Feedback requested: Homemade lightbox results

[Grippe]

Looking for some assistance on getting better photographs. I built a homemade lightbox and would like to see better photographs. I'm using three lights and the flash on a cheap Sony digicam (two of the lights are on the cutouts on the side of the lightbox and the third is on the open end high oblique angle). I took pix of 4 of the 5 currently on tap in different vessels for scrutiny.

What I'd like to see is more depth inside of the liquid instead of the glass as well as less shadow. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

First up - what I'd like to be able to produce:

Edwort's Apfelwein in a Boda white wine glass:

Sweet Stout in standard Ale trappings (nitro first):

(Final pour):

American Lager in a pilsner flute:

Fischer Amber clone in a Czech chalice:

 

[Photopilot]

Not sure what kind of light box you have, but it seems to be limiting you based on design. The picture you are aiming for is shot from below to be able to show the bubbles in the top of the glass, base of head which gives a nice touch.

On the focus issue you have two modes of attack use them both.

Depth of field: Use a higher aperture F22 or F16, to get a higher DOF. If you do not have that control you can choose a higher ASA or slower shutter speed to create a higher aperture.

Manual focus: You can see the front of the glass is sharp the rim becomes fuzzy by half way back. If you can manually focus so it is 1/3 the way back from the front of the glass, combined with a higher aperture, it should have the whole glass in focus. If you can't manually focus try locking the focusing with the camera 1.5" back then move forward and snap the photo.

Move the top light towards the back to fill in the shadow. You could also put white paper or foamcore inside the light box to bounce the lights off of to fill in the shadowed area.

I don't know all the tricks beer photographers use but I do know the picture shown started with a perfect pour. An example of a trick food photographers use is to use elmers glue for milk in cereal pics. I imagine they have similar tricks for beer as well.

 

[Grippe]

These are exactly the tips I was looking for - I very much appreciate it.

 

[eric19312]

I played with this a while ago and decided you really really want some light coming from behind the beer. I used a maglight to bounce a small circle of light off my white background to get pretty good results.

This was one of my better shots

 

[Bobby_M]

If the backing is semi-opaque, you can put a light behind there to help minimize that harsh shadow. You can also have the background further away and open up the aperture to at least 3.5 to blur that background out. Liquids are tricky to shoot because if you use the traditional three point lighting, you can get get some weird reflections. Try mostly back and back-side lighting. Clean your glasses really well to avoid the bubbles.

 

[passedpawn]

That last shot's pretty good.

Use a spray bottle of water to very lightly mist the glass. It will give the impression of a cold glass. Of course, don't mist in your box.

And get some clear glasses.

 

[ronaldwrx]

can you set white balance on your camera?

 

[passedpawn]

A glass with activation sites at the bottom will give you some streaming bubbles.

 

[Photopilot]

Some more suggestions

Shoot raw if your camera allows it.

Remove the windows or cutouts or cover them with the same material as the rest of the if you can. Put the flashes further away from the side of the tent for a more diffused or softer light. This should remove the hotspots or lights being seen in the glass. I am not sure what you can do to remove the image of the camera though but I can see the lens reflected in some of the shots.

One more issue is color cast of your lights. If you have a flash on your camera and normal incandescent or CF bulbs on the sides each source of light might giving off different spectrum of light. You can fix this a bit in post processing but try to get them balanced for the shot.

 

[passedpawn]

I am not sure what you can do to remove the image of the camera though but I can see the lens reflected in some of the shots.

Maybe try a polarizing filter. Turn filter until optimized.

 

[thebrewquest]

I would move the glass farther from the background and like the others suggested bounce some light off the back. Also, I would pull the side lights back a little bit to give a softer wraparound.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[kal]

Like others have said, you need to turn off the flash and light from the outside indirectly. There are some good (inexpensive) light tents just for this.

You also want to bump up the exposure - you want to blow out the background completely making it 100% white.

Kal

 

[steveoatley]

Try somthing like this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TKCZVM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


light liquid from behind or the sides.

Bounce the flash off a white wall then throught the light box.
It will result in a very soft source of light

 

[kal]

I have a couple of those CowboyStudio light boxes - they work great and fold away nicely when not in use.

Kal

 

[Photopilot]

You inspired me to go out and get a light tent of my own. Turns out one of the ebay sellers is in town so I picked it up directly. Pulled out my old studio lighting stuff. I hadn't used in about 15 years and was never that proficient then.

Here is my first attempt at using it.

 

[passedpawn]

I've got to buy one of those portable light boxes. Nice results.