I built a small black plastic box and cut out two rectangular areas from the back side (for rim lights) and one from the right side (key light). I also cut a circular hole in the front side, and I stick my lens into it. Over the back and side apertures I glued white diffusing paper.
In this way I can shoot reproducible photographs of wine bottles without having weird reflections due to objects in my room reflecting into the glass. The scene is lit from outside the box.
This is kind one of my first attempts at product photography, unpaid, but fun.
What do you think about my result?
Please do not judge the background - it is just temporary until I find something better to composite.
First, I want to say good work creating the effects that you wanted in a creative way with a box and some holes. Who needs a fancy lighting setup that costs thousands of dollars. I also like that your photo has mood to it.
My critiques would be that the top and bottom of the bottle get lost in the shadows and the lack of room above the bottle in the image. I think giving the bottom of the bottle a bit more light from the key, and the top a bit more from the rim will really make the bottle stand out better. The lack of headroom makes the shot feel claustrophobic to me.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I can easily compensate for the lack of headroom because I cut the bottle out of the background and can just add more space above.
I also agree on the fact that the top and bottom parts of the bottle are too dark. I should try to bring up the exposure a little bit in post and see whether it helps. I have to check if my box setup is going to cause the same problem over and over again, or if I can simply increase the key light power and solve it that way.