Saturday, December 3, 2011

Another school assignment: Glass.

I can't believe how fast November flew.   I've only got 2 weeks left of class and am shooting my final assignment pieces.  Here's the most recent one we've critiqued.  The assignment: photograph something glass.
I chose this Paris Amour perfume from Bath & Body works for a few reasons, none of which were that I wear perfume.  
1.  The bottle was cute and I liked the pink.  
2.  The name Paris Amour was a nice jumping off point for loads of ideas.  
3.  It was $15 for the set.  
4.  I needed a perfume that would look nice with the vintage lace I wanted to use.   
5.  Perfume seemed more exciting than any other glass things I own.
As usual, the first shot is a standard product shot - simple and lit with extreme attention. 
Glass is tricky because it's really easy to just make things flat.   You have to add black, reflecting in the glass, to be able to get some definition back.   I had originally propped a necklace with the bottle, but ultimately it didn't add anything.  

The second phase of the assignment was to shoot more conceptually and creatively.  I had a lot of fun playing with this.  Some times more successfully than others.
I started with the bottle lying on some fabric with a Paris map print.  I don't even think I printed this to bring to class. 
On my way home from work the next day I grabbed some roses, and tried this.
The roses and bottle are on a piece of glass, which is about a foot above a white dish with rose petals in the water. 
At the critique this one was tossed aside because "what you see through the bottle looks like crap."
Live and learn.  Next time I should have the bottle even higher than the roses and no clutter near the logo.
This next one was hugely time consuming.  I put the bottle on a sheet of sparkly black paper, turned off all the lights, put on black gloves and painted the light into the photo with a flashlight.  This one my prof just LOVED.   Everyone in class tried to guess how I did it.  I'm still not satisfied with the bottom 1/4 of the photo, but in my 200+ attempts at getting the swooshes to land in the right place, this was the best one.
My personal favourite shot is actually this one.  The bottle was on the same sparkly black paper, and I used the flashlight to illuminate the area behind the bottle to get the sparkles to shimmer. 
It reminds me of Paris at night, all twinkly and magical.

Which one do you think works best?  Would any of them make you want to try the perfume?

11 comments:

  1. I actually like the roses the best - the stem underlines Amour, and the way the perfume makes a wavy line at the top of the bottle, how the water droplets look, and how you can see the "crap" through the bottle. it's more natural looking - not all things are perfect but can still be beautiful. the others are cool, too, though ;)

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  2. wow, that is a tough one. now all of them are very close. i like them all. (1st)twinkly and magical, sort of looks like it's rainy, love that. (2nd)The roses and bottle, something about this i just love. maybe a boyfriend, just grab a bunch of flowers, a bottle of her favorite perfume & tossed them on his bed to get dressed/take a shower before their big date that night (3rd) on a sheet of sparkly black paper, this one is really close in there of me liking them all ... that's such a great shot. (:

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  3. Awesome pictures. I love the last two shown and the first one as well. The roses one is nice, but not my favorite. Great job on the creativity!

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  4. LOVE the last two especially. The light-painting shot is just super cool, though the final shot would likely make the best ad for the reason you noted.

    Continually impressed here, Mel. :)

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  5. My two favorite are: black paper/flashlight (it feels so futuristic looking) , and I really like the roses one too (there is something so romantic about it). But the one that works best for an advertisement is probably the last one. I think that the perfume pops/stands out the most. It's simple and effective.
    Your blog is my favorite Mel! Great work.

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  6. Ooh great shots! So fun to see how you experiment with different ideas!
    I love the one with the roses, it's my personal fave - so colorful, pretty and textured. The one with the lights is so creative and it looks great. I do love that last one too - I could see that being a great ad the most probably. Thanks for sharing your work, very inspiring!

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  7. Thanks for stopping by my blog Mel! Your photography skills have me green with envy! Lovely to meet another Canadian. Will add your blog to my So Canadian eh blog roll!

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  8. I'm also loving the one with the light swooshes. It looks edgy and very chic. 200+ attempts? Now THAT's determination.

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  9. Wow this are fantastic and so professional! I love the one with the roses, because it adds great color, and the one with the painted light, definitely original. Regardless they all look like something I would find in a magazine (or better than stuff from magazines). Great work!

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  10. I CANT GET OVER THESE! THEY'RE ALL SO AMAZING, MAGAZINE WORTHY! LIKE HOLY MOLY! you are one talented lady! :) im blown away!

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  11. I thought these were professional! I guess that means you'll just have to consider yourself one! My favorite is the one with the roses..gorgeous and fresh, definitely makes me want to try to perfume.

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thank you for leaving a comment! i love to know what you think :)

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