So, the Boot Camp 2, Assignment 1 is over and the results are out. And despite all my efforts, I didn’t even figure among the top ten. There are lots of people who are still commenting out there, saying things like ‘not disappointed’, ‘was in it for the learning,’ etc. Yeah, right. All of a sudden, everyone’s disgusted of winning. Had David Hobby picked up their images as the winner, they would have been totally ashamed, and felt compelled to abandon everything and spend the rest of their lives as wandering hermits on the foothills of the Himalayas, their off-camera flash in tow. What’s with admitting that you were disappointed? Doesn’t that show that you will try harder next time? You don’t have to go on a killing spree or anything, but feeling a little blue is fine, no?

Anyway, by pure coincidence, just as the winners were announced and I saw that my images didn’t figure amongst them, I decided to get drunk. So, off I went and got myself some beer from the fridge. But photography as a hobby can be quite merciless. There was a time when I could sit in front of the TV, sipping beer, and watching Seinfeld reruns for hours, putting all the muscles in my body to sleep save for the ones required to maneuver the beer can. ‘This is the life,’ I’d tell myself, as I groped around for the bowl of chips lying somewhere within my arm span. But then, everything changed. It was as if I’d taken the red pill (or was it the blue?). The TV became a light source, the beer can was ideal for specular highlights, and the popcorn gave out diffused reflections. So, you can imagine how the rest of the Liquor therapy session went.

Camera at 1/200, f18. A moderately large DIY softbox at around 4 ‘O clock, and another 285 HV shining on the back wall, creating that nice big halo. Oh, and the can is on a piece of glass to add the reflection. Also, I remember putting at least 2 GOBOs between the camera and the softbox and and the softbox and the background to better control the light from spilling over like the beer.

Am pretty pleased with the results, et al. The shot is nicely exposed, the choice of the gel complements the color of the can, and the beer I’m guzzling down is exactly the right temperature to make me forget the humid weather.

Do you notice the long, white patch of light on the right side of the can? That’s my softbox. And that is just about right to give the can some depth/ shape, right? Well, kind of. While I would want that to be there, wouldn’t it be great if it didn’t get in the way of us being able to read the text on the can? I mean, imagine showing this to Mr. Mallya. Despite all his appreciation for all things beautiful, et. al., I can’t really imagine him changing his brand of beer to ‘Kingfis’ just so that my image looks right. Hmm. So, what do you do? You cover the reflection. As I said, the white patch on the can is nothing but a reflection of the softbox. So, wherever I don’t want that reflection, I cover that part of the softbox. Easy, right? Not quite. Takes a bit of doing. Particularly, burp, after about 5 cans of beer. So, I squinted my eyes and pretended everything was fine. Works every time.

Then, an extraordinary thing happened; something that rarely happens in my life. By mistake, I did something right. I replaced the can of beer with one from the fridge. By virtue of being full and chilled, the can of beer had droplets of water all over it. The photographic possibilities were immense – after all, how is the image of beer going to work unless it’s chilled, right? But, there was something else as well. The tiny droplets of water on the surface of the can apparently diffuses the reflection of the softbox. So, the intrusive patch of white that was there in the earlier image was now replaced by a much more bearable and pleasing patch of white, sophisticated suggestion of a highlight. Neat, huh? The rest of the lighting setup was same as far as I can remember. In post-process, I decided that the crop should be a little less severe, in order to bring in a bit more of the background Anyways, nice result. I was pretty happy with the final image. I rewarded myself with another can. The Boot Camp Assignment was a distant memory now. 

Next, I tried a different lighting setup. I brought the light previously shining on the background to camera left, and bounced it off a white piece of chart paper (still gelled). I put black chart paper under the glass on which the can stood and on to the background, creating a seamless background that killed all the reflections. Next, I pushed the softbox to 1 ‘O clock to add a nice rim-light to the right edge of the beer can. This, I thought, would also help me highlight some of the drops of water on the surface of the can. Had I not been completely and utterly drunk by that time, I would have tried out the following with this:

1. 1. I would have tried a smaller softbox on the right,

• 2. I would have gelled that rim light too,
• 3. I would have cleaned up the base of the image (the glass),
• 4. I would have stopped after beer no. 5.

But I WAS drunk; so, I just picked up the next can of beer, and squinted my eyes; And everything was alright again, and the image was perfect, and I had won the Boot Camp 2, Assignment 1, and I had become…burp! Sigh!

Want to try it? Kind of fun! Here are light setups 1 and 2.

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Comments ( 4 )

Excellent post.

Have you looked at “Light Science and Magic” by Hunter et al for some other ideas? One of the most fascinating books I’ve ever bought. (But then, I need to get out more).

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Ian Worthington added these pithy words on Jul 08 09 at 4:30 pm

Great lighting… love #2 over the others. The overall match of colors is great. The condensed waterdrops make it look so tempting (as though beer isnt tempting already. . ) May be the background light could have been a lil less hot.. that would put more emphasis on the can and also suppress the strong reflection..

niraj added these pithy words on Aug 05 10 at 4:21 am

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