Photographing cocktails and glassware

[thesun]

@JBPhotog That's a great idea to spritz with water. Thank you!

Yes, I will try to play with these ideas you've mentioned and see how things go!

 

[JBPhotog]

Front lighting and light placement is causing many issues for you. BTW, you have taken on a subject that is very challenging with less than ideal tools and much to learn to produce professional results, I admire your tenacity as you work through this subject.

 

[thesun]

Front lighting and light placement is causing many issues for you. BTW, you have taken on a subject that is very challenging with less than ideal tools and much to learn to produce professional results, I admire your tenacity as you work through tis subject.

Thank you! Yes, I think I'll be happy if I can get "more professional" results given the limitations -- I know it's tough to match (or even approach!) the shots a dedicated studio could offer. But the helpful hints have been great!

 

[JBPhotog]

As an addition, you can see from the shadows how all of your colour sources are influencing the shadow colour bias. Pick once source and white balance from that and don't use your phone if you are seeking the best results.

 

[thesun]

Here's another photo that I think is more successful, thanks to a number of comments here and some other tutorials I read/viewed. This photo I did not have to fiddle with except for white balance -- using the "white level" tool was all it took. In this one, I opted to go down to my basement, without any natural light, and use one flash that fired from the top (and some shots, possibly this one, also had a flash mounted on the camera...I think that is where the highlight flare in the glass comes from). The gauzy fabric was suspended by a "table"-shape made out of black foamboard, with the top surface cut out so that it allowed a square of light to come down from above.

Really, I think this is a far better shot overall.

My one question now is that I would like to ensure that the whole drink is nicely focused, and I'm not quite sure how one does that with the automatic flashes. The last time I used flashes I got out a chart and would flip little switches on it to account for the right focal distance. I'm guessing (hoping!) things are simpler now. I'm using a Canon 7DmII, with a Godox transmitter to make a Godox TT600 fire down from above the setup (through a gauzy fabric so it's not harsh light). If I merely switch to Aperture priority and choose F8 to add more depth of field, will the flashes automatically adjust for that? Or will it require me to do additional fiddling?

Also, any additional critique or suggestions would be great. You guys have very keen eyes for this kind of stuff and I'm relatively new -- your thoughts about what works and what's still needing adjustment would be so helpful.

I appreciate your time!

 

[thesun]

@paigew @JBPhotog

Hope you guys are still out there. I felt really good with this above shot, thought I'd gotten somewhere, and then made a Negroni and tried what I thought was the exact setup and the photos came out pretty poorly. I end up stuck with two apparently unresolvable issues: If I get a nice, slightly overexposed white (such as the bacon photo in the previous post), then the depth of field is too shallow. (I've been getting this by switching to 1/250 Shutter priority, and the aperture always goes to 2.8.) But if I try for a manually set, more reasonable Av priority like f8, the photo is deeply underexposed.

I am now using the Canon Speedlite 560 on the a Godox transmitter's hot shoe, with a Godox TT600 aimed from above and deflected through a gauzy fabric that I've set up on the bottom, back, and top of my setup. On either side, black foam board supports the fabric and (according to a blog) offers some definition of the glass.

Aside from the depth of field, I was really happy with the photo in the previous post. What would my best options be to increase depth of field without making the photo unusably underexposed? There must be another piece of this puzzle that I'm missing. Thank you (as always!) in advance for sharing thoughts, tips, and suggestions!

 

[paigew]

I would try the same set up with a higher iso and a low shutter speed. If you have a tripod you can very low with your shutter speed. What is your iso? You could go to 800 or so easily. If that doesn't work, you can try manual flash vs ttl and raise your flash power.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[thesun]

Thank you, @paigew -- this sounds like a great thing to try. I am shooting on a tripod, so I can definitely do that. I somehow (yeeesh, last time I did flash stuff was with a Nikkormat, everything manual, including the flash, and the shutter speed had to be either 1/250 or 1/125...couldn't be slower) thought I had to have a high shutter.

Makes perfect sense. Really appreciate it.

 

[JBPhotog]

I think you may want to review the exposure triangle to understand how to achieve correct exposure.

Flash sync is limited to a "maximum" shutter speed, in your case it could be 1/250. It is not limited to a minimum shutter speed such as 1/30 which would allow you to shoot at a higher f-stop thus increasing your DoF.

FWIW, I think a web forum has its limits to tutor someone through shooting complicated subjects such as glass drinks. I might suggest you look at online classes which are video based so you get more out of them other than the written word.

 

[thesun]

I think you may want to review the exposure triangle to understand how to achieve correct exposure.

Flash sync is limited to a "maximum" shutter speed, in your case it could be 1/250. It is not limited to a minimum shutter speed such as 1/30 which would allow you to shoot at a higher f-stop thus increasing your DoF.

FWIW, I think a web forum has its limits to tutor someone through shooting complicated subjects such as glass drinks. I might suggest you look at online classes which are video based so you get more out of them other than the written word.

Actually, I think @paigew's quick comments were exactly what I needed. I hadn't known the shutter (when using flash) could be anything but a preset. Once she cleared that up, I was free to find exposures that offered the proper results. Bumping up the ISO, using f8 and a slower shutter (1/60) worked wonders. So I'd say that (at least in this case) the quick notes she, you, and others have offered worked just fine. Am I shooting for Pepsi? No. Am I now a master of the craft? No again. But do I have photos that will look far better than what I was doing...and which serve my needs? Yes. This thread can be marked "solved" as far as I'm concerned.