A few days before the 4th of July, I found a package of 30 sparklers for $2. My intention was to use a few for the 4th and the rest for photos. Turns out we didn't use any for the 4th, so they are all for photos (yay!). I used up a few here and there just playing around, and then forgot about them. Then comes this challenge. While putting away some stuff in my photo cabinet, I noticed the remaining packs and suddenly I knew what part of my entry would be. I also figured I wanted to do something with champagne. And then, by stroke of luck, this tutorial was posted: //www.learnmyshot.com/How-to-Photograph-a-Glass-of-Champagne-with-Sparklers
That gave me great tips on shutter speed, aperture, and especially the use of Ginger Ale. So I bought a bottle of Canada Dry and went to work. My setup included:
* Two pieces of 2x4 taped together with a small hill drilled in it. This acted as the stand for the sparkler
* Two boards taped to 2x4s to act as tilted ramps for the glasses. I then taped the glasses to the boards
* I setup a piece of black plastic behind the scene to eliminate the wall reflection
* Two lights, one on each side of the scene behind white sheets used for diffusion
* Poured the ginger ale in the glasses, which promptly condensed. I should really use warm soda so I could have gotten better bubbles, since I had to wait for the condensation to clear to get a nice clean shot
* Lit the sparkler and took my photos.
I really like how this turned out. There are small things I would change such as the reflections in the glass and more bubbles in the ginger ale. Hopefully voters will forgive me for those two flaws.
Post processing:
* Crop
* White balance
* Increase exposure, black point, and brightness
* Increase contrast
* Increase saturation with lower vibrancy
* Retouched out part of the sparkler stem and some background noise
* Topaz DeNoise
* S-curve
* Export as TIFF
* Resize
* Sharpen Edges
* Save as JPEG
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 40 Avg (all users): 6.9431 Avg (commenters): 7.2000 Avg (participants): 6.2500 Avg (non-participants): 7.0777 Views since voting: 4321 Views during voting: 298 Votes: 123 Comments: 26 Favorites: 0
Great picture, great idea, awesome reflections, nice symmetry. (I'm kinda freaking out about what's gonna happen on 11/28 though. What if there is no time for celebration? What if Bieber will really kill us with his voice? Hahahah.) Back to the picture, congrats on the ribbon. Definitely deserved!
Great control of the distance between the subjects in order to generate the proper image through the liquid while maintaining correct perspective for the contact point.
The reflection of the fireworks in the glasses really makes this image. Great idea and nicely done. On a personal note I would love to see this in b&w. I know it would result in a lower vote but it is something I think may have created something really interesting for me.
Cheers!
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