Many of you would have seen a rather common picture of wine glasses with the liquid in it at a 'slant' (as in the picture below). Rather intriguing as it may be the 'trick' involved is fairly simple and I am here to reveal the method through a tutorial.
The end result of my tutorial will however not bring about the same picture as above as I used something called 'Bright Field Lighting". So actually there are TWO tutorials here.
The 'set up' picture below will instantly take out the 'mystery' of the 'tilting liquid' . Follow the steps outlined, below the picture.
Step 1 - Identify a white wall (preferably). Even an ivory colored one will be suitable.
Step 2 - Get a set of wine glasses.
Step 3 - A sloping surface. I chose a laptop table with folding legs. You can use a sheet of glass instead and support one end on a pile of
books. A little care is required in placing the glassware on the sloping surface. I used a reusable synthetic glue called 'Blu Tack' but I haven't
seen it in stationery shops in India. The easiest way would be to tape the feet of the wine glasses to the sloping surface with any strong
tape like 'duct' tape. Please be liberal with the use of the tape to ensure stability of the glasses especially when they will be filled with liquid.
Needless to say, this arrangement has to be made when the surface is horizontal.
Step 4 - Place the sloping surface as shown above. I have used two bedside tables. You can use whatever that is convenient - wooden
boxes, cardboard cartons ..... and they should be placed about a foot away from the wall. The kitchen napkin (Item No. 6) is optional but
recommended in case of an unexpected displacement of the glassware.
Pour the water gently, starting from the glass on the extreme right and stop when the liquid is just below the rim of the glass. Then
continue pouring the liquid in the next glass and stop when the upper edge of the liquid is in line with the lower edge of the liquid in the
first glass. If you overshoot it will be very evident and you may use a teaspoon to remove the excess liquid. Continue in the same way until
the last glass is reached. Ensure that none of the glasses have a tendency to topple due to the weight of the liquid in it especially the first
one.
Step 5 - You need an 'off camera' flash. That goes to say it has to have a trigger (wireless receiver) fitted on it. Place the flash unit on
the floor in between whatever that is supporting the sloping surface. Angle the head upwards.
Now comes the 'trick' part !!
Place your camera on a tripod. I opted for the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens. Position the tripod / camera in a manner that you can only see the wine glasses and the blank wall in the viewfinder. If a part of the sloping surface can be seen, it does not matter as it can be cropped in post. To achieve this, tilt the camera to the right so that the upper edge of the viewfinder is parallel to the upper rims of all the glasses. Ensure there is some space above the glasses when seen through the view finder. This position of the camera is final and tighten up all the screws of the ball head / pan head to ensure the camera is locked in this position. Fit the wireless trigger on to the hot shoe (if not fitted as yet)
To conduct this shoot in daylight you need to change the aperture and take a test shot in daylight where the resulting frame is totally black. So lets say 1/200 is the max sync shutter speed you can set and anything faster will give you that black band (at the lower portion of the image) when the flash fires. So move to manual mode and set the shutter speed to 1/200. Set the lowest ISO possible and choose an aperture like f8. Take a test shot with the flash switched off. Check if you get a completely black photo - if not then make the aperture smaller - try f11. You will finally get an aperture which will give you a completely black image - so the photo you click now with these settings will not use any ambient light. Now switch on the flash and adjust the power output from the flash and that will be the only light that is being used in the photograph even though you are shooting in daylight. The white wall is in reality playing the role of a studio soft box. You may require a few trials at this stage to get the right amount of brightness from the flash.
If shooting at night, the same procedure can be followed but be warned that the intensity of the flash bouncing of the wall can be quite blinding, so it would be advisable to keep your eyes shut just before you press the shutter button. This can occur if you have chosen to darken the space completely. Adjustments to apertures may be required but DO NOT increase the shutter speed beyond the flash sync speed of your camera.
You may observe in the image there will be a wee bit of a tilt as it is not entirely possible to keep the upper edge of the viewfinder absolutely parallel with the rims of the wine glasses. Correct the tilt with your PP software. Adjust sharpness / brightness / contrast as required. Crop the lower portion so as to see only the stems and the bowl part of the wine glasses. Check for any untoward reflections. The final result should be close to the image below. Though this looks like a B &W shot, in reality it is in color. The image can be made more vibrant by using colored liquid in the glasses. Use commonly available food color and add a different color to each glass. You can also use colored cellophane paper wrapped on the flash and see the effect that will be created.
[Grateful thanks to Ayaz (Moderator) for offering advice on settings for conducting this shoot in daylight. I have used most of his words of advice in the relevant paragraph]
I sincerely hope this tutorial was useful and if you have any doubts please feel free to clarify.
Vinod Sunder
