This shot required a little more preparation and planning. The (empty) can was filled with water and went into the ice box until it was frozen solid. That would give it a nice, long lasting condensation shine during the shooting. The black surface is actually a smoke black glass door from an Ikea cabinet. Once that was in place and cleaned spotless, I used another can to set up and test the lighting. A total of three flashes were used: an SB-800 and SB-900 left and right behind the can as rim lights, and an SB-200 clamped to the tripod center camera for a little front fill and to illuminate the top of the can. The camera used was a D200 with 24-70/2.8 lens at 45mm; exposure was 1/60 at f/4.0. I triggered the flashes with an SU-800, using Nikon’s CLS with two groups: the rim lights with normal power, and the front fill with -1EV.

Once that was tuned in and ready, I picked up the frozen can and positioned it. Another test shot, and then spread very small amounts of alcohol around the can using a wad of cotton. Set that on fire and clicked away, letting CLS do its thing to balance flash power and the flames.

One word of advice: it is VERY easy to set your apartment on fire when you’re playing with stuff like that. Be sure to know EXACTLY what you’re doing, and keep proper safety equipment closely at hand. Better yet, if I needed to tell you this, just don’t do it. Really.

Once that shot was in the can, post in Lightroom was fairly straightforward. Pulled down shadows a bit more, added a -1EV gradient to the bottom reflection, and a bit of clarity. Easy as pie.