February 11th, 2011 | 
Do you remember how I treat device called shooting tent or lightbox? Every time readers were asking about lightbox (light tent, shooting box, etc) I was saying that it is very limited and useless thing in our studio.
But now you can see yourself what unprincipled person I am: I just finished a shoot completely done in that light cube! What a joke:-)
The idea was to shoot 100% opposite (by the lighting) from what I had recently posed on my Pixiq blog: Studio product photography tips&tricks: Shooting glassware on black background. and the follow-up shot. This time we were repeating the same composition on a white background. Sort of high-key in product photography (not sure if such term applicable though).
Below is the result:
(C) Alex Koloskov, high-key glassware photography
Lets see how it was completed…
Because of the lighting tent, the lighting setup was not complicated at all: I have 4 light sources around the box, each pointed to a corresponded side of the cube:
lighting setup using shooting box (lighting tent)
Fifth strobe (not visible here) was on the floor in front of the shooting table, highlighting the label on the bottle. Exactly the same way it did it on the “black” photoshot. As you can see, I’ve used softboxes on each monolight, as a standard 7” reflectors tend to make spots on the lightbox, and I was needed more uniform light spread.
If you wonder why I have a separate light for each side of the cube, the answer would be the same: uniform light filling of the cube. More lights allowed me to balance strobe ratios the way I want.
Also, both side light were pointed to the rear part of the cube: I need rear area to be much brighter than the front of the cube. The “rule” (I hate this word:-) is the same for the glass and other transparent subjects: lit the background, not the subject.
Ok, when I’ve got my lights balanced, the outcome was this:
Glass on white
glassware white background
This is as-is image from RAW converter, and background is not completely white. It is easier to fix such image in a post-processing in RAW converter rather to shoot it overexposed to something like this:
Glassware on white background hi-key too bright
Martini glass is almost invisible, and this is not good at all. I would need to dial exposure down (it will bring brightness to a previous shoot level), or… retoucher will say me something very unpleasant:-)
Now we were need to add black edges to our subjects to separate them from the white surrounding.
I’ve used 2 pieces of black cardboard, inserted into the box to be behind the bottle:
Narrow black screens inside:
lighting tent for glass on white: black reflector were added for the vertical lines
You can see the how the bottle looked at 100% crop in a corner of each setup. We can manipulate with the thickness of the edge lines by changing size of the black screens or/and their position:
Wider black screens inside, wider lines on the subject:
High key product photography lighting tent with thick reflectors
The full image below, move slidersto see before and after the insertion of black screens:
The result, correctly exposed, converted and cleaned during the post-processing is on top, at the beginning of this article. When we got our desired photo, it looked nice, but somehow plain, even considering that this was not an artistic shot.. So, we added few drops of the syrup to a table and it was that last but very essential “drop” which finished the composition!
BTW, I did not give up my idea of NOT using a light tent, and tried alternative way to get the same result by building this:
An alternative to a lighting tent.
alternative to a shooting box: foamboard panels
The same idea, but with little less control of the brightness, as I’ve removed 2 strobes from both sides, replaced by white screens. In general, this produced the same result, but it was easier to work using the shooting box. I still think that light box is not good for the most of my studio work, but sometimes it can be very helpful. Cases like this, when I need to fill everything with the light. So, we do not listen to anyone, and use whatever will work the best for a given task… agree?
At the end I’d like to show you one more shot.
I’ve done it with a very simply modification of the lighting setup above, but the outcome was changed dramatically, check this out:
Teaser photoshot preview
Truly speaking, I like this image more than the white one. Smooth gradient is more pleasant to my eye, and I like how bottle had this gradient “reversed”. Glad I spent those few extra minutes to get it done!
I think it will be very easy to guess what was changed to get such result, and I do not want to post the lighting setup right now. I want you to try to guess and shoot me your ideas in a comment section under this post: it will be more interesting to see the actual setup later. Ok?
