Photographing Glass

I have some new painted wine glasses that are up on my Etsy shop this weekend. I enjoy using a different kind of paint and the challenge of a non flat surface. I used a smaller wine goblet this time and they came out very well. Now how to convey how beautiful they are in a photograph……..

My struggle with glass and an online shop is getting great  photographs that show off the wine glasses. Thank goodness for digital cameras or I would be wasting a lot of film. I find that I take wonderful photos of the reflections of my windows and of me with my camera, instead of the features of the wine glasses. : – )   So until I learn a simple way of doing it correctly, I muddle through and here are some tips on not what to do:

A background should enhance your glass: 

  This did not. And there is way too much reflection.

The lighting needs to be good.   Below, in an effort to correct the reflection, the flash overcompensated for the reduced light.  And…… there still is too much reflection.

I changed the background to one that would compliment the daintiness of the flowers and took it all outside. Natural sunlight has it's own set of problems as well. Too much direct light washed out the painting below.

Eventually I got some decent photos.  One could have been cropped better but the glasses looked good.  Here's two images I ended up using. 

This one was taken inside near a sunny window

This was taken outside in the sunlight.

After quite of bit of what not to do, I got a few decent photos.  I included both images in my shop write up. Each one shows the painting on the glass nicely.  These are some of the challenges I hadn't considered with an online shop.  The photos are so important to your online success. I will be reading up and improving my photos for the next time.  For now  – that's a peek behind my easel.