#8 possibility from The n00b for C&C

divamum

I feel like a kindergartner playing in the big kids' playground, but since y'all prodded me OFF my safe, comfy "fly-on-the-wall" perch (!) I'll give it a go. Always keen to learn so... :: holds nose and takes plunge off high diving board ::

Just an idea, really. All c&c of course welcomed.

Rebel XT/50mm1.8 @5.6/80s/400iso. I've never done a still study or "lit" anything before, so this has already prompted me to learn something - thanks! HOwever, since I HAVE no lighting, my sophisticated (HA!) "studio setup" included 1 mini maglite, the halogen 3-spot over my sink + whatever ambient light was coming through my kitchen window this morning. I used 2 baking trays as backgrounds and a blob of poster putty to hold things in place so I could tilt the tray holding the glass and the mirror until I got the reflection I wanted. This was complicated since I was holding the maglite in place with one hand, and trying to run the camera with the other!

I have my own opinions on what's wrong with it, but I'll wait until I hear others' comments until I tear it down myself!!

"Through a Glass Darkly"

achambers

Sounds just like my 'studio'.

achambers

Maybe polishing your glass, it has a cloudy look to it. A cheap(ish) (not the cheapest but a cheap one that has an even nap to it) piece of black velvet gives a nice even background. If you drape it behind and under it will kill some of the background reflections and shadows behind your tray. Try lighting your glass from different angles to see different effects.

divamum

achambers wrote:

Sounds just like my 'studio'.

Well, that makes me feel better already...

Seriously, if anybody saw me they just would've laughed since I needed about 2 extra arms - I was trying to hold the maglite, the handmirror, the baking-tray-with-glass AND shoot the camera. I might even have been able to get it more accurately centered with some extra hands or some booms or something (and most of them might not have suffered from appalling camera shake!)!

Oh, and for the record: a GE dishwasher cutlery-holder grid turned upside down is EXACTLY the right size to hold a minimaglite in position horizontally

WomanWithACamera

Sounds like something I would do!

I'm no pro, but I agree 100% with achambers.

I was shy at first to enter these challenges, but I learn something from every one of them, and they are fun!

Halite

divamum wrote:

Well, that makes me feel better already...

Seriously, if anybody saw me they just would've laughed since I needed about 2 extra arms - I was trying to hold the maglite, the handmirror, the baking-tray-with-glass AND shoot the camera. I might even have been able to get it more accurately centered with some extra hands or some booms or something (and most of them might not have suffered from appalling camera shake!)!

Oh, and for the record: a GE dishwasher cutlery-holder grid turned upside down is EXACTLY the right size to hold a minimaglite in position horizontally

Good job on going ahead and playing with what you have, rather than worrying that you aren't sufficiently geared up. I've seen some amazing photos entered in these contests that were shot with very basic lighting gear.

You might want to try some shots where you eliminate the ambient light entirely so that you can really concentrate on what parts of your glass or mirror are lit. This will help you use a more focused light to increase the contrast and sparkle of your subject. Try putting your subject in a box with black paper or fabric and playing around with shining your maglight on different parts of your shot. If you don't have a tripod to hold the camera steady, this could be tricky. But resting your camera on a table with a couple of books to adjust the height could work.

Good Luck!

achambers

Good use using what you have on hand, who says you have to have expensive equipment. (I am however slowly building up the mid price equipment.)

This photo was taken on the kitchen counter. I used the lamps that you clamp on your headboard for lighting. I made diffusers with dollar store bowls. The bottoms of the bowls were cut off and some cheap white satin was duct-taped to the bowls. One lamp lay on the counter for side light the other light was clipped to a cupboard door and the 'diffuser' held in front with a dowel and duct tape. I used a piece of velvet that I got in the remnant bin for the backdrop.

divamum

achambers wrote:

Maybe polishing your glass, it has a cloudy look to it. A cheap(ish) (not the cheapest but a cheap one that has an even nap to it) piece of black velvet gives a nice even background. If you drape it behind and under it will kill some of the background reflections and shadows behind your tray. Try lighting your glass from different angles to see different effects.

Note to self: wash glass. (Especially when glass is cheap and not terribbly sparkly to begin with ...)

