Commercial photographers have heard it said before, shoot the work you wish to have when you have some free time. Well, we have only had a couple commissioned beer shoots in the studio and yet Texas beer is very much apart of our culture. With Summer around the corner, we thought it would be appropriate to show you a glimpse into what it takes to capture one of Texas' finest beers.
GIF of our Photoshop layer build-out.
Final image after post-production.
Before the shoot began, we talked about what key elements of the bottle we wanted to capture. Revolver's Bock has a signature deep, amber color to it and we wanted to highlight this feature the most since it would bring the whole image together in the end. As we mentioned before, it's nearly summer so we wanted to make the bottle "sweat" as though it were just pulled from a cooler. Lastly, the label itself needed to be spot lit to show the branding and give it that final touch.
Like most shoots we do, this one presented it's own challenges. We used two grids and diffused strip boxes to rim light the edges of the bottle to give it dimension. From there we added a snoot to illuminate the front label and allow the branding to shine. Next was the trickiest step and where our magical powers shine through. We blended a mixture of oils and water to create a solution that made the "sweat" beads on the bottle. It sounds easier than it is, but trust us when we say it's tricky.
Now that we had all of our frames captured, we used a bit more wizard magic *cough* Photoshop *cough* and blended all of these elements together and added some contrast using a simple dodge and burn... and there you have it! A thirst-quenching hero image for Revolver Brewing of Fort Worth, Texas.
Tell us what you think in the comments and hit us up if you'd like us to shoot something on our next free day!