How to shoot glassware, how to shoot glassware well?

Glassware is the most common and interesting subject for photographers and photographers. The most common theme is not necessarily the most expressive theme. This is the case when shooting glassware. If the light is used improperly and the angle is not selected well, it is difficult to show its transparent or translucent characteristics and texture.

Beginners of photography often encounter such a situation, some products such as glass with shiny surface texture, or fine porcelain, metal and so on. , glittering and translucent and colorful in the beam; In the sun, colorful, dazzling. But once the photo is taken, these distinctive features disappear completely and become a monotonous plane with no details, without artistic sense. The reason is very simple, that is, the light is not used well, and the texture and texture of glassware are not vividly displayed. Ordinary glasses or ordinary glasses have not become a photographic work of art with strong visibility.

Glassware and fine porcelain products have mirror texture on their surfaces, which makes it difficult to shoot. How can we vividly reproduce them in photos, shoot three-dimensional and artistic images and show their beauty. The most important thing is to work hard on the arrangement of light. Only in this way can we achieve the desired effect.

The light used to shoot glassware is nothing more than natural light and artificial light. The light of natural light is scattered, which is difficult to control and achieve the ideal effect. It is rarely adopted. Artificial light (including electronic flash) is widely used and easy to master.

When shooting glassware and fine porcelain products, no matter what type of light is used, strong direct light should be avoided. This kind of light tends to form bright spots on the surface of objects. Moreover, this light spot is hard to weaken even after post-production. The best way is to use weak direct light and soft diffuse light to weaken the brightness of the spot formed on the surface of the object, thus effectively reducing the contrast between them.

In fact, when shooting light, we should consider the reflection on the surface of glassware and its light spot. If the diffused light can't make the glassware smooth as a mirror and reach the required brightness, other methods must be adopted. For example, according to the law of the size of the light spot on the ship, the light is enhanced and weakened. As we know, when the spot is at the specular reflection angle, the brightness is the largest; The illumination angle of light can change the brightness of the light spot. In this way, lighting tools such as gauze, gauze and white handkerchief can be used to weaken the light when taking pictures and avoid forming too bright spots. Diffused light can improve the illumination of the whole surface and reduce the contrast between surface color and light spot. However, if it is not required to completely eliminate the light spots, it would be "gilding the lily", because the surface feature of glassware is that there are light spots, and the light spots can just add beauty to glassware.

Backlight is the most commonly used when shooting glass products. The surface texture of glass products is expressed by backlight. The facula emphasizes the texture of glass and its three-dimensional effect. It is also a common method in still life photography to outline the outline of glass objects with bright spots and compare them with dark backgrounds, which can often achieve good results.

In addition to the general method, it is best to shoot glassware with two smooth and undamaged large glass plates, which are placed on a special wooden frame or square stool in two layers with a certain height interval between them. Cover the window tightly before shooting, turn off other light sources, and then distribute the light. Place the glassware to be photographed on a piece of glass above, directly illuminate the background of the glassware (white wall or white paper) with a lamp (or flash lamp), and project the other lamp from the camera position onto the subject, but not too bright. The photos taken in this way can better show the texture and characteristics of glassware. You can also use a flash to illuminate the white or light background of glassware. The light reflected by the background will outline the shape of the glassware in black, and the rest will still maintain the original transparency of the glass. The whole picture is expressed in light tones, just like a sketch. The bright glassware and the black background set each other off, which is very beautiful.

The exposure value of this shooting mode illuminated by reflected light from the background is generally measured by measuring the brightness of the background. With ordinary lamps, the exposure meter can measure accurate readings, while the electronic flash is not easy to master. It can be calculated according to the following formula: aperture value = flash index/distance from backlight to background. When shooting, you can get accurate exposure by opening the aperture one step. For example, if the flash index is 16 and the distance from the lamp to the background is 2m, then the obtained aperture is f/8. If the shooting distance is short and the depth of field is not enough, you can repeat the exposure with the aperture unchanged. Its exposure is still the same.

Another shooting method is that the flash does not directly illuminate the subject, and the glassware is placed on a glass plate with a dark background, and the lamp is below. The main body is illuminated by soft light from the bottom, and the whole picture appears black tone. Only the outline and light-receiving part of the glassware appear white, and the dark background highlights the main body. Even if the glassware contains liquid, it can be better displayed. It's just that shooting is more complicated than lighting with reflected light. One of the two pieces of glass should be translucent ground glass. If ordinary transparent glass is used, two layers of white gauze or tracing paper should be laid on it. Soft light. Put the flash on the bottom of the lower glass when shooting. Exposure can be calculated according to the following formula: aperture value = flash index/distance from lamp to glass, and then open the aperture step by step. If the spirit is not enough, you need to narrow the aperture, you can take repeated exposure and increase the exposure.

There are many shooting methods of glassware, and the shooting should be aimed at the different characteristics of different glassware. Realize different shooting and lighting methods. If you shoot color film, you can stick a layer of colored cellophane or special color filter for flash lamp on the front mask of the lamp to obtain colorful effects.