Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

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Archive 2009 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Travis Harris
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p.1 #1 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Greetings all!

I have a client that needs to have some shots of a crystal pineapple. Her only direction was that she wants to have "refraction" of light / colors making the subject really standout etc...

She thought and suggested shooting it on a mirror... but she is not a photographer either. So, my friends I am looking for some ideas on how to get the best shot of this.

Here is what I have for lighting:

x2 AB800's with reflective and shoot-through umbrellas, white seamless, x2 (5-in-1) 42" reflectors with stands.. 580EX II.

Here was one thought that I had.. let me know if you think this would be a good start:

Go outside during the early am / dusk and suspend the pineapple from a horizontal boom light stand, and get some natural light to hit it and create some prism effects. Maybe play with a reflector if needed. I could also use the "white" side of the 5 in 1 at a great distance behind the subject on a stand to provide a white BG. I would shoot this with a long 70-200 at around 2.8 for great DOF. Then all I would need to do is shop out the string used for suspending.

Ideas?

Thanks!

Aug 12, 2009 at 04:08 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #2 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Watch your reflections! Chase down each and every reflection to make sure it's what you want to see, not a reflection of you, your gear, the house, etc. Uncontrolled reflections make product shots look messy and unprofessional.

Shiny objects, especially crystal are very difficult to shoot. You may want to go into the studio on a black background or a black plex for a reflection. Don't use a mirror for a reflective surface, it will give you a double image, use black plex instead.

I'd use softboxes instead of umbrellas if you have them, less light splashing about to light up things to appear as reflections.

If you're going to use strobes, why go outdoors, and why dusk/dawn? The strobes will overpower the ambient anyway and you aren't going to use the natural background.

<Chas>

Aug 12, 2009 at 04:13 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #3 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

If you're going to use strobes, why go outdoors, and why dusk/dawn? The strobes will overpower the ambient anyway and you aren't going to use the natural background.

Yeah I have the strobes... but if I were to go outside I was not going to use them. I just wondered if this would be worth doing?

I assume I can use white in place of black in the studio... Client wants white...

Are there any "setup shots" of something like this I can see on the web? All I have is the umbrellas... but if need be I can order the SB, as I have been wanting to get one anyway

Aug 12, 2009 at 04:54 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #4 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

What about a small setup like this?

http://strobist.blogspot.com/search?q=DIY+%2410+Macro+Photo+Studio

Also, I could maybe line the "flaps" of the box with aluminum foil to try and get some more "reflective" results going on. I can maybe keep the flaps partly closed, and with my camera on tri-pod just barley see it to reduce reflections from camera or me...

Thoughts?

Aug 12, 2009 at 06:45 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #5 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

A light box or tent will provide even, shadowless illumination, and will make your crystal pineapple look like it's made of plastic. You need to light the glass so that the reflections are of black surfaces, so the glass will look transparent, then provide specular highlights to show the shinyness.

You should buy and read "Light - Science & Magic" to learn how to light reflective objects. They are very difficult, and surrounding them with white generally does not make it any easier. Page 165 shows a cut crystal goblet that is probably very like what you're trying to do.

I suggest you put the pineapple on a white sweep. Put one softbox above the camera, high enough that it doesn't reflect white into the camera from any of the facets. Use pieces of black paper/cardboard to make black reflections on the flat surfaces.

Then use a strobe with a grid or narrow snoot from directly above to provide specular reflections that show the shiny texture.

<Chas>

Aug 12, 2009 at 06:56 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #6 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

You should buy and read "Light - Science & Magic" to learn how to light reflective objects.

HA! I just got that book... been so busy with other projects (weddings) I have not had a chance to dig much into it... page 165 I will see tonight! So, your saying to try using two lights above the subject, one soft and large.. and the other... maybe a snooted 580II at different above angles?

- T

Aug 12, 2009 at 07:05 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #7 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Here is a setup I drew... Yep, not a good drawer.. but you get the idea... is this what you meant?

