Study for LPS#1

LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
edited March 17, 2007 in The Dgrin Challenges
Full frame:

136211798-L.jpg

Possible crop:

136211802-L.jpg

I am going to be re-shooting this tonight or tomorrow to clean up some stray reflections and other bits and pieces. I'll also try a few other takes on this subject.

Some questions:

Do you get the theme? Or is the reference too obscure?

How do you feel about the crop?
Liquid Air - Gallery - Blog

Comments

  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2007
    Hi, archrival! :-)
    LiquidAir wrote:
    Some questions:
    Do you get the theme? Or is the reference too obscure?
    How do you feel about the crop?

    Very clean shooting, as always! thumb.gif
    Quite often less is more, hence I like the crop better. deal.gif

    Unfortunately, I don't think this - otherwise great - image conveys either of the suggested themes...ne_nau.gif

    I had few similar ideas/attempts (even with the similar lighting:-) and dropped them since they all were looking like the frigging magazine ads for Skyy...rolleyes1.gif

    I wonder if we end up tie again :-) mwink.gifiloveyou.gifbowdown.gif

    HTH
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • SystemSystem Registered Users Posts: 8,186 moderator
    edited March 15, 2007
    I like the uncropped shot. I think it works fine for the theme as anyone who has ever made a martini knows that it is chilled by shaking it with ice and then pouring. What I'd like to see is more of the shaker and with better lighting on it. It's too dark in comparison with the very well lit glass. I'd also try and get the angle of the shaker and it's placement working with the upper left corner. Ideally the shaker would be at a 45 degree angle entering the frame. Some photoshop trickery to get the entire shaker in frame (minus the hand holding it) and a landscape aspect would be a really cool image. These still life shots should look like advertisements, that's the idea isn't it? Especially when using a high or low key background that totally isolates the subject.
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2007
    Hey,
    truth wrote:
    ...anyone who has ever made a martini knows that it is chilled by shaking it with ice and then pouring. ...
    :D
    Martiny is my middle name, but for me (being Russian and all, anybody who has ever had a drink with me - and there are quite a few dgrinners here :-)- can vouch for me drink-wise) this shot does not convey "chilled"...deal.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • SystemSystem Registered Users Posts: 8,186 moderator
    edited March 15, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    :D
    Martiny is my middle name

    Yet it's spelling seems to evade you. rolleyes1.gif
    Nikolai wrote:
    this shot does not convey "chilled"...deal.gif

    Liquid...he's just worried your martini shot will be better than his. :D
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2007
    Oh, come on...
    truth wrote:
    Yet it's spelling seems to evade you. rolleyes1.gif
    Too much sake over the lunch.. so what? mwink.gif
    truth wrote:
    Liquid...he's just worried your martini shot will be better than his. :D
    I wouldn't be commenting then...deal.gif

    Cheers! 1drink.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2007
    The way I see it, the shot doesn't say "chilled," it says martini and I am counting on the viewer to know that martinis are chilled (and cool too...). I would like a tighter connection in the image to the chilled concept than the indirect one I have now, but so far none of the takes I have that say "chilled" more directly have the pop that this one does. My current take on LPS is that we should go for the good shots and not let the theme be too much of a handcuff. Right or wrong? I don't know--this is the first one. We'll know more in a few months.

    As for looking for advertising: I have no problem with that in principle. The challenge of advertizing-style shots is that day in and day out we are surrounded very high budget advertizing images so the standards are higher. If you aren't up to snuff, the first thing people will think is "I just saw better than that" when what they saw was $30,000 magazine spread. I think there's more risk with advertising-style shots, but it is supposed to be a challenge...

    I like the idea of the floating shaker; there are a lot of visual possibilities and black on black lighting is very cool. My concern about that route is that image will start to look like a magic trick which takes me even further from the theme. I can see a great shot with a top hat, cane and shaker held by a disembodied white glove. But I think I'll save that idea for another day...

    Thanks for your ideas and comments. I'm going to keep on shooting and see what turns up in the next few days.
    Liquid Air - Gallery - Blog
  • quarkquark Registered Users Posts: 510 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2007
    This is really artfully done. For the theme what if you added something to the martini. Might take away the clean lines you have now but you could put a thermometer in the glass instead of a stir stick ... or something else that makes the temperature kick in.
    heather dillon photography - Pacific Northwest Portraits and Places
    facebook
    photoblog

    Quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter in the Standard Model of particle physics.
  • LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
    edited March 16, 2007
    quark wrote:
    This is really artfully done. For the theme what if you added something to the martini. Might take away the clean lines you have now but you could put a thermometer in the glass instead of a stir stick ... or something else that makes the temperature kick in.

    Thanks. I tried adding ice (which, of course, doesn't belong in a martini) and a little color:

    136348854-L.jpg
    Liquid Air - Gallery - Blog
  • LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
    edited March 16, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    I wonder if we end up tie again :-) mwink.gifiloveyou.gifbowdown.gif

    A tie with you is no small achievement; I'll take it gladly. Especially in this round where getting in the top ten is all that counts... :D
    Liquid Air - Gallery - Blog
  • pyroPrints.compyroPrints.com Registered Users Posts: 1,383 Major grins
    edited March 16, 2007
    LiquidAir wrote:
    Thanks. I tried adding ice (which, of course, doesn't belong in a martini) and a little color:

    I love this image. I vote this one =c)
    pyroPrints.com (my little t-shirt shop)
    pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 16, 2007
    L.a.,
    LiquidAir wrote:
    Thanks. I tried adding ice (which, of course, doesn't belong in a martini) and a little color:

    It looks awesome! thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 16, 2007
    Once again,
    LiquidAir wrote:
    A tie with you is no small achievement; I'll take it gladly. Especially in this round where getting in the top ten is all that counts... :D

    My thoughts towards you exactly... thumb.gif
    I think we should have one of those (in your picture) sometime...mwink.gif
    Cheers! 1drink.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • douglasdouglas Registered Users Posts: 696 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    I also prefer the photo with the ice, looks greatthumb.gif
    Best regards,
    douglas
  • LiquidAirLiquidAir Registered Users Posts: 1,751 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    douglas wrote:
    I also prefer the photo with the ice, looks greatthumb.gif

    Thanks. I tried one more idea to convey chilled--freezing the glass.

    The glass:

    136395717-L.jpg

    The pour:

    136348863-L.jpg

    And a detail from the pour:

    136348857-L.jpg
    Liquid Air - Gallery - Blog
  • pyroPrints.compyroPrints.com Registered Users Posts: 1,383 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    They're nice, but I stand by my original vote =c)
    pyroPrints.com (my little t-shirt shop)
    pyroPrints.com/5819572 The Photo Section
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    I agree
    pyroPrints.com wrote:
    They're nice, but I stand by my original vote =c)
    What PP said! deal.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • eoren1eoren1 Registered Users Posts: 2,391 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    LiquidAir wrote:
    Thanks. I tried adding ice (which, of course, doesn't belong in a martini) and a little color:

    This one is really great!
    E
    Eyal
    My site | Non-MHD Landscapes |Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Smugmug photos
  • SystemSystem Registered Users Posts: 8,186 moderator
    edited March 17, 2007
    I still like the 1st image the best.
  • FlyingginaFlyinggina Registered Users Posts: 2,639 Major grins
    edited March 17, 2007
    Yep. On the rocks does it!! Great photo. thumb.gif

    Virginia
    _______________________________________________
    "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus

    Email
Sign In or Register to comment.