Beer again. Glass lighting, again. But beer. Did I mention beer?

[minicoop1985]

Spotted Cow by longm1985, on Flickr

I need some better backgrounds, too. Otherwise, how did I do?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

It looks flat.

 

[minicoop1985]

The beer, or the photo?

Well, both kinda are, I suppose. It doesn't pop, but how is the light on the glass itself?

 

[danielklaer]

Looks like a good effort I don't know a lot about studio photography but did read an article by someone on how they did a similar sort of thing. I know they used 2 home made style 'strip lights' on either side situated to the front and facing in/back at the glass to make the glass really pop. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT: here it is Shooting Glass of Whiskey with Ice: Online Product Photography Tutorial | Photigy : Studio Photography

 

[minicoop1985]

Hey, I can make those strip lights with what I have pretty easily. I should give that a go. Thanks! That's a huge help!

 

[Derrel]

It looks flat.

Pour some salt into it, then wait 5 seconds, then start shooting. The lack of carbonation makes the beer look very unappealing and, well, totally flat. With no carbonation it looks like...urine...please, tell us it's actually b b b b-beeer, please!

My other issue is that the back-of-the-glass design is killing this...the front of the glasss design is okay, but the show-thru is not helping...show-thru is good at wet T-shirt contests, but not on glass of beer shots...lol

 

[minicoop1985]

Dammit, I did this before I saw your comment, Derrel. Anyway, here's what I just went off and did. Is this better? Aside from the whole flat thing. And no, I didn't pee in a cup. You're thinking of Keystone, which is roughly the same thing as urine. I've been told. By sources. College.

Beer lighting study, part... something. by longm1985, on Flickr

For the record, white background, handheld flash fired through a blue plastic box to get the blue gradient.

 

[IzzieK]

Add some effect on the glass like what Derrell had suggested and also some wetness on the outside of the glass. A sprayer will help...

 

[Braineack]

The lighting on the first is much better than the second. The second looks under and the blue cast looks like bad WB and mixing different colored lights.

I'd add in some black cards just outside the frame so the glass catches them and adds some separation between the glass an bg.

you need to shoot a glass that only has a design on one side.


and then try the salt method derrel mentioned, and possibly adding water droplets to the glass itself.

 

[o hey tyler]

I've never understood the widespread infatuation with New Glarus brewing. I had one once a while back and couldn't get into it. My dad seemed to think it was the elixir of gods though.

 

[manaheim]

Derrel stole some of my thunder. I was going to comment on the glass as well. The wrap-around design kills it.

Also, I suspect the image would be more appealing with the glass FULL and the head thick. Ideally, cresting over the top of the glass and possibly just barely spilling down the side.

Also, I'd try to pick a beer that was a richer color. The piss yellow thing doesn't work for me... though, I'm a bit of a beer snob.

 

[minicoop1985]

I definitely agree on color and head. I know how to pour a beer, but Spotted Cow just wasn't doing the head thing for me for some reason. Maybe I'll have an excuse to pick up some Samuel Smith's. Thanks for the advice, everyone. Gonna try and put it to good use tonight with a better beer. Also, thanks for the excuse to drink more beer!

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Also, I suspect the image would be more appealing with the glass FULL and the head thick. Ideally, cresting over the top of the glass and possibly just barely spilling down the side.

Yes that helps a lot!
https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6335667/il_fullxfull.322117512.jpg

I googled "beer glass photography" for comparisons...
The images are all over the place. I favor the ones that make the glass look round, with and without "sweat" on the glass.
Your image is OK, but just really lacks some punch. The subject you picked is fairly difficult to do really well.

:cheers:

 

[pgriz]

There is apparently a lot of people photographing beer and blogging about it. I googled "photographing beer" and got 1,250,000 hits. here's one: Tips for Photographing Beer - St. Louis Photographer, Commercial, Editorial and Food Photography| Jonathan Gayman

There are articles, videos, blog posts, illustrated how-to's... So beer and photography seem to be natural together. Bitter Jeweler did a variation, also got a lot of hits. So shortage of information on how to do it isn't going to be the problem.

Some of the suggestions are: use warm beer (more bubbles), use salt to get the head, use glycerin for the sweat on the glass...

 

[minicoop1985]

Should I also wax the outside of the glass? I swear I saw that somewhere.