In the booth, we made a shooting table by placing a 4x4-foot sheet of plywood on two sawhorses. Then, we set up a Photoflex Boom and Boom Stand behind the table, raised it to about 6 feet, and draped a muslin cloth over the boom and onto the shooting table. We then placed a champagne bottle on the background close to the front and side edges of the table. Finally, we attached a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT digital camera to a tripod in a vertical position, framed up the shot and took an automatic exposure with the built-in flash activated for lighting comparisons later with the final shot (figure 1).

As you can see here, built-in flash lighting does not work so well in this set up. Since the flash is such a small light source, it creates a high-contrast result with a hard, unnatural-looking shadow. The reflection of the flash in the center of the bottle looks more like it's part of the label, and the glass does not reveal the light-toned champagne inside. So if you were wondering: yes, this is the long way of saying, "built-in flash and product photography don't mix well together".

Instead, we deactivated the flash and brought in a medium-sized Photoflex Starlite Kit close to the left side of the set. The reason we brought the bottle close to the edge of the table was so that the reflection from the face of the soft box would run evenly down the side of the bottle. We set the White Balance in the camera to accommodate the color temperature of the Photoflex Starlite Kit (3200 degrees Kelvin), dialed the camera settings to f/4 at 1/30th of a second, focused, and took a shot (figures 2 & 3).

The result shot shows a tremendous improvement. There is a long, even reflection running along the side of the bottle, and the shadow cast from the bottle is soft and falls naturally off to the side.

Next, we wanted to have a small amount of light travel through the clear part of the bottle to reveal its transparency, so we set up a Dedolight focusing light with barn doors attached so that we could throw light specifically on the background without affecting the lighting of the bottle. The light on the background would then reflect through the glass, causing it to become somewhat more transparent. Without making any changes to the camera, we took another shot (figures 4 & 5).

Although the difference is noticeable, we wanted to project more light through the bottle to bring out the light green in the glass. But first, we wanted to add a reflection on the right side of the bottle, as well as to lighten it up. We set up a Photoflex 22" White/Silver LiteDisc with the White side showing, attached it to a Photoflex LiteDisc Holder and LiteStand, and positioned it on the other side of the bottle. Since we didn't want the fill to be too strong, we used the White Side of the Photoflex LiteDisc instead of the Silver. After everything was in place, we took another shot (figures 6 & 7).

Notice the difference the Photoflex LiteDisc made. Since the Photoflex LiteDisc is perfectly flat and reflects the light of the Photoflex Starlite Kit evenly, there is a smooth, continuous reflection on the right side of the bottle similar to the one on the right. Also notice how the Photoflex LiteDisc has lightened the shadows in the folds of the muslin cloth.

At this point, we'd taken care of the reflections of the glass. Now we need to pass more light through it. Even though the background was light in tone, it still could not reflect enough light through the bottle to reveal its light green color. So, we decided to employ an old photographer's trick using an overhead focusing light, a piece of white cardboard and a small weight.

First, we took a piece of white cardboard and cut out the shape of the champagne bottle with a pair of scissors. Next, we positioned the base of the cardboard right up against the base of the bottle and leaned it back about 30 degrees so that it would be able to catch and reflect light from an overhead light source. To keep the cardboard in place, we set the weight behind it (figure 8).

Then we attached another Dedolight head to a Photoflex Boom and Boom Stand and positioned it directly over the cardboard. The Dedolight is designed to accommodate special shutters that allow you to throw light precisely where you want it. In this case, we focused the light so that it fell just on the cardboard (figure 9).

Once this light was positioned, we looked through the camera to make sure the cardboard wasn't showing along the edges of the bottle and took another shot (figures 10 & 11).

Notice the difference the cardboard makes! The overhead light bounces off the cardboard and through the glass to create a beautiful light green, as though the inside of the bottle is emanating light itself. And yet, the reflections on the surface of the glass caused by the Starlite Kit and LiteDisc are still apparent.

For a few finishing touches, we tilted the camera slightly to create a more interesting angle, brought the first Dedolight in a little closer to brighten the background, opened up our aperture by a third of a stop to brighten the overall shot, and took our final shot. When you compare the final to the very first shot, it doesn't even look like the same bottle (figures 12 & 13).