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Aug 12, 2009 at 07:30 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #8 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

That's where I would start

Make some black "flags" of black paper on long sticks. When you find a hot spot or reflection you don't like, wave the flag around until you find a spot where the hot spot dissapears or is lessened. Then use a stand and clamp the flag in place, and repeat for the next one until you're done.

You can see some of this stuff in use in the "Laud Sessions" article on my blog. You can read my by clicking the WWW button at the bottom of this post and then clicking Blog on my home page.

<Chas>

Aug 13, 2009 at 12:54 AM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #9 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Then use a stand and clamp the flag in place, and repeat for the next one until you're done.

How big do the flags need to really be? I don't have extra stands to clamp multiple flags too.. I guess I was thinking that I would make them stand up all around the subject on the table top where I am shooting it. Would that work?

Aug 13, 2009 at 12:35 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #10 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Travis Harris wrote:
Then use a stand and clamp the flag in place, and repeat for the next one until you're done.

How big do the flags need to really be? I don't have extra stands to clamp multiple flags too.. I guess I was thinking that I would make them stand up all around the subject on the table top where I am shooting it. Would that work?

It might, it might not, depending on where the reflections fall. You can't tell until you look through the VF.

Some of the flags I use are 12" square pieces of blackwrap clipped to a 1/4" dowel, some are 24" X 36" black foamcore glued to a 1/2" dowel. The size depends on how big the subject is and where the reflections fall.

You might want just a small one to kill a small reflection from a strobe, but you might need a large one to keep the light from one strobe from falling on the background. It all depends on what you see looking through the VF.

BTW, the page reference I gave was to the 2nd Edition of "Light - Science & Magic" not the current one.

<Chas>

Aug 13, 2009 at 04:04 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #11 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

BTW, the page reference I gave was to the 2nd Edition of "Light - Science & Magic" not the current one.

- I thought so.. damn.. it's the current one that I have!.. But it is the section on glass that I should read for this specific project?

Thank you so much by the way for all the help!!

- T

Aug 13, 2009 at 05:25 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #12 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Travis, what you're proposing to shoot is very difficult, almost as tough as the guy shooting his wife's new custom bowling ball last week. You're going to need all the help you can get, and you're going to need all the patience you can muster, because it's not going to just "fall together"

But when you finally get it right, you will have a great photo, and will have learned a lot about lighting shiny objects.

This picture of a martini glass took 3 or 4 studio days and three or four hundred exposures before I got this

Aug 13, 2009 at 06:44 PM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #13 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Brilliant image!

Well.. tonight I am going to buy some supplies. I am going build that small DIY box studio (but not going to use it for this project as you pointed out).. but thought it would be nice for some nice product shots in the future. I will play around tonight / tomorrow and post up some results. Maybe you can help guide me along based on how it comes out. This damn pineapple....

Thanks guys!

- T

Aug 13, 2009 at 08:07 PM

Garry Burton
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p.1 #14 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

here's a set a that might help you

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29956235@N03/3274074700/

I get these result from it. http://www.gazpixs.com.au/galleries/Garry%20Burton%20-%20Jewellery/index.html

I have simlar lighting gear as you Travis so you can achieve similar results. DO NOT use a mirror, you'll only get a weird double reflection. Perspex is the crack.

I only use a light tent to keep the dust and floaties away, I flag/block it inside so I get the reflections/shadows I'm after and also use compact mirrors to angle light wher it's needed.

I use the 580 as a "sparkler" which I snoot, change the custom funstion so that the test button becomes a psuedo modelling light (it pulsates so you can see where the light is going).

A crystal pineapple would be tricky but do practice on a few blobs of glass/crystals so you don't look like a twat in front of the client if you're shooting at their joint.

The achilles heel is the 580, so meter of that first as it's the weakest power, I zoom mine to 105mm so that it's putting out the most concentrated light. At about 10cms I'm getting f16 at about 1/8th power so it will recycle fast enough for a bit of mucking about with the pineapple. ( I also use a battery pack).

