object redux

I like this version, the lighting is better. Nice work!

This is a major improvement over your first attempt, John. The new lighting scheme gives it a much greater sense of depth.

Thanks for your comments, David and Rob. While I'm still not entirely happy with it and realize there is a lot left to explore; regarding for instance how to handle the specular reflectance while maintaining the background gradation; I probably would not have tried to do even this much had it not been for the comments I received here on NPN. I'm so greatful for that and so happy to be involved with this site.

So I spent the better part of today trying to photograph some of Carol's slumped glass work. She makes a ceramic sculpted base and then puts three sheets of glass on it -- an iridescent sheet, a colored sheet, and a clear sheet. Then she fires that in her electric kiln and the glass takes the form of the ceramic which remains rigid where glass flows. The final step is to place this round sheet on a bowl form to allow the composite to slump and make a bowl shape.

I made use of the many great suggestions from before in shooting this and managed to capture bits of the irradescence.

Thought I'd try to include this in my reply. Cheers...

John, I like this much better than the first version: lighting scheme and WB. Nicely done.

Nice glasswork and photo thereof in the comment. Love the richness and depth of the color. The photo nicely shows the iridescence, though for my my eyes the intensity of the shadow distracts a bit from the object. I wonder if a bottom light would work on these glass pieces to reduce the shadows and make the colors glow. Just a thought. Roger.

The finest rendition yet.

This does a far better job of showing off the art work. Real nice improvement.

Thanks for the encouraging comments on the 2nd one, which was a response to your comments on the first one. Another step on the journey

John... well this surprised me. I just moved your glass bowl image to this gallery from Photo Art and thought I'd look around a little. And here I find some images of Raku pieces. I made my living from the mid 70's to the mid 90's as a studio potter making Raku. I was one of the first potters to start doing the ACC shows with all Raku work. I started shooting my own work for slides to get into shows. Raku was the reason I bought my first camera. Now, I own Ward Burner Systems that manufactures burner systems for potters and industrial customers. Anyways, here's some of the things I learned shooting pots.

Don't shoot down at a piece. Be level or shoot slightly up. This will give the piece a bit more "lift" and presence. Flash is hard to work with as you can't see the reflections you're going to get. 5000°K lights bounced into an umbrella or shot through a soft box work much better and give softer shadows. Harsh and dark shadows draw the eye in and take your eye off the piece. Look closely at photos in Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times (I've written a column for them for 15+ years), or American Craft. Notice what is done to highlight the piece while while making the background work to achieve the highlighting. All parts of the piece should be in focus while the background should recede. This means you need a large area to extend background paper. I had a large area with main bounce lights, soft fill lights, and adjustable shades to darken backgrounds. That was all in the film age. There are now newer options to try.

I've posted an image that I used as advertising for my wife's craft gallery. This is a lamp by Bill Campbell that was shot in place in the gallery. The image was then removed from it's background in Photoshop. It was then placed on a 50% gray layer and a gradient was applied to the background to create the transition from light to dark. An oval shadow was the placed under the lamp and blurred. Then some extra shadows were painted around the base. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about shooting pots or if your wife has any questions about Raku.