DIY: Light Beer
Anyone who has been reading this site should know by now that I am a sucker for cool lighting stuff that can be done with the aid of a cardboard box. And when it involves beer, well, so much the better.More, courtesy photographer Nick Wheeler, after the jump.
For one-off shoots that need special supports of light modifiers, always look into the idea of making vs. buying. And Nick's DIY-enhanced studio setups are really worth following, using household items and cardboard boxes to create exactly the type of light he needs.
In this case, he uses a large cardboard box to support the glass shooting surface. Since the surface is transparent, he can light the beer from below to get a nice, internal glow before he even starts to light the bottle itself.The bottom light is coming from inside the box, where the tan cardboard warms it up as is bounces around inside what is now essentially an undiffused softbox. The box does not soften the light a great deal -- it is just filling out a little with reflections. But it does warm the light up a bit.
What is the flash mounted on in the bottom of the box?
Another cardboard box, of course.
For a detailed write-up on this shoot check out DIYPhotography.net.
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by David, at 12:00 AM.
22 Comments:
Cool stuff!
OMG, OMG, OMG I'm on the front page of strobist.com!!!! ... erm, I mean, thanks Dave, it's an honour to have one of my cardboard creations make it onto the best lighting resource on the web!
Many Thanks
Nick
I'm thirsty!
Great idea. Now I'm thirsty!
I gave this a try awhile back. I didn't have off camera strobes so I had to be creative.
Brewtus
Hi David,
No doubt Nick is great DIYer and a great photographer. I just love his flickr stream.
Thanks for the feature,
Udi
I reckon this setup could be DIY-ed even more by loosing the two softboxes and by putting the beer inside a mini studio made from a cardboard box (like the one you posted way back to light a flower). That box could easily be placed on this setup it seems.
What's the transparent surface made of, regular glass?
Where can you get softboxes like the ones used above for compact flashes?
Thanks,
Here's possible tip for a post:
I found this video of photographer Frank De Mulder (has shot for the Belgium Playboy and lots of calendar stuff) using what looks to be Cactus flash slaves in a video on his site. Check out the 3:40 mark.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4872575712299611314&hl=en
I found it interesting that with everything at his disposal, he was using cheap ebay slaves. More video on his site:
http://www.frankdemulder.com/b.html
all the set up shots really help!
Heres another great video of a guy using a 5D with one lens, 1 580 flash and 1 continuous video light and some mad posing skills, going to a dress store and using whats there to create some amazing shots.
https://www.theicesociety.biz/?module=blog&page=46&category=2
Very cool stuff...
I been looking for black tile for about few weeks now. I endup using a black granite tile but it shows the stone structure.
I considered using glass on black but
doesn't the glass on top of the black cloth creates a double mirror ?
No strange effect because of that ?
Good stuff!
C
The picture is great- I love those diffused highlights. One suggestion- cut some white paper and paste it to the back of the beer bottle- this will reflect the light back, making the bottle look more saturated.
This works esp. good for perfume bottles, example http://artzy.smugmug.com/photos/214889279_qUudE-L.jpg
Darren Brown,dig my brother dig, I found this just by doing the google thang:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/07/diy-ball-bungee-speedlight-soft-box.html
I got one better than this..Go see. ITs about attitude
http://www.photoshopuser.com/members/portfolios/view/image/118031
Affectionately strobist
Ken
must...try...awesome new technique...
David - There is a photo at http://finance.yahoo.com/ this morning (3/20 at 10am EST) that is a replica of your nest egg photo except it uses 3 eggs. This page changes rapidly, so I saved a print screen on it in case you'd like to see it. My print screen isn't very good resolution, but good enough to get the idea. If you'd like it let me know and I'll email.
@Darren Brown:
Check out the setup shot comments, that's the first question asked and answered:
Setup shot
@Everyone wondering about the surface, it's just regular, clear, cleaned, glass. The only black in the shot is the backdrop. If you read the setup and comments, you'll see how it was setup. Nick looks to be very responsive to questions in his comments.
I downed 4 Coronas last night in honor of this post!
David - www.chevychasebank.com also has a golden nest egg shot that looks just like yours. Except it has 4 eggs.
They could be copycats, but on the other hand the idea of the golden egg is a pretty old one.
I only noticed the above picture today, but then even if it was there before, I wouldn't have noticed it until after I saw your egg shot.
Your post made me thirst, i would drink a Corona right now.
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