For two solid weeks in 2012, Taka Kawachi, a product specialist who works out of a studio in Nyack, NY, shot nothing but glassware for a major department store chain. Juice, highball, and shot glasses, tumblers, stemware of every size and shape, and, yes, pilsner glasses and beer mugs. If he wasn’t a master of lighting glass at the project’s outset, he certainly was by its end.
To light this frothy stein, Kawachi said his challenges were threefold:He wanted to highlight the mug’s transparency while exaggerating the amber glow of its contents; to capture the concave texturing of the mug’s surface; and to bring out the mug’s outer edges to define its contours. Here’s how this still-life pro handled each of these tasks.
• 透明性を強調 ：河内さんはガラスを逆光にするという古典的な手法を使いました。 This prevented unwanted reflections from forming on the front of the mug, which would have compromised the transparency of the glass and desaturated the attractive amber glow of the lager.
• 表面の詳細をキャプチャする :While he wanted to minimize surface reflections, Kawachi didn’t want to eliminate them completely. By placing a relatively weak, diffused white light source to the left of his subject, the photographer introduced faint white reflections on the mug’s front surfaces.凹凸が微妙に伝わってきます。
• 輪郭の定義 :To etch the mug’s handle and surface ribbing, Kawachi flanked the glass with black. To the left and right sides he placed large black flags, and he worked in a completely darkened studio. Both strategies created strong black lines that helped exaggerate texture and the mug’s shape.
タカ・カワチは、被写体に横から光を当てたり、逆光を当てたりするために、Profoto のストロボ ヘッドを 2 つ自家製のソフトボックス (A) に収納しました。 Both sources were further diffused through sheets of translucent Plexiglas (B).ビールの泡状の白いヘッドをより強力でコントラストの強い光にするために、河内氏は拡散していない 3 番目の Profoto ヘッド (C) でマグカップをトップライトしました。 Two black flags (D) outlined select glass surfaces, and a large, white V-card (E) provided subtle fill lighting to the right side of the mug. To support his subject, Kawachi used an expensive panel of “water” glass (F), an unusually pure form of glass whose bubble-, ripple-, and color-free characteristics can make it relatively invisible to the camera.なぜDIYソフトボックスなのか？ 「市販のソフトボックスはポートレート用に設計されており、通常は非常にフラットで均一な光を発します」と河内氏は言います。 “For products, I need something with more contrast.” He gets it by lining the interior of his foamcore softboxes with aluminum foil.
Illustration:Kris Holland/Mafic Studios