gun with softbox for main light. Works brilliantly. I'll post some pics of the set up later if anyone is interested.
 
twhite87 said:
I use two flush guns with a pringle's tube mounted on each with a section cut out of the tubes to mimic strip lights. Then a third flash gun with softbox for main light. Works brilliantly. I'll post some pics of the set up later if anyone is interested.
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Yes please, deffo interested.
 
I would taken an image, drank the whole bottle and the image would be amazing by that point.

Continuous lighting is my preferred setup over flash.
 
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twhite87 said:
I use two flush guns with a pringle's tube mounted on each with a section cut out of the tubes to mimic strip lights. Then a third flash gun with softbox for main light. Works brilliantly. I'll post some pics of the set up later if anyone is interested.
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i'd be very interested ;)

Pretty please...
 
Be interested in that also, will have to try the bottle and glass myself, see what I can do.
 
711A7261.jpg 711A7262.jpg

Here you go guys. Nothing special, just quickly set something up to show you the pringle tubes. I'd usually have a seamless background set-up and the bottle on a raised platform such that the middle of the pringle tube openings are in the middle of the body of the bottle. You can also see the edge of the soft box in the top left corner.
 
Thanks, I'd never thought of doing that with pringles tubes. Think a trip to Tesco is called for!
 
I think it would be better to see that shot/setup, with no ambiant light.
 
Good idea the Pringles tubes, I have a couple of home brew modifiers, but I hadnt thought of Pringles tubes, nice one.
 
mickledore said:
20' x 10'? That's luxury.
I'm working in a boarded out loft so the middle is just above my head high, and the sides are non existent!!

Where's the thread you mention?

I gave up trying to get the whole bottle and settled for this
which is shot in front of a flash mounted softbox with the middle blanked out.
Would like something more "visible"

Vin rouge by Frank Yates2010, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I used a similar technique to light this

TP52-BLISS 107-January 11, 2015.jpg by Chris Heathcote, on Flickr

Only difference was I added a couple of pieces of white foam core board either side of the lens to reflect light back to the front. I also had a gelled speed light pointing at the background
 
I wonder what Keith Floyd, rest his soul, would think of all this
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
I used a similar technique to light this

TP52-BLISS 107-January 11, 2015.jpg by Chris Heathcote, on Flickr

Only difference was I added a couple of pieces of white foam core board either side of the lens to reflect light back to the front. I also had a gelled speed light pointing at the background
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Now that is very interesting. I didn't think of reflecting the light back. I had my speedlight directly dehind the bottle with balck blanking. Was yours there too, with red blanking, or something else?
 
I've ordered some gels, I've got some time coming up to see how close I can get, I think I'll throw all the gear at it first, then pare it back to speedlights and 'found' modifiers.
 
mickledore said:
Now that is very interesting. I didn't think of reflecting the light back. I had my speedlight directly dehind the bottle with balck blanking. Was yours there too, with red blanking, or something else?
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I used a studio light with a softbox behind. A piece of black foam core in front as the background. To turn the background red I used a gel over a speed light behind the bottle aimed at the background. All done on a kitchen table
 
I viewed that video a few days back. He makes it look so damn easy. Yes he has loads of gear but more importantly he as the experiance and knowledge too :)

Gaz
 
mickledore said:
Well that looks much better than anything I've achieved. Busy munching through two tubes of Pringles right now!
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Tell me about it. It's the only photo project where my wife actually agreed to helping me out with. I'm thinking about using some Quality Street tubs for another project. Something tells me I'll get offers of help for that one too!
 
There are lots of different ways of doing everything, no real rights or wrongs...

That video shows a very good workmanlike approach, it wouldn't be my own approach TBH but that doesn't make it wrong - the only part of it that I thought completely pointless was the addition of the "scrim" - which isn't a scrim, it's a silk, because it simply isn't needed, what was actually needed was simply to move the sofbox closer.

It could however have been done in a much smaller space and with less equipment, but then of course the purpose of the video is to sell equipment :)
Adding glasses adds complications and if done at all, is really better with 2 glasses not 1 - 2 glasses = romantic and social, 1 glass = lonely and alcoholic:)

And of course he has used a bottle shape and texture that's extremely easy too, I can't say I blame him for that.


DG Phototraining said:
This isn't actually all that hard to do with just one speedlight and a couple of modifiers - even homemade ones would suffice (softbox & scrim = blanket or two; top gridded light can be done with straws or an empty plastic drinks bottle)

You can easily take all the photos separately and provided the camera doesn't move, simply pop them into Photoshop and use the Lighten Blend Mode to control how they work together

As I see it the main problem, and its a big one, is space !!!

He's using an area at least 12ft x 12ft for this and higher than a normal house's room too - if I tried really hard I could do it like this in my conservatory, but would you really empty a room to shoot a bottle of wine ??? lol

Dave
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That's one approach but a very hard work way of doing it, if the intention is to obtain a 'traditional' lighting effect as per the video, then it calls for studio lighting and not hotshoe flashguns and a lot of PP
twhite87 said:
Here's a better photo using the Pringles tubes

Champagne Bottle by Tim White, on Flickr
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But there are uncontrolled and, I suspected, unwanted specular highlights appearing all over the place that distract from the subject. If you really must use DIY lighting for something as complex as a bottle and glass, at least use something that's big enough, and it has to be close enough too, which it isn't.

I'm planning a small series of lighting videos and will do one on lighting bottles. I'll pick an easy example too, but I also have a much more difficult whisky bottle, and will show how that's done too.
 
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