You may also like to check out an update to my low-key article on Pixiq, I’ve got an interesting solution for that glassware shot on black: he follow-up shot: an easy way to shoot glass on a black
 |
 |
Lighting, light modifiers and accessories:
Exposure specification: shutter speed 1/250 sec, F18, ISO 100 |
Like it? Want to learn how to create photos like these? Take a look at what I have for you:
Alex
About The Author: Alex Koloskov
The lighting magician, owner of AKELstudio, Inc.
Hello Alex.. Hi did this one with a softbox right behind the subject and two black panels on side.
Thanks Alex. I’m very impressed with what you do. It’s good to see somebody share their skills and knowledge for us to improve our own skills.
Here is my rendition of this idea minus the black cards to give the bottle a black line:
http://www.williamalanphoto.com/blog/index.php/2012/01/25/woodinville-whiskey-product-photo
Alex, it took me months to find your blog; I’m so happy that I’ve found it! What a great source of information. I am an artist and a foodie who passionately cooks, bakes, and shares my goodies with friends and family. I would love to publish a cookbook by myself for my loved ones. My dad was a professional studio photographer and he taught me how to shoot portraits as references for painting when models are not available etc. I would love to figure out how to shoot on black reflective surfaces somewhat similar to the attached photo. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks[img]http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/tamara1k/tamara1k1012/tamara1k101200144/10199525-small-branch-of-beautiful-white-dendrobium-orchid-with-dark-purple-centers-on-black-reflective-surfa.jpg[/img]
Renata,
Glad you found my blog useful. I can’t give you any tips in general, as every shot may have a different requirements and different approach. Browse blog, find what will be useful for you, I have few shots on glossy black explained.
BTW, cool shot;-)
Thank you!
Alex, thank you very much. I have found some shots on glossy black BG. Your blog makes me feel like Alice in wonderland. Your work is absolutely amazing. Thanks again!
Hello and thank you for this amazing tutorial!
I learnt really a lot!
I have a suggestion to you.
Have you tried to do such a work but with for subject eyeglasses…like rimless glasses? Both on black and white background?
I have tried this to my home, but I do not have your equipment for sure^^…and I have to say that I never succeed to make it render right.
My aim was just simple: Keep the colors of the frame…but show clearly the shape of the glass. Easy to say…hard to do!
I am wondering if you could succeed at doing this because I think it is almost impossible without requiring massive post processing.
Thank your for reading!
Kind regards,
Guillaume
Guillaume,
Have never tried such. It might be an interesting and chaleging stuff to shoot, thank you for pointing me into it. We’ll do a shot one day:-)
Wow! I’m really glad to have browsed your page and learn this technique. I can apply this to some of my photoshoots. I’m a freelancer and I’m looking forward to learn more about different photography techniques.
I have a question regarding product photo.
I’m going to shoot product photos of carpets and have a question regarding what i should use.
I’m thinking about using daylaight studio lamps or should i use studio lightnings. Or even combind them both what do you think?
Thank you in advace
best regards
henrik
Henrik,
It does not really matter what lights: continues or strobes. If this is a still subject, anything will work. Just make sure you can isolate your light s from ambient lighting. Usually it is easier with strobes as you’ll have much faster shutter speed: this will “kill” any ambient lighting. However, if you’ll shoot in a studio, it does not really matter.
Try both, see disadvantages and advantage and find what is best for you: this is the only advice i can give you.
Good luck with the project!
grt info you are sharing Alex…i am loving it:)
For the last two days, i have been going through your Blog. This is like a very awesome course on lighting. Thanks a lot.. Keep doing the good work… Have learned a lot here. Hope to try out these techniques in my shoots very soon…
Thx again,
-v-
Your blog is great, I spend way to much time on here learning and not enough time shooting!
Fantastic! Thank you so much!
Fantastic! Thank you so much..
