Workshop #75 submission – Absolut Winter.

[Janine Pauke]

I feel a bit bad for posting this… I obviously cheated. This seemed a very difficult assignment for me to do with my current equipment (I know it’s not impossible) and I had a very specific idea for the final image…

Since halloween is already over and I don’t want to post a halloween image on my instagram after the fact, I wanted to give my image a different theme. I wanted to use vodka (which I don’t have at home and didn’t want to spend money on a bottle, I really am that penniless atm) and make it all look cold and icey. So I went with a frosted bottle, also because I didn’t like the messy internal reflections that a clear bottle produced. Frosted glass softens everything and also goes well with the snow and ice theme. And I wanted to make the bottle/liquid glow from the inside, the easiest way to achieve that is to of course just put lights inside it! Well, I could try to squeeze some waterproof lights inside a bottle full of liquid and somehow seal it with glue or a cork…

Once I get an idea in my head it’s difficult to get it out again. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the image in my head with my setup and skills. So I used Cinema 4D instead. I’ve attached the final image, a screenshot of my setup (all light shapes are excluded from being seen by the camera, under normal circumstances they would be in view and it would be impossible to take a photo like this), and the main render before any retouching. I did a couple extra renders with different settings so I could tweak the brightness of the fairy lights and the reflection on the floor. I did quite a bit of retouching to make it all prettier and then I went a bit overboard and turned it into a poster. 😉 2 days of work in total.

Inbetween I found myself sitting in a crammed train with my boyfriend and said out loud “I’m thinking about my vodka bottle…” and we burst out laughing. 2 days of hard work and now I have a cool new piece for my portfolio. 😉 And an identity crisis. Because now I don’t know if I’m a product photographer who also makes 3d renders or a 3d artist who also takes photos…! What I’m learning at Photigy helps me to become a better product photographer AND a much better 3d artist. 🙂 And I hope I’m not breaking rules for posting something completely digital…

Attachments:

1. 

   vodka-original.jpg
   

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   vodka-bts.jpg
   

Topic

[Janine Pauke]

I think I should have slept on it before submitting. 😉 I made some subtle changes because I felt like it was missing a bit of sparkle, especially around the bottle neck and rim, I made it more glossy there and added some other little tweaks of things that were bothering me. Also added a version without text.

Attachments:

1. 

   vodka-comp05-crop.jpg
   

2. 

   vodka-comp05-crop-notext.jpg
   

[Janine Pauke]

I’ve “detached” the first version in the first post to avoid confusion. 😉

[Janine Pauke]

I’ve applied the feedback I got in the live review (which was very helpful, thanks!!), here’s the version with frozen liquid:

Attachments:

1. 

   vodka-comp06-crop.jpg