Espresso Row

[RussHeath]

So I've recently started working my way through the strobist lighting 102 lessons, trying to catch up with the group there.

The first real assignment, titled "cooking light" was an exercise in using small adjustments in distance and apparent size of the light source as well as controlling specular highlights. We were to photograph an ordinary kitchen object and make it into art (at least the kind you would see in a catalog!)

There are several of these on my flickr stream, and I entered my final choice for the strobist assignment as this weeks DPS "Everyday Artifact" assignment.



The lighting setup for this one is nearly the same, and can be seen here.

EXIF:
1/200 sec
f/20
105mm, taken with a tripod
little bit of lucisart to make it "edgy"

All C&C welcome. If some of the above is greek to you, don't worry about the lighting stuff and just tell me what you think of the photo. For those of you with off camera flash experience, what do you think about the lighting? Thanks in advance!

Edit: I just noticed after posting -- it's my 200th post!

[clockdoc]

This one took me a while to sort out (maybe I need some espresso.) At first glance, it looked like coffee beans threaded like beads. However when I looked at your flickr postings and saw the setup, it became obvious what was going on. I like the idea and technique as you can use the reflective surface of the mug in many ways. My only observation is the strong vertical line formed by the beans. However, that may have been the look you intended. Glad to see another 'Strobist-in-training'. Nice work!

[RexK_Cozumel]

Overall a nice look an the photo. Couple things I notice that I would try to fix tho.

First I would get rid of the seam that you have in the photo from the three different pieces of posterboard. You can see it clearly running vertical behind the cup and if you look closely you can see where the posterboard meets the reflective bottom material you used.

Second thing I would try to do is get more detail of the inside of the cup. Perhaps using a second light to illuminate the cup from the top or if you have a really small lcd light you can just put it inside the cup. Or you can dial down the flash power a bit and use the ambiant light to get more detail of the inside of the cup.

Third is the reflection... there is an odd reflection it is not just the cup and the beans.. I think it is a reflection of the seam in the posterboard but I am not sure if it is that or something else in the background that made that reflection.

Anyways all of these fixes can be done in photoshop if you are unwilling to reshoot.. should only be about a 5-10 minute fix for all three problems counting the time it takes to fire up your computer and load PS.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

This one took me a while to sort out (maybe I need some espresso.) At first glance, it looked like coffee beans threaded like beads. However when I looked at your flickr postings and saw the setup, it became obvious what was going on. I like the idea and technique as you can use the reflective surface of the mug in many ways. My only observation is the strong vertical line formed by the beans. However, that may have been the look you intended. Glad to see another 'Strobist-in-training'. Nice work!

Clockdoc -- Thanks very much. I was back and forth about the vertical line with the cofee beans. Here is a slightly different cup with a less dominating arrangement:

Originally Posted by RexK_Cozumel

Overall a nice look an the photo. Couple things I notice that I would try to fix tho.

First I would get rid of the seam that you have in the photo from the three different pieces of posterboard. You can see it clearly running vertical behind the cup and if you look closely you can see where the posterboard meets the reflective bottom material you used.

Second thing I would try to do is get more detail of the inside of the cup. Perhaps using a second light to illuminate the cup from the top or if you have a really small lcd light you can just put it inside the cup. Or you can dial down the flash power a bit and use the ambiant light to get more detail of the inside of the cup.

Third is the reflection... there is an odd reflection it is not just the cup and the beans.. I think it is a reflection of the seam in the posterboard but I am not sure if it is that or something else in the background that made that reflection.

Anyways all of these fixes can be done in photoshop if you are unwilling to reshoot.. should only be about a 5-10 minute fix for all three problems counting the time it takes to fire up your computer and load PS.

Rex -- Thanks for the detailed comments. Here is one where I fixed all your suggestions in PS. Cloned out the vertical seam (top) and vertical reflection (bottom), used a masked levels layer to brighten the cup (would have liked to fix that one with lighting, but this was a 30-40 minute setup and I'm too lazy to reshoot). Also, all of the things you pointed out were exacerbated by the lucisart filter I applied, so got rid of that. Here is the edit, and thanks again!

[clockdoc]

I like this new posting very much. I don't know if it was intentional or not but the dividing line visible in the mug as well as the paper in front (gray area on left side) is a "plus" in terms of design. I like the balance better here as well.

A couple of ideas just came to me. First, Take two shots. One as you have it here with the beans on the left and their reflection. Then take a second shot but move the beans to the right foreground. Combine the two images in Photoshop such that the beans are from one shot and the reflection is from the other shot. Another twist would be to spell "coffee" with the beans so that it reads correctly in the reflection. Hmmm..., I must have had too much coffee this morning to keep coming up with those ideas. 8-) Thanks for reposting the second version.

[Robin Sarac]

I like all of the pictures posted! Nice job lighting. I'm going to check out those same tutorials!

[RexK_Cozumel]

Much better second posting here nice job on the "fixes"... There is one more thing I noticed however. There is a ring of light (semicircular band) right below the handle of the cup but it does not appear on the other side of the cup. Perhaps either cloning that out or adding it to the other side as well will give the photo a more symmetric look.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

I like this new posting very much. I don't know if it was intentional or not but the dividing line visible in the mug as well as the paper in front (gray area on left side) is a "plus" in terms of design. I like the balance better here as well.

A couple of ideas just came to me. First, Take two shots. One as you have it here with the beans on the left and their reflection. Then take a second shot but move the beans to the right foreground. Combine the two images in Photoshop such that the beans are from one shot and the reflection is from the other shot. Another twist would be to spell "coffee" with the beans so that it reads correctly in the reflection. Hmmm..., I must have had too much coffee this morning to keep coming up with those ideas. 8-) Thanks for reposting the second version.

Clockdoc -- The dividing line was quite intentional and difficult to achieve. The posterboard to camera right had to be tweaked to the point of almost being in the frame to make an even split down the middle of the mug. As far as your other suggestions . . . I really like the ideas, but I don't have the time to set up and reshoot completely. Maybe a possibility for next time . . . Anyway, I'm really glad you liked the shots, it means a lot!

Originally Posted by Robin Sarac

I like all of the pictures posted! Nice job lighting. I'm going to check out those same tutorials!

Robin -- Thanks! Enjoy the Strobist site. I've learned so much already.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by RexK_Cozumel

Much better second posting here nice job on the "fixes"... There is one more thing I noticed however. There is a ring of light (semicircular band) right below the handle of the cup but it does not appear on the other side of the cup. Perhaps either cloning that out or adding it to the other side as well will give the photo a more symmetric look.

Rex -- Thanks! I like the revised version too. Your suggestions are much appreciated. In terms of the reflection you're speaking of -- I think it's just the handle of the mug. The image is fairly clear on my monitor (and I like the reflection), but that may not be the case on all monitors. I think it would confuse the image to mirror it on the other side . . . I'll try to increase the reflection next time to make it more identifiable. Maybe I need to use some perspex instead of glass? Again, thanks for the helpful critique!