Creative Flash Photography

Workshop 34

Flavored Gins à la David Hobby

▸ Building a light box

▸ How to use a light box with backlight

The founder of the strobist movement, David Hobby, provided the idea for this project with his Flavored Vodkas image. The image shows five tall shot glasses, each with a different flavoring, such as chocolate, cinnamon, or lemon. David kindly published the details of his deceptively simple setup, so I had to try it for myself. This setup is virtually identical to David’s, except I used gin instead of vodka (I prefer the taste and I happened to have some in the house). Water has a different refractive index than spirits and doesn’t produce the same effect.

The Setup

David’s setup consisted of a cardboard box with a hole cut in the top, which ...