Photographing cocktails and glassware

[thesun]

Hi. I am not new to photography but mostly do outdoor work and have just recently begun doing photos of cocktails, which I want to be vibrant and show off the colors. My setup is relatively simple and IDEALLY I'd like to have tips that do not require vast amounts of additional expensive hardware, though knowing what I might need is always good.

I use a $200 smooth white formed plastic seamless background by MyStudio, a few flashes, a few LED lights that I mainly use for Zoom conferencing but which help fill in shadows and such. Sometimes I use my Canon with a ring flash but often my Samsung phone seems to work.

But whether with the Canon or the phone, my problem is that often the photos just are not the right color...off white, or slightly beige, or such. The white background isn't the right color white. I usually use the "whitest point" option and brighten the photo that way, but it's sometimes too bright, overexposing the photo. When I try to fill the white area with white using the "Fill" bucket, it bleeds into the white areas of the transparent glass. So that's not ideal either. I have had good results by using the "Paths" tool to draw a path around the cocktail, but it's fairly time consuming (5-10 minutes per photo), and I'd really love to know other ways I can approach having a photo right with just a minimal amount of quick post editing.

Any help or suggestions would be great. I will try to upload two photos, a before and after. My first post on the forum so hopefully this works. Thank you all in advance for taking time to make suggestions. (Seems the uploads worked. The browner one is actually after a little bit of editing, the original was even darker. The brighter one still isn't as white as I'd like, but is much closer.)

 

[snowbear]

Adjust your white balance. If doing so makes it appear to be overexposed, then pull the exposure down first.

 

[thesun]

Adjust your white balance. If doing so makes it appear to be overexposed, then pull the exposure down first.

And you're saying do this on the camera, not after the shot is taken? So lower the exposure -.5 or -1, then use a "indoor" (or other?) white balance rather than the auto? Click...and then see?

Or am I lowering the exposure, click, then do the white balance adjust in software afterwards?

Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[snowbear]

I do all of my adjustments on the computer, nothing in camera. I use Adobe Lightroom but other software would work.

I'd try setting the WB first, then check the exposure, getting a feel for how much it may need to be adjusted. Once you are comfortable with the process, set the exposure, then the WB. You can always revert changes and start over.

I'm usually pretty close with exposure that I just go for the WB, then tweak.

 

[thesun]

Thank you for the help. I'll give that a try.

 

[Original katomi]

Have a look at lighting from below

 

[paigew]

You should be able to get the results you want without pulling it into photoshop. There are some weird shadows going on...what is your lighting set up, do you have a pullback? I would try to set your backdrop by a window for better light. Move the drink around and see how the light effects the final image. Also the original looks underexposed.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Strodav]

Add a gray card or an X-rite ColorChecker to your scene once you have your lighting set and every time you change lighting. Use the gray card image to set white balance in post. If you use a ColorChecker, you can use the gray scale to set white balance and adjust exposure and use the color swatches to adjust color luminescence and saturation.

When I do product shots, I tether my camera to see the images on a larger screen immediately. It helps set up lighting and exposure.

 

[thesun]

Have a look at lighting from below

I'm not sure quite what you mean here. Can you rephrase? Thank you!

 

[thesun]

Add a gray card or an X-rite ColorChecker to your scene once you have your lighting set and every time you change lighting. Use the gray card image to set white balance in post. If you use a ColorChecker, you can use the gray scale to set white balance and adjust exposure and use the color swatches to adjust color luminescence and saturation.

When I do product shots, I tether my camera to see the images on a larger screen immediately. It helps set up lighting and exposure.

Using a gray card sounds like a really good, inexpensive way to improve the exposure.

 

[thesun]

You should be able to get the results you want without pulling it into photoshop. There are some weird shadows going on...what is your lighting set up, do you have a pullback? I would try to set your backdrop by a window for better light. Move the drink around and see how the light effects the final image. Also the original looks underexposed.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Thank you for the reply, I don't know what a "pullback" is -- can you explain that? Currently it's just a few small LED lights set at 90 degree angles to each other, a flash (or not), and I do put it in a room with lots of natural light. Sometimes it's too direct so I've got to use a curtain, and that perhaps has a cast of more amber than white.

 

[paigew]

You should be able to get the results you want without pulling it into photoshop. There are some weird shadows going on...what is your lighting set up, do you have a pullback? I would try to set your backdrop by a window for better light. Move the drink around and see how the light effects the final image. Also the original looks underexposed.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Thank you for the reply, I don't know what a "pullback" is -- can you explain that? Currently it's just a few small LED lights set at 90 degree angles to each other, a flash (or not), and I do put it in a room with lots of natural light. Sometimes it's too direct so I've got to use a curtain, and that perhaps has a cast of more amber than white.

a pullback would be a pulled back shot of your setup, including the lighting so we can see how you have everything set up and offer adjustments.

 

[thesun]

I will try to do a pullback shortly! Thank you!

 

[weepete]

It might be worth setting a custom white balance in camera for your background, even if it's just for a reference point. I'd also make sure your lighting is all using the same colour temperature, if you are mixing lights.

This makes for some good reading: Strobist

 

[Original katomi]

Lighting from below.
How I would try,
A black card under the glass with a hole 2/3 the size of the bottom of the glass
Some sort of light box or clear plastic shelf to rest the card and glasses on that is raised up high enough to put a light source under the glass
The light shines up from the bottom of the glass the rest of the area is in darkness
Should give a different effect or that an£ a combo with your current lighting
I did this with a cardboard tube over a torch at the bottom of the tube and a semi transparent flower on the top gave a good effect when shot from overhead.
That eliminates the coloured tone of your background