[matthew]

Remember: Cool glass looks just the same as hot glass.
- Chemistry Lab Safety Rule

For this assignment, I'd like us to look at a specific subject: the humble bottle. They can be glass, plastic, or ceramic; clear, opaque or translucent; full, empty, or somewhere in between. They can be artisan-blown designs, or they can be wind-blown litter. But for all of their practical uses, bottles also cary a lot of meaning and significance. They might contain fine wine, with the promise of a gourmet dinner with friends at a luxurious restaurant, or perhaps a romantic evening at home. It may be for alcohol more potent and less prestigious, a bottle found in the gutter with all of the despair and comfort that it brings. You may be content to photograph the vessel itself, or you can look within to photograph what a bottle can mean.

Take a new look at this common object and create some unique photographs.

[matthew]

I went through the kitchen this afternoon. To keep the workload down, I was pretty strict on the definition of "bottle" and skipped a couple of jars and spice containers. I kept the lighting and technique pretty simple, but plan on branching out more in the next week.

My favourite of the straightforward shots:







But my favourite and biggest challenge was a dark glass bottle of olive oil. I needed to really boost the flash power, and switched to manual focus, and adjust all kinds of reflectors and black cards... but I do like the results.



This is also my first time using my brand new (lifetime, free, pro) smugmug account, so please let me know if there are any problems with the images.

[guerito]

Mexico Meets France

[Irma]

Matt,
I like a lot the olive oil picture. This is something I haven't worked yet, and I find it a bit challeging because of the color and the content. I have to try too....

G
I was thinking that if you tried a posterized treatment in this picture might work as well.


I've been working on my lighting setups in the past few weeks. One thing I wanted to do time ago was to work with glass. Among the subjects I have worked with are some bottles.

Here you can see what I have so far.

Empty wine bottles...

Hard contrast, bw treatment.



As I saw I like the bottle subject I went last weekend to buy some bottles. I like this one because of the color... I added dry grass just to have some more colors ... Also because I am trying to get out of flowers and fruits in my still life setups.



here the same picture but original frame in bw.



And the last one ... This is a bit of a challenge because of the shape of the bottle it is round and straight in places. I tried to make the window effect in the reflection... Still there is a lot of room to improve this one, but I like this first try somehow...



Thanks so much Matt for this assignment...

Any advice to improve my pictures it is always welcome.

[NT73]

The last one is very pretty and well thought out, Irma. My thoughts are that it would look better on the other side of the frame, ( looking in ). Of course everyone thinks different.
After a few glasses of that it won't matter.

[Irma]

Thanks for your comment and advice NT.
I'll try to see how it looks on the other side of the frame..

[matthew]

Bottles in their natural environment. It reminds me of the line from Fight Club: "a fridge full of condiments and no food." (The fridge was actually quite full, which made it a hard place to fit my flash and CTO gel. There's a second flash to light the side of the door.)

[Irma]

Taking your idea about bottles in their natural environment, I looked for those that were not in their natural environment...

[NT73]

I started with 3 bottles. Just used white foamboard behind to give a bit of reflection.
This is no flash, I think.


Then I thought try tasting it first. You will not believe that I got these in '91, from an air hostess who had been to school with my wife. A carrier bag full.


Gloody gottles, who's idea was that. hic ?

[matthew]

Irma, I really like #1. It looks like an interesting composite.

NT, That's a great collection, which would have been just as entertaining in the "series" assignment. Thanks for including it here.

All I have is another bottle in its natural environment. I still haven't been able to do anything creative for this assignment, so this is basically a rushed record shot taken with my widest lens. I mostly took it because I've never seen a beer bottle this big before.