Request for a sticky: Tutorial on Beer Photography (Beer in a glass)

Hello all! I am not very into photography and don't know too much about it. I have fiddled with some settings on my camera (point and click variety) but have not gotten good results when trying to take pics of my beers.

Many people post mouth watering pictures of their latest brews and I find that whenever I do the same, my beers look terrible on camera.

If someone with some knowledge would be so kind as to do a small write up about how to light, and shoot a beer to make it look good, I would be much obliged.

It would be great if you could do it with a point and click style camera. Give us some tips, lighting ideas, angles, anything that might help.

Thanks a bunch!!!!

wooohooo drinking pictures! These are not quality pictures, but I will post some up when I have the time.



Took that with my old p+s Fujifilm Z1.


Off of my iPhone.


Tips for taking a good shot:
-Make sure you have a keen eye for what you are trying to frame
-indirect lighting = 100x better than flash or direct lighting.
-rule of thirds. Read into it a bit.

Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio

Also, one way to make use of the on-board flash in a macro situation without blowing out the image is to cut a piece of plastic off of a milk container (not the paper cartons obviously). Roll it up so that it forms a slight curve and tape it over the flash. It's a poor man's softbox/diffuser.

Awesome! So I just make this little box, use a work lamp for light source, and take pics with no flash on my camera?

What was the tungsten correction he was talking about? Is that for if I use a halogen for my light source? What if I just use an incandescent bulb for the light?

There is a tutorial on here with similar info to that light box link but does have some beer specific stuff in it...

I'll go look...

Edit: Found it!!!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/photographing-beer-96603/

The best picture, i've ever taken of beer was taken after I'd drank about 8 pints of the black stuff, and just randomly shot my camera at my beer. So to answer your question, how do you take a good picture of beer? I've no idea.

Bobby_M said:

Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio

Also, one way to make use of the on-board flash in a macro situation without blowing out the image is to cut a piece of plastic off of a milk container (not the paper cartons obviously). Roll it up so that it forms a slight curve and tape it over the flash. It's a poor man's softbox/diffuser.

Click to expand...

blackdot

10

Good lighting on the subject with dark background and open the F-stop so there is short depth of field.








Or just use your cell phone.

The tungsten correction helps "warm up" your picture and make the colours closer to what your eye sees. If you don't use it you tend to get a slightly bluish tint to everything. I've found that a piece of white paper taped across my on-board flash helps a lot to reduce the washout and still give you a good fill of lighting. Back lighting is ideal if you can do it though.

For a point and shoot you may not have the color correction, though many of the newer ones do. If you don't, incandescent or natural light is your best bet. If you can get a light shining through the beer from the side and also a dark but well lit background (out doors is good here) you can show off the color and clarity of the beer.

Terje

Bobby_M said:

Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio

Also, one way to make use of the on-board flash in a macro situation without blowing out the image is to cut a piece of plastic off of a milk container (not the paper cartons obviously). Roll it up so that it forms a slight curve and tape it over the flash. It's a poor man's softbox/diffuser.

Click to expand...

Lol serious thread resurrection attempt here. Has anyone used one of these homemade light boxes to shoot homebrew? Please post....

eric19312 said:

Lol serious thread resurrection attempt here. Has anyone used one of these homemade light boxes to shoot homebrew? Please post....

Click to expand...

OK so I built the light box and took a couple pictures. Please critique. Thanks!

one more shot of beer 14, left side light held at a different angle.

A friend of mine who is into home brewing and photography shared this on facebook the other day.

http://fstoppers.com/behind-the-scenes-of-a-beer-photo-shoot

Tupperwolf said:

A friend of mine who is into home brewing and photography shared this on facebook the other day.

http://fstoppers.com/behind-the-scenes-of-a-beer-photo-shoot

Click to expand...

Wow!

OK while not anywhere near Tupperware's friend's league I made some improvements for a second beer shoot today.

