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william_shakes_beer

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What is the best way to photograph a mug of beer, correctly capturing the head, and color? I've taken a couple pictures but have not posted here because they did not correctly reflect the characteristics. I'm not looking to become a professional photographer, and I am using a small point and shoot camera ( digital fairly good resolution) Any pointers? Natural light in front, natural light behind, artificial light, etc).
 
Some of the best beer photos I've done were taken outside with natural light. Try it in different spots and at different times of the day to experiment with the lighting. I use flash very rarely because it reflects off of the glass.
 
Amateur Hour...
citra_pale_ale_sm.jpg


Cheers! :)
 
Nice photo! I like the etching "take pride in your beer" now if you could only remove whats on the other side...
 
+1 for outdoors. I never seem to get good like from inside. It could be that I have crappy lights, though.

BrownPorter.jpg


This is the only decent inside photo I have taken. I love how the camera captures the ruby highlights, but it's a bit overexposed.

FatTire.jpg


I only get half credit, because this is Fat Tire

GHB.jpg


This is my Kentucky Common. It's probably my best beer photo.
 
You can always crop that in post. But if you tilt the camera 90 degrees and get a tight enough zoom, you'll be able to get a better shot.
 
When taking photos outside you want the sun behind you. When indoors make sure you adjust your white balance to the type of light you are shooting under.
 
I can probably help a little here.

First, if your camera allows you to set the aperture, great! Choosing a wide aperture(lower number) will give you a shallower depth of field, which usually makes things and people look better because it isolates them from the background. If your camera doesn't allow you to control the aperture, choose the portrait mode, and the camera should do that automatically.

Second: Focus. When you shoot with a wide aperture, less is in focus, so make damn sure that the pint of beer is in focus

Third: Lighting. I find that beer looks best when there is even light through the beer to empathize the color, but not too much light so that the rest of the photo is under exposed. Also, direct sunlight tends to wash out the photo.

Fourth: If you can keep the beer out of the dead-center of the photo, it's usually for the best. Photos almost always tend to more interesting when the subject isn't dead center.

Fifth, you can get good photos indoors, but you need to turn on all your lights, and definitely don't use the flash

That's about it really, I'll give some of my photos.

First is an example of what not to do. The glass is in direct sunlight, and it doesn't look as good as it could.

Second is a better example shot from the same place. Notice without the direct sunlight the glass and head aren't washed out (different beer obviously.)

Third is a shot indoors. This was shot with a very wide aperture. Notice how the bottle just inches behind the glass is blurred out of focus

Fourth is another one indoors, again very wide aperture.

My last piece of advice. Never, ever use a flash. You're almost always better of without the flash on most point and shoot cameras. They're only useful if you flat out can't take a picture without it.

DSC_2758.jpg


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Bracket. Try every possible combination your camera allows. It's the only way you'll learn. It used to be costly (film) but now it costs you nothing. Do it. You'll learn a lot.
 
For color, you need to correct your white balance...I know you mentioned that you don't want to do anything to crazy, but every camera company has free software you can download from their website and it will let you choose color balance.

Take one shot with a white or gray photo card in it and one with just the beer in the same light, then you need to use the card picture to correct your white balance. It sounds hard and difficult, but it is not. Its the only way to get the correct color of the beer in "real life" and have it match in your image.

I dabbled in some professional photography, just a hobby now, but one of my pet peeves is the horrible pictures people post on here, blurry etc. Good luck
 
I can probably help a little here.

First, if your camera allows you to set the aperture, great! Choosing a wide aperture(lower number) will give you a shallower depth of field, which usually makes things and people look better because it isolates them from the background. If your camera doesn't allow you to control the aperture, choose the portrait mode, and the camera should do that automatically.

Second: Focus. When you shoot with a wide aperture, less is in focus, so make damn sure that the pint of beer is in focus

Third: Lighting. I find that beer looks best when there is even light through the beer to empathize the color, but not too much light so that the rest of the photo is under exposed. Also, direct sunlight tends to wash out the photo.

Fourth: If you can keep the beer out of the dead-center of the photo, it's usually for the best. Photos almost always tend to more interesting when the subject isn't dead center.

Fifth, you can get good photos indoors, but you need to turn on all your lights, and definitely don't use the flash

That's about it really, I'll give some of my photos.

First is an example of what not to do. The glass is in direct sunlight, and it doesn't look as good as it could.

Second is a better example shot from the same place. Notice without the direct sunlight the glass and head aren't washed out (different beer obviously.)

Third is a shot indoors. This was shot with a very wide aperture. Notice how the bottle just inches behind the glass is blurred out of focus

Fourth is another one indoors, again very wide aperture.

My last piece of advice. Never, ever use a flash. You're almost always better of without the flash on most point and shoot cameras. They're only useful if you flat out can't take a picture without it.

Those are Beautiful shots. And very informative as well ..very cool.
 
Those are Beautiful shots. And very informative as well ..very cool.

Thanks! I will admit those were all shot with a DSLR, but you don't necessary need an expensive camera to take nice beer photos. This was taken with the camera on my iPhone, which I promise is worse than almost every point-and-shoot on the market.

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