I have to turn in one of these for homework. Which is prefered, and why?

#1

Not really sure - but I would correct levels, sharpen, brighten the color of the wine (and convert to sRGB for the web )

I'd go with the first, with Paul's tune-up.
Both seem a little cramped at the top. Feels like there should be a bit more room above the bottle or a steeper angle of the pour. While the glass is more centered in the first, the movement of the wine across the glass is the first place my eye goes to, and falls more to a third of the image in 1. BTW, nice bokeh, choice of shutter speed. Pretty images.
Scott G

1 for me is better. I would experiment with trimming a bit off the left so it is less centred and avoids some of the prominent green on the left.

2's problem is the frame through the bottle seems haphazard - when you frame through a central object I think you need to have ample amounts of it (and even choose 1/2 so it looks deliberate etc) and the 2nd seems "pinched" for that reason.

If you try again you might try some kind of reflector to get the details in the bottle hopefully without the reflection.

Thanks for the comments. I will go back to work on #1. One requirement is that the image is square, so trimming one side means I lose some of the bottom.

Later ..................

Here is another version with the comments incorporated. The level adjustment was sorely needed. How is this one?

Can you reshoot with a smoother background ?

If you do reshoot, try shooting from behind a black reflector so you and your camera won't show in the reflection in the glass.

I doubt if I am in the relection since I was holding the bottle and pouring! The camera may show up.

Fun picture, Cabernet or Pinot Noir?

Actually a cheap Zinfandel. After using it for hours in the sun, I poured it down the sink rather than taste it!

the 2nd glass is probably more appropriate for zin.

both look dirty.

a rest. setting w/ white tablecloths and maybe a plate of brownies just slightly out of focus near the glass (i LOVE brownies w/ zin!).

would you be able to use a decanter instead of a glass? being as it's cheap zin (get some Cline-it's cheap AND good) it makes sense to decant it a bit AND you could turn the bottle completely upside down and have it glug into the decanter.

this would be different from what 90% of the rest of your class will probably turn in.

the white tablecloth idea, to me, is neat because it suggests the tension involved in pouring red wine near white fabric.

Poured it down the drain?!?!?!? ARGHH! Save that puppy and use it to marinate some chicken for the BBQ next time. Oxidation don't come out in the chicken!

Try and clone out those drips that are coming straight down from the bottle. They're distracting from the beautiful arc of the wine being poured into the glass.

Jim Burk wrote:
Actually a cheap Zinfandel. After using it for hours in the sun, I poured it down the sink rather than taste it!

I actually took a few of the early shots with the stem on a white surface. The reflections were terrible! I ended up having to use a matte black surface to allow the bottom of the wine to show the right color.

The stems were cleaned completely between each pour, of which there were about 25. What appears to be spots are actually very small drops which pick up more of the background color than the red of the wine.

As to the stem sizes, I used the Burgundy stem (#1) in the square crop, and the Bordeaux stem (#2) in the 8 x 10 crop. Both of these were the oversize Sommelier size. I actually prefer to use the standard size Bord stem for Zinfandel.

I will try to clean up the large drips to see how it looks. But after beating up this wine for days I wouldn't use it to cook with. Besides I have a wine cabinet about 2/3 full of good Zins.

how about a short list of fav's under $20....

how about a short list of favīs under $5...

haha Iīve been backpacking around Europe and still havenīt grown tired of 1-2euro a litre bottles... France and Italy are amazing.

I want to go with what Alan said.
While it was mentioned that bokeh is nice, I find the relatively uneven background to be a bit distracting. It doesn't have to be smooth...But the large variations of dark and light along with the finer details in the far left side to draw my attention away from the subject.

Otherwise, the level adjustments and other adjustments you intend on doing sound like this image will turn out very nicely. Good luck!