Behind the scenes of Foxy's Challenge
An early consideration of this image was controlling the flow of beer at the critical moment. I enjoyed the contents of one tin last night after drilling a hole in the rear and taping a funnel to it. The can and funnel were attached to a support rod using part of the drilling machine guard ( just the right diameter ) and a clamp from dial indicator stand. Most of this is very visible in pic 1.
Lighting consideration. Foxy's brief was that black background must be used. To a large extent this determined the style of lighting. Light needed to be kept off the background. I actually spent more time in trying to work out how to lead from light foreground to dark background than anything else. Ians pub trips with camera came to mind here as that seemed an ideal solution. A hard light glancing past the camera and lighting the glass was chosen. Pic 1 shows the set up and the Metz 45CL3 in the background. It was aimed just in front of the centre of the glass so eliminating any light on the background. With the glass being lit from behind it was necessary to illuminate the text on the front of the glass and very front of the crisp packet. SB80-DX with Stofen diffuser was used to achieve this with power set to 1/2 to have no other real influence. Pic 2 shows the position. The beer can really needed a touch of light so the softbox was used. This was placed above but well in front, so it was actually aimed at the floor in front of the set up so the can is only struck by flash fall off.
With the lights positioning determined the next problem was shielding the lens front element from the 45CTL flash. 55mm macro lens was chosen for its deeply recessed front element but there was still a serious risk of flare. This could have been solved by a black flag but I have a bellows lenshood left from my Bronica days. I also have a set of Cokin filter adaptor rings so problem solved. Pic 3 gives an idea how effective this is.
So to the picture itself. Test exposures to confirm lighting. The glass was then filled to within 1 inch of the top. Stevie then poured beer into the funnel and I pressed the shutter at the appropriate moment. Only one take required.
Don
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