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darnok


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
Date: Oct 1, 2007
Aperture: 8
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/250
Date Uploaded: Oct 1, 2007

Viewed: 366
Comments: 5
Favorites: 1 (view)

 Backlit glass, I know, very cliché. I wanted to get a landscape but the weather did not feel like cooperating and I did not really have time for anything elaborate.

These wineglass photos are pretty easy to pull off once you know the trick. Any light source in the room will show up as a specular reflection in the glass. The key is to use a very large light source, in this case a wall. A bounced a flash unit off the wall behind the glass. The flash was below the glass, hence the darkening towards the top of the frame.

Zero spot editing. Did all my processing during RAW conversion. Resize, border and save for web.

Louis: No gel on the flash, I forgot to mention that the wall was blue, hence all the blue. The gradient was in the original, I simply increased the contrast. The gradient not being vertical is due to the camera axis not being normal to the wall. I darkened the yellow and orange channels to get rid of the reflection of a fluorescent light in the glass.

Lighting diagram:


colorcarnival: The room was not dark, I had the lights on so that I could see when adding the food colouring. It is usually best to do these shots in the dark as any light in the room will show in the glass. The shutter speed was high enough that the ambient room light does not influence the exposure otherwise. You will not be able to get this result using the on camera flash, the small flash will show up as an ugly highlight in the glass. You need to have a light that you can bounce off of the background as the key is to get a large light source. You could even use a torch instead of the flash, you will just need to have a longer exposure.

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 10/06/2007 12:41:34 AM
Classic subject, nicely lit.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 10/04/2007 12:10:25 PM
Beautiful lines, perfect glass silhouette. What is it on top of the rim? I wish it wasn't there. :) Love the gradient and the random pattern of the food coloring.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital
 10/01/2007 10:34:49 PM
Even tho you call this cliche, I have a newbie question for you. Was the room dark and then you used the flash to illuminate everything? Or was there another light source? I may have to try this but I only have a flash that's on the camera lol.

Love the soft blues of the picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D300s
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon
 10/01/2007 08:45:17 PM
Well done, I like the uneven color gradient on the wall.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D800
Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D
 10/01/2007 03:28:31 PM
Nice example of a backlit glass. I like the gradiated background colour and the tones achieved there, and I'm wondering if this was achieved by manipulating colour channels in post, or if you have a gel or similar over your light source.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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