Can’t wait to learn more from you. I will be following you on G+ thanks for sharing
Ann,
Glad to see you here! Thank you for stopping by:-)
Alex
Alex you rock! The day I found your blog I just about cried. It is so uncommon for someone to really teach technique this detailed outside of a university (unless you went to my school and even there they didn’t teach squat for technique). You’ve inspired me to buy grids, many more plexi’s and made me feel more secure about my own White Lightning purchases (vs. dropping a fortune for some Profoto’s). Thanks!
Thank you, Kate:-)
I’ve been messing around with High Key shots this past week… Learning as I go. May I ask do you use spot metering for these shots?
MrMJS,
I do not use light meter, camera metering is useless in a studio with strobes. I shoot tethered, and my eye and a Lightroom histogram gives me all the information I need:-)
Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for sharing, Alex.
Do you plan any workshop soon?
Alex.
Great shot Alex. I really love the reverse gradient.
Thanks Alex for your workshop blog.
Today I tried your way of work, and I’m glad with the result.
I really learned a lot today. The result is posted in my Flickr Photostream.
Critical comments are welcome!
[img]http://www.photigy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/eric_Dankbar_image.jpg[/img]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eric_dankbaar/5439131470#/photos/eric_dankbaar/5439131470/lightbox/
Eric, good job! I only wish it could be more full with the liquid:-))
Keep it going.
Alex
@Alex Koloskov,
Alex, Thanks for your relpy. The picture is a great view-hit on Flickr.
In a few days over 1600 views! I never had this with other photos, 400 was max, so I’m very surprised.
Your remark for the liquid I can understand, but this was the only available complete glass
bottle with label on it I could find. Since I started investing in Strobist studio flash
materials this was the last expensive present I gave to my wife, so the liquidlevel is a kind
of graphics chart for the number of “strobist days” since I started.
Eric,
Cool, glad you’ve got this attention.
It was more like a joke, about the bottle: of course I understand that it you’ve used what you had at the moment
Alex
Thank you, my friends.
Most of you were really close in your guesses. Most common mistake was the assumption that I had black screen on the right. It was wrong: the bottle works as a lens, single convex lens system. Meaning it will reverse a picture (like the projected picture gets upside-down if you look through such lens behind it’s focal distance).
So, I had black on the left. Also, there is no way large softbox could stay remained as a background: it won’t create a gradient, unless strobe turned off.
Below is the actual setup, front:
The top view:
As you see, stripbox was placed on the left, creating a gradient on a white cardboard behind the subject. I have a diffuser on the left, but white board will do the same, as diffuser worked as a simple white reflector, no light behind it.
The funny trick was the way how I’ve used a stripbox: the front edge of it was “visible” for the bottle (see top shot of the setup, stripbox was not completely hidden behind the left diffuser), and this what created that black line on the bottle’s right side.
A mirror was placed beneath the glassware.
Simple and efficient, IMO:-)
~Alex
Thanks for sharing your ideas and your knowledge!
It’s a great 2 light setup and shows pretty good that you really know what you’re doing
I’ve got to admit that I didn’t get the solution by thinking about it myself so thanks again for showing how you do it and for taking “how-to” pictures and explaining them!
Hey Alex,
this is a great Blogpost, just as usual. I know I can’t figure out how you exactly lit the last image but here is a brief explanition of what I would have done:
I would have set up a white Background (either just using the Softbox or a white cardboard), one Light through Softbox from left, one black board on the right and your “floorlight” to highlight the imprint on the bottle.
In Photography and Photoshop there are always thousands of way to archieve the same result. In my opinion the result is important, not the way you archieved it
Thanks, Aaron
@Aaron, It was close, except the side of black piece:-)I’ve posted the setup, take a look:-)
Agree with photoshop v.s photography: you can use 3D rendering program + PS to create anything without photography at all. The time is the key: in most cases to shoot it right is muuuuch faster then to fix or even render during the post production.
Great stuff. Excellent as usual!
It looks to me for the last image you moved back softbox to create a space between foamboards softbox and slightly angled to create a gradient …. as of reflection you added plexiglass
Great article, thanks for taking the time to explain both your thought process and your techniques. Pointing out the tiny changes in the reflections helped me to see them in the overall shot, and to see the impact of your changes. Very helpful.