Cheers Gaz

Aug 14, 2009 at 05:55 AM

BrianO
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p.1 #15 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Travis Harris wrote: ...it is the section on glass that I should read for this specific project?

Reading and practicing the whole book is essential, at some point. But in the short term, read chapters two and three to understand how light works and what the authors call the "family of angles."

Then, since your client wants the crystal shot in a white setting, you'll need to understand the section on glass in a "bright field" shot. In the Third Edition, that's pages 149 - 156.

Good luck.

Oh, a P.S. -- you can add refraction "rainbows" in Photoshop once you've captured the basic image well, or you could experiment with actual diffraction and "Star Cross" lens filters like we did in the old days.

http://www.camerafilters.com/pages/star.aspx

Aug 14, 2009 at 08:37 AM

Garry Burton
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p.1 #16 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

BrianO wrote:

Oh, a P.S. -- you can add refraction "rainbows" in Photoshop once you've captured the basic image well, or you could experiment with actual diffraction and "Star Cross" lens filters like we did in the old days.

http://www.camerafilters.com/pages/star.aspx
But the bummer with star cross filters (still got mine, use them occaisionally) is that the SC filters soften the image quite dramatically adding to your woes.
Still you do get some amazing effects.

I wouldn't spend the money on the SC filters, read about it, shoot it correctly, you're done.

Cheers Gaz

Aug 14, 2009 at 08:58 AM

BrianO
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p.1 #17 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Garry Burton wrote: But the bummer with star cross filters (still got mine, use them occaisionally) is that the SC filters soften the image quite dramatically adding to your woes.

That's true. Sometimes, the softening can be an asset, giving an image a "dreamy" appearance, but other times it can be a detriment if you really want crisp images. That's why doing it in Photoshop is great.

If doing it in camera, you could do a multiple exposure -- one with and one without -- and combine the images, but it's a lot of work compared to doing it completely in post.

Aug 14, 2009 at 09:12 AM

Garry Burton
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p.1 #18 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

These are what happens when the SC filter gets out of hand. WARNING, you could be blinded, haha

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29956235@N03/3014022711/in/set-72157607133564366/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29956235@N03/3014856192/in/set-72157607133564366/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29956235@N03/3014856272/in/set-72157607133564366/

BrianO wrote:

If doing it in camera, you could do a multiple exposure -- one with and one without -- and combine the images, but it's a lot of work compared to doing it completely in post.

How I handle the softness and razzle dazzle. I use a low opacity brush set on shadows for black BG, highlights for white BG and dodge back the image. Always good to share ideas on issues/fixes/problems. I like these sort of threads, plenty of ways to skin the image ...

Cheers Brian

Cheers Gaz

Aug 14, 2009 at 09:52 AM

Travis Harris
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p.1 #19 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Okay... here is what happened last night. I added a little contrast to it, but thats it. Did not have time to really read the book.. but this morning I did see and briefly read about bright / dark field.. and how the light comes from behind with back cards (gobos) to stop flare etc..

The advice I got at the start was to shoot with a light above the subject (see my drawing). None, of the setups in the book have a light above? Is this project going to be the same as glass? OR.. because it is a crystal it needs a different setup?

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Aug 14, 2009 at 12:44 PM

Garry Burton
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p.1 #20 · Shooting a Crystal Pineapple

Hi Travis,

Looks OK, I would of lit from below and the image is a wee bit under exposed and I perhaps a bit of side lighting to add sparkle. You're getting a bit of sparkle from the over head light but not enough. The side lighting would add more colour as well.

I've had a quick edit if you don't mind, please let me know and I'll remove it.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

I've added a curves adjustment layer and lightened the image, I sharpen in LAB mode and a boast in colour again using LAB mode.

I've deep etched the image by using the dodge tool set to highlights at about 5% opacity.

Anyhoot, my slant on the item.

Cheers Gaz

Aug 14, 2009 at 01:07 PM

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