I thought about using velvet for a background, but couldn't figure out where I could put it (short of wearing it, which I suppose is an option!). Because I was trying to shoot the reflection, by definition the glass is between me and the mirror so where would a backdrop go? This was one of the puzzles which intrigued me enough to give it a go and see what I could come up with

divamum

Halite wrote:

Good job on going ahead and playing with what you have, rather than worrying that you aren't sufficiently geared up. I've seen some amazing photos entered in these contests that were shot with very basic lighting gear.

You might want to try some shots where you eliminate the ambient light entirely so that you can really concentrate on what parts of your glass or mirror are lit. This will help you use a more focused light to increase the contrast and sparkle of your subject. Try putting your subject in a box with black paper or fabric and playing around with shining your maglight on different parts of your shot. If you don't have a tripod to hold the camera steady, this could be tricky. But resting your camera on a table with a couple of books to adjust the height could work.

Good Luck!

::facepalm:: Uh, yeah, use my tripod. I knew that. Just testing

That said, I still have the problem of WHERE to put it so that it doesn't show, since the mirror is reflecting the glass which is *between* camera and reflection. Hmm... (so now I'm 1. realising why mirror shots are always considered tricky and 2. convinced that there IS a technique for this out there somewhere - I just need to figure out what it is!)

Halite

divamum wrote:

Note to self: wash glass. (Especially when glass is cheap and not terribbly sparkly to begin with ...)

I thought about using velvet for a background, but couldn't figure out where to PUT it. Because I was trying to shoot the reflection, by definition the glass is between me and the mirror so where would a backdrop go? This was one of the puzzles which intrigued me enough to give it a go

When you're looking at the glass's reflection in the mirror, what part of the glass is in the back? The side toward you, of course:D . So that's where the velvet would go.

divamum

achambers wrote:

Good use using what you have on hand, who says you have to have expensive equipment. (I am however slowly building up the mid price equipment.)

This photo was taken on the kitchen counter. I used the lamps that you clamp on your headboard for lighting. I made diffusers with dollar store bowls. The bottoms of the bowls were cut off and some cheap white satin was duct-taped to the bowls. One lamp lay on the counter for side light the other light was clipped to a cupboard door and the 'diffuser' held in front with a dowel and duct tape. I used a piece of velvet that I got in the remnant bin for the backdrop.

Thanks for that (and the "visual aid" of the resulting photo!). I need to figure out some clipping arrangements and play around some more. I may even go as far as pushing the boat out and splurging on a second mini-maglite

Thanks SO much for the input everybody!

divamum

Halite wrote:

When you're looking at the glass's reflection in the mirror, what part of the glass is in the back? The side toward you, of course:D . So that's where the velvet would go.

No, I get that but.... if I put a backdrop there, it will block the camera's view because I can't shoot THROUGH the backdrop, which is approximately what i"d need to do to capture the reflection.

From back to front it went like this:


Tray (vertical)
V
mirror, top - away-from-camera-side - angled towards camera to catch reflection)
V
glass, stuck to tray and top - camera side - angled away from camera so that mirror could "find" it
(BACKDROP WOULD GO HERE ... but how do I shoot through it or around it?)
\ /
\/
camera (approximately level, or slightly below glass)

Halite

divamum wrote:

No, I get that but.... if I put a backdrop there, it will block the camera's view because I can't shoot THROUGH the backdrop, which is approximately what i"d need to do to capture the reflection.

From back to front it went like this:


Tray (vertical)
V
mirror, top - away-from-camera-side - angled towards camera to catch reflection)
V
glass, stuck to tray and top - camera side - angled away from camera so that mirror could "find" it
(BACKDROP WOULD GO HERE ... but how do I shoot through it or around it?)
\ /
\/
camera (approximately level, or slightly below glass)

Figured you got it--thus the heavy use of smilies in my post.

Two solutions come to mind:

1. You can make a hole in the fabric for your camera. If the ambient light is low and you're exposing only for the light on glass, your camera shouldn't be too visible. What does show can be cloned out.

2. Work the angles of the mirror's reflectance. You don't have to line everything up straight out from the mirror to get the reflection. You'll just be taking a picture more of the side of the glass.

divamum

Halite wrote:

Figured you got it--thus the heavy use of smilies in my post.

