# A study in glass



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

A visit to a famous hand-made glass company









Blowing glass










Glass gob to form the base










Snip the gob










Forming the base










Shape the goblet bowl










Inspecting the progress


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Beautiful work Donald .. Both Glass & Photo's .. love the reflections on the glass, the colour of the hot glass and the proof that playing with fire can cause your hands to get burnt ..


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

You noticed the burns!

This was a very difficult subject to photograph. The red hot glass was much brighter than the rest of the scene.

The only way I could keep the detail in the hot glass was to photograph it in RAW. From the RAW I created several .tif images that equated to +2, +1, 0, -1 & -2 stops. Then merged the 5 images in HDR software.

I have more images of the artist creating work in a special blue glass. When I get time, I will add them to this thread.


----------



## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Where is that??


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

It was a private visit to the Bristol Blue Glass company. Bristol, England

bristol blue glass blowin - YouTube


----------



## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I've always been fasinated with glass blowing . . been to some really cool ones all over the world. But I have not been ot that one


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

nice pics as usual Donald :grin:

been playing around in Camera RAW lately - takes a bit of getting used to when mainly used to working from jpegs in Photoshop but definitely very powerful tool.

Before I became a clayworker I wanted to do glass but opportunities were limited - not many places to do apprenticeships/traineeships - one place I applied had over 200 applicants from all over Australia (The Jam Factory, a crafts centre that used to be in Adelaide) and the main criteria seemed to be whether you could weld or not - they were in the setting up phase and wanted a dogsbody to build racking, kiln frames etc. and occasionally get some instruction :laugh:


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

WOW!!! Stunning pics of a wonderful ancient craft Donald, from the reflections on the glass to the perfect DoF so as to see the concentration on the face, whilst keeping the subject in razor-sharp focus - Craftsmen on both counts ray:

When I was at secondary-school (11-17 year olds, though I quit at 16 + a bit after a good job offer :grin, the only subjects I could guarantee coming top-3 were sciences, of which my biggest love was chemistry.

During my 3rd year, I was asked to represent my year-group for chemistry and present a suitable demonstration for the 'Grand Open Day' for the parents. After a quick consultation with my chemistry teacher (a truly gifted and talented teacher Mr McDonald, I still thank you if you're still with us) one of the displays I presented was my signature in Neon. 

Although I didn't actually 'blow' any glass, I formed the glass tubing into the shape, sealed the electrode in 1 end, evacuated the air and replaced with Neon then sealed the electrode into t'other end - When I chucked 400V through it, my signature appeared in a lovely rosy-pink glow behind me, 3' x 9" - I think that was my happiest day at school (apart from my last day)


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thank all. They told me that it takes seven years to become skilled at this type of craftsmanship - It was a sheer delight to watch a skilled artisan at work. 

ZCM: I find the tools in RAW extremely powerful and useful. Dis you know that you can open a jpg in the RAW with cs5? Use 'Bridge', find the JPG and right click it. Then select third item down, worded to the effect "Open in RAW". Although the jpg is only an 8 bit file, the raw tools are infinately moore versatile...

WB: That is a lovely story about your neon sig :smile:

I hope that it is noticed that each image complies, as near as dammit, to the rule of thirds! :tongue:


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

DonaldG said:


> I hope that it is noticed that each image complies, as near as dammit, to the rule of thirds! :tongue:


point taken :laugh: and I double checked !!!


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

:grin:

Not to belabour the point, but if you look at each image, it would have been very easy to crop with the object of interest in the centre. However, doing so would make them look unballanced...


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

DonaldG said:


> ZCM: I find the tools in RAW extremely powerful and useful. Dis you know that you can open a jpg in the RAW with cs5? Use 'Bridge', find the JPG and right click it. Then select third item down, worded to the effect "Open in RAW". Although the jpg is only an 8 bit file, the raw tools are infinately moore versatile...


yep - watched a tutorial video (from adobe TV I think, not sure now, forgot to bookmark it :sigh that talked about using Camera RAW to edit jpegs - just not as much info to work with - magic with RAW files tho' the differences you can make to an image :grin:


----------



## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

Very well done! Wonderful DOF shoot, wonderful everything! Thanks for sharing how you did these!!



DonaldG said:


> :grin:
> 
> Not to belabour the point, but if you look at each image, it would have been very easy to crop with the object of interest in the centre. However, doing so would make them look unballanced...


Had they been cropped to shot only the glass the story would not be told.


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thank you all...

I have just completed a sequence of creating a Blue Glass Jug. The sequence contains 13 images. I can't give myself permission to many times to deviate from the five image per post rule. Does any one object to me posting the sequence? If OK, I will post them tomorrow.. (Beddy byes time   )


----------



## Dori1960 (May 19, 2011)

Please do!!!!!! ray:


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I'll second that .. rules were made to be broken .. and I live in Greece where if the rules aren't broken then something isn't working properly .. oh and then theres the back-hander of course :smile:


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Please do Donald, they'll be fascinating to see :grin:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thanks folks...

I have created another thread: A study in glass - part two


----------