I added a third light source (now lit left, top and right, with the right light source being new) and changed from my 50mm 1.4 lens to my 70-200 4L which I believe captures color better. I also added a polarizing filter to get rid of the reflection on the front of the glass. Note the light box is open front, tissue paper walls left, right, ceiling, and I've got a piece of white poster board taped to the rear wall, curving down to the floor. I'm shooting the glass with the logo to the rear as a measure of the clarity of the beer.

While I think this is real progress, I am now wondering what to do about the shadow reflections in the back of the glass. Do I need a bright light source behind the camera? Can I get away with using an on camera 430EX for that?

Or is it possible I can fix it with further adjustment of the polarizer?

Tupperware any chance you can get your friend to look at my amateur efforts?

I am not doing this for product advertising but looking to use these as a permenant record for my brewers log. So as boring as these are I like the predictability and repeatability of the technique of using the box. If I can't do any better than this I am still pretty happy with what I've got.

eric19312 said:

If I can't do any better than this I am still pretty happy with what I've got.

Click to expand...

LOL just finished watching the video on that website Tuperware linked. Nice equipment he is using! I know it is the photographer that makes the picture, not the equipment, but wow there is a lot of gear that went into getting that picture just right.

SWMBO was watching me work on these pictures and commented that it is cute that I am combining my hobbies. Heh if she thought a 10 gallon BK was a big investment wonder what she will make of the Hasselblad...

Hi-not sure if I'm talking to myself here but I've made some progress with my lighting. Same beers as before...16 and 17. This time I moved one of my side lights to the front. You can see it's reflection..need to fix that. And I also shined a bright focused flashlight on the background.

As before any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm not a professional. Just a hobbyist. But after watching Zack Arias' OneLight seminar, I was struck by the "mood" you can get with just one light depending on it's placement. His seminar had to do with human subjects, but I think about it with other stuff too. Here's a picture I shot with a simple light shining up through the glass.

From your pictures, you know what you're going for. It's just a matter of experimenting. If you are just going for clarity shots, cool. For me, I like photos with a little "artsy fartsy" in them. Regardless though, keep shooting & brewing.

hafmpty said:

I'm not a professional. Just a hobbyist. But after watching Zack Arias' OneLight seminar, I was struck by the "mood" you can get with just one light depending on it's placement. His seminar had to do with human subjects, but I think about it with other stuff too. Here's a picture I shot with a simple light shining up through the glass.

From your pictures, you know what you're going for. It's just a matter of experimenting. If you are just going for clarity shots, cool. For me, I like photos with a little "artsy fartsy" in them. Regardless though, keep shooting & brewing.

Click to expand...

That is an awesome pic. Thanks for understanding what I'm going for. As you can see I shoot my glass in reverse to show clarity. Seems like there might be a better way as it clearly detracts from the art...

Can you provide a link to the seminar you referenced. Don't think I've seen it.

eric19312 said:

That is an awesome pic. Thanks for understanding what I'm going for. As you can see I shoot my glass in reverse to show clarity. Seems like there might be a better way as it clearly detracts from the art...

Can you provide a link to the seminar you referenced. Don't think I've seen it.

Click to expand...

You may be on to something that shooting in reverse detracts. It might be better to buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006PKHD9U/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You'd have a clear glass for many/most of the different styles. As to the OneLight seminar here's a link:

http://zackarias.com/workshop/onelight-dvd/

eric19312 said:

That is an awesome pic. Thanks for understanding what I'm going for. As you can see I shoot my glass in reverse to show clarity. Seems like there might be a better way as it clearly detracts from the art...

Can you provide a link to the seminar you referenced. Don't think I've seen it.

Click to expand...

You may be on to something that shooting in reverse detracts. It might be better to buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006PKHD9U/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You'd have a clear glass for many/most of the different styles. As to the OneLight seminar here's a link:

http://zackarias.com/workshop/onelight-dvd/

Let light bounce.