Two solutions come to mind:

1. You can make a hole in the fabric for your camera. If the ambient light is low and you're exposing only for the light on glass, your camera shouldn't be too visible. What does show can be cloned out.

2. Work the angles of the mirror's reflectance. You don't have to line everything up straight out from the mirror to get the reflection. You'll just be taking a picture more of the side of the glass.

Ah.... so basically, what I've been doing, however ineptly! I thought there must be something incredibly obvious I had missed. There's also the 3rd solution: wear a black tshirt and line it up so that *I* become the background

I tried reshooting again (also discovering that my daughter's book light has a blue led which makes for an interesting lighting choice) but suddenly none of hte inanamate objects are cooperating and I'm getting frustrated, so time to quit for the day I think. But that won't stop me from trying again!

Thanks for all the comments - fantastically helpful!

achambers

Sounds like we've got you hooked.

Halite

divamum wrote:

Ah.... so basically, what I've been doing, however ineptly! I thought there must be something incredibly obvious I had missed. There's also the 3rd solution: wear a black tshirt and line it up so that *I* become the background

I tried reshooting again (also discovering that my daughter's book light has a blue led which makes for an interesting lighting choice) but suddenly none of hte inanamate objects are cooperating and I'm getting frustrated, so time to quit for the day I think. But that won't stop me from trying again!

Thanks for all the comments - fantastically helpful!

I love the black tshirt idea! And the blue led. Keep exploring for sure.

divamum

Halite wrote:

I love the black tshirt idea! And the blue led. Keep exploring for sure.

Exploring? I'm becoming obsessed - I was so frustated by the time I packed away yesterday I wound up *dreaming* about the blasted thing! And since my professional life launches into a busy two weeks onstage as of tonight, I really need to be focusing my concentration elsewhere!

However, since I had a free morning....

Here's what I came up with. Some things better, but presenting some new problems I hadn't thought of. I pushed the boat out and splurged on two pieces of posterboard (1 black and one white at a whopping 1.47 each), suddenly remember a spotlight lamp I'd forgotten we had down in the basement, and invoked the music stand as somewhere to put it. I also figured out that the mirror would stay put much better with the handle stuck into a glass filled with rice than any of the tape-poster-putty or weighting ideas I'd had yesterday (I may be photographically mediocre, but I get brownie points for makeshift equipment lol)

Anyway, 2nd try. I'm stll not sure I actually *like* either of them, but they are a bit better lit. And the glass and mirror were cleaned before I started this time!! lol

I do like that the shadow is there - that's actually what started this entire endeavour (despite its absence in yesterday's picture), so that's kind of neat.




Thanks again sooo much for all the great help - really appreciate it!

divamum

And something else I kinda played around with while I was setting up just to see what I could do - an interesting exercise in thinking about the direction the light had to come from - and from what distance - to get the shadow the size and direction I wanted. (Is this picture displaying? It's doing something weird on my computer, sometimes showing and sometimes not. It's B&W)

achambers

I like the composition of the second (third? b&w) one better. Lots of potential. I would keep playing with the light. Maybe this comp lit from above to get more sparklies?

divamum

achambers wrote:

I like the composition of the second (third? b&w) one better. Lots of potential. I would keep playing with the light. Maybe this comp lit from above to get more sparklies?

Thanks, Alan. I keep experimenting, and today came up with this...



I still prefer the idea of shooting INTO the mirror, but as yet i haven't figured out how to make it work. However - as you all said I would (yes, go ahead - ITYS!) - I am learning so much through doing this!! I avoided still life/studio in my 35mm days because I had no lighting equipment, and until this I didn't really consider that with digital that's no longer really a problem!

Anwyay, yet another "variation on a theme". C&C of course welcomed!

divamum

And....

Yet another one. Good GRIEF this is addictive!

My husband and daughter think I'm mad, but since I had a night off I figured I'd indulge....

Am I getting any closer?

bsharp

divamum wrote:

And....

Yet another one. Good GRIEF this is addictive!

My husband and daughter think I'm mad, but since I had a night off I figured I'd indulge....

Am I getting any closer?

Tell me about it! It is addictive. It's almost 2:30 am and I'm reading DGrin posts.

I like this shot much better. Cleaner, crisper, and much more interesting. The top of the glass could use some post production touch up to remove dust and scratches.