On Mar 24, 12:13=A0am, b...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Burt Johnson) wrote:
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0http://www.modernbook.com/flowersandleaves/images.htm
>
> Pick any of them along the bottom. I am impressed with the whole batch.
> This person was part of a photo display at a local camera store
> recently. =A0I was wow'd enough that I thought I would try it... =A0and
go=
t
> junk... :-(
>
> Turns out to be harder than I thought to shoot transparent glass against
> white and knock out the background...
>
> My shots have the vase looking grey and dull, and I have a heck of a
> time properly knocking the background out because there are places the
> vase just disappears (it _is_ transparent, after all). =A0
>
> This person has somehow mastered this technique. =A0Nicely illuminated
> images. Great transparent glass, yet with well defined edges.
> Background cleanly knocked out -- I saw the 20X24 prints and up close
> they were immaculate.
>
> The plants in my vases look fine. =A0If I could get the glass to look
like=
> this, I would consider it a personal success.
>
> I have tried a light tent, and no tent. =A0Lights on sides, top, back in
> various combinations. I have tried tungsten, but not yet flash (I don't
> have enough of them for a good multi-flash setup), but can't see how
> that would make any difference for a still object like this.
>
> My Photoshop skills are "early intermediate" I guess. =A0I can do the
> basics, and periodically wow the family with fixing bad snapshots, or
> taking that tree out of the niece's head (or salvaging a terrible Board
> of Directors shoot my wife did last year where she did not notice the
> streak of light from the window going right over their faces...). =A0I
> barely understand masks, smart objects, or the other more advanced
> tricks of CS3 (which I own) though.
>
> Any suggestions? Hints? Tutorials (!) ?
>
> --
> - Burt Johnson
> =A0 MindStorm, Inc.
> =A0http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
Unlike everyone else here, I doubt if they were shot in a white tent
-- at least in any traditional sense.
Glass is hard to shoot. My guess is the photographer has a least one
light -- maybe more -- dedicated to just the vase. I don't think
these are "stick them in a soft box and snap a picture" things.
But if you want to play around an experiment, I think the secret
ingredient you are missing is water. I'd bet those vases have water
in them, so they reflect light quite differently than empty ones. If
you really want to separate the vase from the background, but a drop
of black food coloring in the water to make is slightly opaque. So
try water and light the vase from behind.
Oh, btw, this calls for good photography, not good photoshopping.
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