MOAR BEER (another lighting study)

minicoop1985 · Jul 14, 2014

OK, tried a lot of the advice from the last thread a few times now. I had asked my wife to bring me some good old Paulaner, but no, I got the Spotted Cow again. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, there's no head on this even though I took VERY shortly after pouring, but other than that, how did I do? I used a strip light on camera left with a diffused flash fired at the cardboard background (moved a pretty good distance behind the beer) to give a more dramatic background than just plain black.

Instead of salt, since I tend to like to drink beer, I remembered those Sam Adams glasses that have the etching that releases some carbonation. I made my own by GENTLY tapping a screwdriver into the bottom in a number of places and carefully washing (about 20 times) to make sure all the glass fragments were removed.

Beer is good again by longm1985, on Flickr

SpikeyJohnson · Jul 14, 2014

I think it is well lit and I like the "location". Did you use glass with water drops or something? If there is anything I would change, I don't like the edge in the background, it doesn't seem level even though the glass looks leveled. Maybe shoot at a different angle to correct this. Another thing is the strip light could be a little darker I think. It is pretty bright. At a quick glance I wouldn't notice these things. Otherwise, a great stat to a "product shot".

minicoop1985 · Jul 14, 2014

I think I know why the background doesn't look level. It's a glass table with a water droplet effect underneath. It's probably 1/2" thick, and it reflected too much of the flash on one side and not much on the other, giving the effect of a background that isn't level, which drove me nuts in Lightroom... :lol:

I appreciate it, though.

On a side note, maybe I should level the actual table. My house is old (1895) and apparently the idea of making things level hadn't occurred to anyone yet. :er:

Derrel · Jul 14, 2014

I'm sorry, but this one isn't working for me. The strip light's highlight is so crisp and narrow and BRIGHT! Just not working well. The surface you're shooting on, the horizon line, the lighting scheme, the beer itself, the dry-surfaced mug with the flat-looking, cloudy, headless beer...this just isn't coming together well as a concept. I think the fake waterdrop tabletop is just not the right basis for the foundation of this shot, and the mug...I'd rather see a more dynamic classic Pilsner type beer glass than a mug. I don't know what to say other than...start over with a different lighting scheme and concept. The strip box deployed that way is making itself very prominent.