There’s a thin line between copying someone’s idea, and taking inspiration from someone’s idea. This shot is a good example. I saw an almost identical image on Flickr a few months ago, puzzled over how it was achieved, and was “inspired” to give it a go. Ahem. Inevitably, my attempt isn’t as good as the original, but it’s a quirky shot all the same, and a nice idea (that i can claim no credit for).
I’ve tried since to find the original on the web and failed, but it is out there somewhere. I took this photo the same night that I took the another glass shot that I posted a while back. I first tried this photo with the martini glasses, but I couldn’t get all 3 glasses to hold enough water for the effect to work well, so I pulled some red wine glasses out of the drinks cabinet and set them up instead.
I won’t tell you how it’s done – it’s not too difficult to figure it out – but I will say that no Photoshop was involved. Apart from a little tweaking of contrast and saturation in Aperture, the image is as it was on the back of the camera.
And no, it is not jelly – it is coloured water.
And if you’re still struggling, I’ll give the game away by pointing out that the lack of a horizon in the shot is no accident.
This one got a giggle in the camera club when I exhibited it back in January. Photographically however my treatment of lighting the glass isn’t as considerate as it might have been – I was more concerned with the overall effect than with the technicalities of lighting the shot, and once I had everything set up it was a bit of a pain to move things around (there’s another clue right there!).
The lighting is aiming to be textbook Lighting Glass 101 – the glass itself is not directly lit, but the background is flooded with light, and positioned so it just fills the frame. – but I got it a little off for this shot, so not only does the background not wash out completely, but the edges of the glass get a little ugly too. Still, as an exercise in copying inspiration it was worthwhile.
It was the “write up” on how you illuminated these that led me to your portfolio and photoblog. I commend you on both! Thanks for providing inspiration for others!