But first, I should back up, and describe to you what a “photographic flag” is, and how it functions. There are kits of flags developed for portraiture, and for product photography. They are generally constructed of dark fabric, stretched over a metal frame. In basic terms, a flag can be anything that blocks light from reaching either the subject, or the camera. In the case of our Coke Bottle, no pun intended, we are helping to put edges on the profile of our glass by eliminating light from coming from the sides of our object. This is what is going to help our Coke Bottle to have sharp, crisp lines. We’re trying to give our glass that illustrated look, so dark edges will help create dark lines?
So if you take a look at the image above, you’ll see some blinky lights on the side of a bumpercar shed. Why is that pan around them? Reason one, to reflect the lights at night. Reason two is why we’re shooting bottles in windows… Glass looks better when it’s not overwhelmed with ambient light. The cakepan is blocking the sunlight above these bulbs from blowing out all signs of an edge. Gosh. I really can’t believe I can write so much about such a droll subject matter.
Found in EVERYTHING.
Coke Bottle 2
Why are these light bulbs in a cake pan? In photographic terms, what is meant by flagging? Flagging is when you use a surface to block light from reaching the camera. We use side flags in photography when we are shooting glass products. If you don’t use side flags when shooting glassware, you will need to paint edges on your glass in post. It’s better to capture this in the camera, because it helps relate the glass to the sky in the background.
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