After browsing around the blog of photojournalist David Hobby, proprieter of Strobist, to improve upon on my lighting techniques I decided to do some light experimentation of my own. I wanted to experiment with a combination of backlighting and a highly reflective object, and I finally decided upon a wine glass, as it is not only reflective but clear and would show the backlighting within the glass itself. The inspiration came from a shoot of Mr. Hobby’s where he photographed glasses of flavored vodkas.
The shoot started remarkably simply, just as the shoot of the vodkas did. I placed the glass upon a small table, but rather than use plexiglass that would generate a reflection of my subject (as I have none) below the glass, I used white copy paper that would add additional reflection of my primary light. For my backdrop I used a white sheet draped six or seven feet behind the table, and I intentionally left visible folds in the sheet to further add to the final texture and shapes of the gradient background. I placed a speedlite on the ground below the backdrop aimed up at 1/8 power zoomed to provide a smooth gradient and took my first test shot:
I was very pleased with the silhouette and the gradient of the background, as well as the shapes the folds were creating, but it needed color. I placed a blue gel on the background flash and tried a second test shot:
Now that was more like it. This one had a little more punch to it, and the visibility of the background through the glass was working well. My next task was to light the glass itself. I was intrigued by the idea of using a self-fashioned softbox, so similar to the vodka shoot I cut apart a cardboard box and fashioned a softbox utilizing copy paper to diffuse the light. This, combined with the paper below the glass, should not only light the glass but create more shapes in the form of reflections in the glass.
While in hindsight I can see several minor tweaks I could perform , I was ultimately pleased with the color, shape, and light upon the glass. Next I tried lighting the glass with wine, and the photo proved bland and uninteresting. The wine left no shapes within the glass. I will experiment more tomorrow to see if I can find a more interesting way to shoot the glass with wine inside.
