27/52 - Coke

Coke

I decided to use a can of Coke as this week's entry for the project. I wanted the shot to have a cold feel to it and had visualised the final image fairly quickly. Lighting it was a whole different ball game. I didn't want to photoshop the final image to alter the colours but wanted the ice cubes to be a very specific blue. 

Lighting setup shot and info after the jump.

Lighting Setup- Coke

I tried several shots using a full CTB, a 1/2 CTB and a 1/4 CTB but was not too happy with the results. Shooting through a piece of white A4 paper didn't work either. Changing the white balance on the camera to "tungsten" got me closest to the colour I was after. 

I used a Canon 430 EX II fired at 1/32 from under the can as the primary light for the ice. The light from this flash provided the cool blue tones.

I bounced a Canon 580 EX II, fired at full power through a CTO, off the ceiling for fill light. The CTO gel was used to neutralise the white balance setting on the camera. This light combined with the light from the 430 EX created the exact blue which I was after. The fill light also lit the can itself.

The fact that the ice cubes were melting added to the degree of difficulty for this shot as I had to work fast and think on my feet.  

14/52 - Coke

Coke

This photograph appeared on strobist a while ago and I was amazed at how "different" it was. I had never seen "Coke" photographed like this before. I have been meaning to try and reproduce this shot since then but hadn't got around to it for one reason or another. Since the point of my project 52 is to learn to light, I thought of shooting it for this weeks entry.

Lighting info and setup shots inside.

Coke - Setup shot

This again was a basic two light setup.

The Canon 580 EX II was fired at 1/8 through a CTO gel and a shoot through umbrella, from camera left.

I bounced the light from the Canon 430 EX II , fired at 1/32, off a white foam-core board placed behind the subject.

The photograph was taken from above the glass.

If I shoot this again, I'd probably use a macro lens to make the bubbles more prominent. I used the 24-105mm lens for this and wasn't able to get closer because of the lens's minimum focusing distance. The hardest part of taking this photograph was getting the bubbles to look right.