Crackled Green Vase

[Mike Buckley]

I dislike the NextDoor.com platform so much that I don't follow it. However, one day a post was pushed to my email regarding this vase about the size of a wine bottle that was being sold for only $5. I hadn't photographed crackled glass and the vase, by sheer coincidence, will look good in my sunroom. So I bought it. The seller lives within a 15-minute walk of my house.

Setups: See my next post for photos and explanations of the setups.

Photo #1

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Photo #2

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Photo #3

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Photo #4

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[Mike Buckley]

Setup for Photos #1 and #2
The background is translucent vellum fitted with a gradient printed on acetate. The background colors were changed during post-processing.

Focus Stacking: Photo #1 was made using thirty focus-bracketed images at Nikon step size 3. Photo #2 was made using five manually focus-bracketed photos. Both images were stacked in Helicon Focus at default settings.

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Setup for Photo #3
The tabletop is transparent glass and the background of translucent vellum fills the frame, no more and no less. That fit provides the most control with regard to details too complex to explain here pertaining to the appearance of the dark outline when lighting transparent and translucent glass from behind.

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Photo #4
The tabletop is transparent glass and the background is semi-glossy gold art paper. The background was toned with a green tint during post-processing. The two lamps were far enough behind the subject that their light did not fall directly onto it; the subject was lit only by the light being reflected by the background.

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[Mike Buckley]

When making Photo #3, I used a shutter speed of 2 seconds even though my only light sources were flash heads. That's because I couldn't get the trigger to automatically fire the flash heads when I released the shutter. The room was dark, so I used a shutter speed that was slow enough that I could easily push the Test button on the trigger to fire the flash heads while the shutter was open.

After I finished making the photo, I took the time to figure out the problem: The last time I had used the trigger, it had been mounted on an off-camera hot shoe. I had forgotten to remove that off-camera hot shoe before mounting the trigger onto the camera's hot shoe. SHEESH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hylander]

#4 is my favorite.

 

[Mitchell]

#4 is the most dramatic and pleasing for me in this set, Mike.

Did your wife drop this vase, too?

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Bill and Mitch!

Did your wife drop this vase, too?

For those who are not aware, the crackling in glass objects is intentional at the time of manufacturing and is not in any way the result of damage.

 

[dossy]

I love the vibrant color in the first shots, and #4 is simply stunning!

 

[gnagel]

They are all beautiful! #3 was my favorite at first. Now, maybe it’s #4!

Glenn

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm glad you went back to the drawing board with this vase, Mike! The earlier one you had posted in the CS thread which you had commented you didn't like I didn't care much for, either, and for me the problem was that the background was too distracting, taking away from the wonderful crackled surface of the vase. These images, especially the first three, are much better in my opinion because the background surface doesn't distract the eye from the interesting qualities of the vase, and the background colors enhance the vase's intense green. Number three is my favorite shot, but Number Four is certainly very dramatic and eye-catching, too.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you also to dossy, Glenn and Connie!

The earlier one you had posted in the CS thread which you had commented you didn't like I didn't care much for, either, and for me the problem was that the background was too distracting, taking away from the wonderful crackled surface of the vase.

I like the lines in the background in that image because they complement the crackled characteristic of the vase; that aspect isn't at all distracting to my eye. My biggest issue with that image is that it is neither strongly grounded nor truly floating. (I had intended it to appear grounded.) Secondarily, I don't like the color of the background.

 

[Binnur]

Hi Mike. #3 looks great in the traditional way and #4 is an excellent artistic image , so, congrats. If you get some crops from the inner part of the bottle in #2 , they might also make good abstracts

 

[Hylander]

It's the mystery of #4 that makes it my favorite.

 

[Mike Buckley]

#3 looks great in the traditional way and #4 is an excellent artistic image

Thanks, Binnur! I like both of them for the reasons you explain. For me, the two are so different that they shouldn't be compared; instead, both should be evaluated separately on the basis of whether their style is suitably brought off.

It's the mystery of #4 that makes it my favorite.

The mystery is also the characteristic that most appeals to me in #4.