I’d guess, black board right and left, bottle on mirror, front strobe and second strobe on left hand side aimed at white rear foamboard.
Yep, getting really close:-) Little hint for you: total 2 strobes were used for the shot, including a front one.
Mirror under glassware with a black board to right, rear light moved to left so that light falls off towards right
@David Edwards, I think you got it.. in general:-)
I’ve posted the actual setup, you may like to take a look.
Thank you.
At a guess, you placed a mirror underneath the glassware, and put a black board at camera right.
Let’s guess it
You switched the position of the large softbox and the left cardboard.
Then you angled a little bit the softbox so it is not parallel to the table, it is oriented slightly towards your right hand. The purpose being to feather the light and show the fallof on the background. Wich makes that grey gradient.
Question: When you put 2 black cards, don’t they act as gobos ? In wich case you don’t need the side lights ?
Take care
Francois.
@Francois, I’ve posted the setup you’ve guessed. Regardless of the softbox position on a background: soft would never give you a gradient on it’s surface, it will be always lit evenly.
Yes, they worked as gobos, but the main reason to have them there is to create a black reflection on the glass. All we need is a lights from behind.
thank you!
Hi Alex,
Looking at the reflections in the bottle, it looks like you simply replaced the right white foamboard with a black one. Great stuff, love reading this.
thanks
Great post.
I think you just added black cardboard to the right side of the tent.
HI,
Thanks for posting these great tips! If I had to guess. I would say you simply removed the backlight and kicker from the light tent. Turned down the left light or used a reflector? Thanks again, love your work
Justin,
The setup for a teaser shot did not involve a lighting tent, it was a modification of foamboards reflector setup I had on the bottom of the article. Let’s wait for more guesses:-)
thank you:-)
@Alex Koloskov, OH… ha ha I can’t read so well… my second guess would be to put a white foam board directly behind the subject so take away the blow out background and replace the right white foam core with a black…
@Alex Koloskov, OK tried a setup less a lightbox.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinprokop/5438199844/
turns out my foam boards are in horrible condition. Had to use an aquarium to stand up. I couldn’t get the angle I wanted on my front light which was snooted. I was happy with the label, but not the lower part of the bottle. So I ended up drinking my subject.
@jprokop, Ha-ha
Hope the whiskey was good.
I know how frustrating it can be, but usually time to build an “initial” setup is about 10% from the time to get your first acceptable image: 90% being spent to tune all these little details. angles, camera position, light angle adjustments, etc.
BTW, I think snoot on the front/bottom was not a good idea: snoot too sharp for the label and may not be highlighting what softbox can do.
If you’ll post your result here, it will give us a better idea what was wrong. Do not worry if it looks bad: bad result has value too:-)
@Alex Koloskov, I agree about the snoot, I thought that since I only have 1 softbox.. And used it for the background I would try to cheat. I will try a different setup. Ill just use a white background like I did here, and use the softbox upfront. http://justinprokop.com/p778848817/h24a7c216#h24a7c216
I think one of the major things I had issues with was the bottle being halfway full. A brown liquid on the bottom and clear top made for an unequal exposure… By the time I got the bottom exposed the way I want, the top details were blown out on top.
I will post the results of tonights shoot.. Tonight.
Thanks
Justin
@Alex Koloskov, OK, here is the setup and images.. for try two.. I like the outcome better.. .These are straight out of the camera..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinprokop/5440783054/
with black edges…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinprokop/5440783064/
only white.. I like better.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinprokop/5440783060/in/photostream/
Justin,
Nice job! I like better without border too. you may try to have less light on right, it may add more drama to the composition: deeper gradient.
In any case, very well done. Thanks for sharing!
@Alex Koloskov, thanks Alex. Here is a link to the edited version. I liked the way it turned out. I exposed the site on the right slightly more, and removed some of the color cast.. and took all the glue off the label.. there are some rough edits, so look quick over that…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinprokop/5440491081/lightbox/