An exercise in studio lighting

I have set up a basic studio in my garage and wanted to practice light control.

I bought this saki bottle about 30 years ago in Japan and it seemed the ideal candidate. Muted colours, plenty of fine detail, a shiny finish and an interesting shape.

The bottle was stood on a black acrylic sheet, stood if front of a black paper backdrop. To the left was an Elinchrom D-Lite 4, about 4 feet away, on minimum power shooting through a softbox and a scrim held next to the bottle. To the right and behind was another D-Lite, on slightly higher power shooting through a masked softbox to provide the fine edge light.

Camera was a K3 with a DA 100 macro set at ISO 100, f5.6 and 1/160 sec.

The image was tweaked in LR4 (curves, clarity, saturation and a touch of local exposure adjustment) and finished in PSE 12 using the spot healing brush to eliminate a few dust specs here and there.

In total about 2 hours worth. Sad init?

Anyway all C & C welcome

Thanks Gareth.

It's not your eyes, the bottle is slightly 'deformed' which makes it look like it's leaning. I tried changing the angle in LR but whatever I did it still looked slightly lopsided

Thanks for the comment on the lighting. You're absolutely right; it is a great feeling when you finally nail it

I did consider editing the 'join' but somehow I sort of liked the fact that it 'grounded' the bottle rather than left it floating. I may go back and have another play and do a side by side comparison.

On a side note, I love your 'water images'. It's something I shall be trying over the next few weeks now that I have my own space to 'play' in

Not sure if it's just my laptop, but the background seems to have vertical "bands" of at least 3 or 4 different shades of black especially on the right hand side but also on the left near the base of the bottle, I am sure there is a technical name for this effect, but whatever it is called I find it too distracting in this image. Is it caused by resizing for PU forum or over processing or both.

All the best...Jim.

Jim, it may be something similiar to bands in clear blue skies I get when making the smaller JPEGs for the web - they disappear on files bigger than about 1.5mb. I'm not actually seeing it myself though here. Ralph, well done with this, and it's fantastic to have the detailed description of the setup for those of us who are new to this type of thing. I think the refection on the bottom makes it special.

Jim. I must admit that I can't see them on my monitor on the forum version or the original. I aim to get the image as 'right in camera' as possible to avoid over processing. Here is a link to the original full size version Flickr link.

Nigel, I'm glad you like it. I learn by scouring the internet for 'how to' tutorials and watching many youtube and dvd training videos as such the BTS setups are important to me. I must admit that I love the reflected effect. This was taken on a small (300mm x 300mm) sheet of black acrylic bought from ebay for a few pounds. I intend to look for a larger piece for bigger objects.

You mentioned that before, in another post, and it is stored in my 'getaroundtoit' file. Unfortunately we live 2+ hours away from our nearest Ikea and I didn't want to give my wife an excuse to go there if I can help it
Now you've reminded me I might just check out their delivery service, thanks

I like the picture very much although I think you should lift the mid-tones a little bit

It must just be my laptop then, like Nigel mentioned I also see it sometimes in blue skies sometimes, but I don't see it in your larger version, so must be due to the resizing.

Could you not just use any old piece of glass with coloured paper underneath and achieve the same result: or does it need to be designer glass:

All the best...Jim

I'm still learning with regard to LR and PP in general. Sometimes you can go too far and other times not far enough. Sometimes you can miss out a whole 'slider' without realising. I'll have another tweak and see what the midtones do to the image. Thanks

and here it is, suitably 'tweaked' and, by jove, I think you're right

Looks like a new picture altogether! You've got a lot of control over the tones and how they change the presentation. PP is really an essential part of the digital image process I believe.

Here, if you wanted to, you could restore the depth of the deepest black by a slight nudge on the 'blacks' slider (or 'black clip' whatever LR may label it). On the histogram this will nudge the end of the data back up against the left side.

Ralph, this new version much better and the banding? has gone but this has now put the kibosh on the resizing theory. Does look like your Perspex needs dusting, easily done in PP or with Mr Sheen before you start

Old greenhouse glass and gaffer tape would do me I work on a tight budget.

Jim...

TBH I think I 'tweaked' the wrong version as I thoroughly dusted the perspex on the original (in Photoshop that is ).

Nigel I did sort the blacks and whites on the original but done this one in a hurry and obviously chose the wrong version. I agree with your view on PP up to a point. I am hoping to go 'pro' in the next year and don't want to spend a lot of time staring at the screen after every shoot. Therefore it's essential, in that instance, to get it as right as possible 'in camera' thereby reducing editing time.

PP has its place, just like dodging and burning did in the dark room

I think it is near enough impossible to get the sort of fine tuning we're talking about right in camera. I would have thought if you go pro you would be needing to exert that extra degree of control that only more work at the computer could achieve?

On that point we shall need to agree to disagree

That's all well and good but you don't get the hotdogs if you have it delivered


PS. don't forget the meatballs, it's the one saving grace of ikea is the meatballs