Lighting glass
A company gift turned interesting photography project. As a thank you for my services, the people at Directie Mobiele Diensten gave me this laser-engraved C2000 basestation.
After several futile attempts to take a picture of it at home, I decided to ask my friend (a proper photographer) if he would like to help me take an acceptable picture. Using his studio we set up a spotlight, covered with a blue filter, in the completely dark room, trying to control the light hitting the glass.
Unsurprisingly, the glass really acts like a prism, accenting the light in all corners and creating a focal point.
We made it a bit difficult for ourselves, as we wanted to rotate the block a bit. This made the lighting a much more complex affair, but better showed the depth of the 3d-engraving.
Using the fabulous 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor on my Nikon D200, I focussed on the receiver itself. This took some time, as the engraving is actually an anomaly in the glass, so all we see is the reflected light.
Another point of note is the composition, many classic lines are visible, heavily leaning on use of the rule of thirds.
A final problem we couldn't really tackle was the dust and smearing on the glass. We tried all kinds of ingenious things to clean it off, but the reflecting light and the macro lens just enhanced the microscopic dust particles we couldn't see with the naked eye.
In conclusion, this was a really nice project that gave me the opportunity to learn lots and lots about the way light works.