May 22 2010 1:36 pm
Video by Robert Grant, Article by SASHA GiTiN
Beverage photography is one of the most technical specialties in commercial photography.
In this tutorial we would like to focus on the most essential technique of: Photographing Bottles on White Background. Different beverages require unique approach based on consistency and color of beverage and the shape of the bottle. In this tutorial we selected a group of classic low shoulder red wine bottles.
Breakdown:
Red wine is dark in color with very limited translucency thus creating a glow of the liquid inside the bottle is relatively pointless. However an effective technique to make the wine bottle visually more appealing is to emphasize the highlights reflected in the glass.
The glass of the bottle is highly reflective so the same law of angle of reflectance is applied to shooting the bottle as it does to photographing any reflective object. For additional info please see our tutorial: How to Photograph Shiny Reflective Objects.
What is reflected? The bottle will reflect everything that is in front and adjacent to it at about 180 degrees. What will show up the most is your light source. Studio light is probably not the most appealing detail in your photograph. One of the solutions to make your light source more appealing is to suspend a roll of diffusion in front of the light which will create long vertical reflections to emphasize the shape of the bottle.
Here is one of the final shots:
Hasselblad 6x6 with 50mm lens, f22 iso 50, Strobe Lights. Photo by Robert Grant
Equipment Used: Hasselblad with 50mm lens, (equivalent to 21mm on 35mm sensor), 3 –strobe heads (2 side lights and one background light) Tripod, 4 foot seamless background paper on the roll, 2 rolls of drafting vellum attached to 40 inch Hollywood arms on stands.
Give this technique a try and let us know how it worked out for you.
This is our first commercial photography tutorial using strobe lighting so please share your thoughts and critique to help us make it better.