The Subject ..

Today is a little bit gloomy here in the Northeast, we have a coastal storm forming offshore. The storm is casting clouds along the coast but there are breaks in those clouds and some sun is shining through our windows. I saw these rays of sun shining off the dining room table and it gave me an idea. I wanted to shoot a subject with natural back light. But what shall I choose as my subject?

I have the perfect idea in mind, that may also compliment these hard lines that are seen on the glossy surface of the dining room table. I was looking for a glass subject. I think a nice glass piece, something clear enough to show hard lines and yet allow for a few around and softer edges, Would be perfect for today.

I headed into our powder room where we have a small display of interesting hand blown, vintage, glass bottles and pitchers. I chose a tiny, green glass pitcher that you see in the lower left-hand corner of the photo above. All of these pieces were either purchased at a yard sale or picked up from the local thrift stores. I always keep my eye out for interesting hand blown, glass pieces for display around the house.

Setting Up For The Photos..

Now that I chose a subject to shoot, I am ready to get started and have some fun. Instead of just randomly placing the pitcher in any old place of choice, and start shooting pictures, I had to give this some thought. Since I chose a glass piece to shoot, I want to first look for a well lite place. Next, I observe the direction the light is heading, and I then decide on how I wanted these pictures to look in the end. Without much pondering, I decided that I wanted to have some fun with the natural back light, thus the light would have to be coming from the back of my subject towards my camera lens.

I think that I will set up here, at the far end of the table, as to not be in the direct sunlight but rather the reflection of the direct light. If that makes any sense at all. And this is why I do not teach. hehehe.

As you can tell above, I placed the pitcher on the highly reflective surface of our dining room table and made sure that the sunlight was coming in from behind my subject. It is an indirect light, so it’s even better for what I had in mind. I didn’t want pictures that were displaying my subject as very dark and the background as very light (a silhouette). The indirect light will help illuminate the glass while allowing enough harsh light through to make nice crisp, dark areas and edges.

All Set So Let’s Take Some Photos ..

I was just having a conversation with some others, on hive, about the rule of thirds (@bozz and @tattoodjay). Well you’re not gonna see the rule of thirds being applied much here. Instead, I will be shooting the subject mostly in a very balanced way. I guess you could call it a symmetrical way even though my subject is not quite symmetrical. I am going to try and center the subject and try to keep those hard lines as symmetrical as possible. This is TOTALLY going against that golden rule of thirds.

I am also really liking how the reflected light is setting up and bouncing off those highly glossy surfaces. This should yield some great shots, frames or photos.. whatever you like to call them.

The light tends to play on the colors a bit, especially when your subject is a single color. I’m going to let the camera adjust to what it sees and then make my own alterations to enhance some of these other hews seen in the reflections. The reflected light is capturing the colors through the room as well as what’s outside the windows.

I’ll take a few of these shots to the extreme warm and cool end of the color spectrum.

This shot has a very cool color feel to it. The green is a very extreme green, with touches of blue and dark purple. Surrounding the pitcher are lots of purple hues as well as a few touches of red or pinks.

While this shot is going the opposite color direction. This one has a warmer tone to the overall feel, even though it is VERY dark. Maybe you can notice the warmer ambers colors to the left and just above the subject. Some of those more yellow or orange tones are also being reflected throughout the glass, softening the green.

And, how about those distinct highlights of the table edges, shooting out from behind the subject, to the right and the left bottom of the pitcher. I love when this type of stuff comes together because it adds so much depth to an otherwise depthless photograph.

The Black And White Of It ..

Back light like this also makes for great black and white photos. Whenever you can naturally get the light to create nice contrasting black and white areas, and hard definitive lines, it’s a winning moment.

There are some very interesting 'Lines' going on in this shot just below. There are a nice mix of hard straight lines, coupled with rough dirty ones. The distorted tiled edges of the table and the reflected lines of the window, play well together. It's feels very symmetrical yet has a few elements that break up that symmetry to make it fun to look at. I am not sure why the one edge of the tile (just in front of the pitcher) is partly crisp and partly blurred soft. Sometimes strange things happen when photographing highly reflective surfaces like these.

I don't want to leave out the macros!

I am liking that I can see some of those tiny bubbles within the glass. Some of my favorite glass pieces have those bubbles.

Black blacks and white whites! Love this photo looking down onto the pitcher. I never take enough of these highly contrasting shots. Sometimes I find them hard to get, yet every once in a while they present themselves.

Warm macro shots are nice to take when the lights shinning through the glass like this. Although now the clouds are filtering the light a bit more than I would like, that’s okay and I’ll work with it. What do you think of these warmer shots? How do you like the reds, oranges, yellows that dominate this frame? There are some really deep purples and reds in there too, but they take a backseat to the overall amber feel of it.

A Balance Between Warm and Cool

Balance is nice to achieve; A balance of warm and cool. This shot below almost feels pastel and spring like. Unfortunately we are into our Autumn here in the Northeast, with winter at our heals. Springtime seems so far from sight right now. A shot like this brings those days a bit closer to my heart and my eyes. I also applied that 'Rule Of Thirds' to this shot. It is where you try to place your subject on one of the intersection points, if the photo was divided into thirds. Some view finders already have the grid work laied out for you. Otherwise if you choose, you could edit the photos to fit the rule when they are cropped.

Below is an example of the grid work that divides the frame into thirds. Notice how the bulk of the subject sits at one of the intersection points.. where two of the 'Thirds Lines' intersect.

It's just a rule and you know what they say about rules. No? You Don't? Oh well let me refresh your memory.. Rules Are Made To Be Broken! hehehe. It's fun to break a rule now and again, isn't it?!

The Wrap Up! ..

I’m sure your now getting tired of looking at this tiny glass pitcher, and my mediocre photography, so I’ll wrap it up with one of my favorites of the day. This one is a nice balance of warm and cool. It also places the subject at a mostly centered point in the frame, which allows for that symmetry I was after.

This is a different kind of balance, where the natural backlight is creating a sharp coolness (purples and blues) that is reflected in the tile surface of the background. The subject, however, appears sharply warm in contrast to it's surroundings. Some of that warmth is reflected and carried through to the foreground, where the an almost perfect reflection of the pitcher is visible.

Absolutely beautiful in my eyes, and that's what it's all about isn't it?

Capturing an image your satisfied with and one that moves you.

Those kind of shots will keep you hungry for taking more photographs and most importantly.. It will keep your passion alive!

I took a bunch more photos, and I’ll play around with them for a while this afternoon. Unfortunately it’s time for this little guy to back to his little shadow box in the bathroom, and time for me to do something else I enjoy before the day is done. Not sure what yet, but there are also lots of ‘Honey Do’ things to get done before nightfall.

Until next time, keep taking those awesome photographs my fellow Photography Lovers!

Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!

All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.

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