DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

3 Lighting Setups (And 2 Tips) For Tasty Beverage Lighting

Aug 28, 2015 by Laya Gerlock 6 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

beverage-lighting-tips

I was inspired by Allen Mowery’s post on creating fake Ice cubes for beverage photography, but after a month I still can’t find clear craft beads here in my country. While I am trying to find those clear craft beads I wanted to share a tutorial with some tricks and lighting techniques you can use for non-fake-ice beverage shots. So here are 3 different lighting techniques for shooting tasty beverages.

Of course we need something to shoot so I went down to the local store and got 2 cans of sodas a beer, and a bottle of corn syrup (yuk!) for demoing. This is what they look like under dull lighting.

5

How to create Fake Moisture

The first thing I did was to heat some water and mixed it with the corn syrup. The mixture is about 1 part syrup to 2 parts hot water. Mix it well then put it in a spray bottle (the kind they use in hair saloons)

6

Now, play around with how you spray the bottles and you will get different kinds of beads (corn syrup for the win!).

Setup Beverage

What you will need:

  • A camera (duh!)
  • Some speedlights
  • a softbox
  • Wireless Flash triggers
  • Snoot (or DIY Snoot)
  • A Scrim – (Or some tracing paper or an acrylic sheet)

On-White

The first lighting setup we will explore is a classic On-White Setup.

Step 1. Start by placing your subject on a white reflective surface. You can use formica or a white acrylic sheet for this. Set a white background and make sure that there is some space between the surface and background. I was using a seamless white paper as background and a small table with an acrylic sheet as surface.

Step 2. Place a light with a softbox to the side of your subject.

Setup On White (1) Setup On White (2)

Step 3. Place another light with a softbox to the opposite side of the subject.

Setup On White (6) Setup On White (7)

Step 4. Getting your background to pure white. Place a bare light on the bottom of your table pointing at the white seamless paper. Normally this light should be 2 stops over your main lights.

Setup On White (8)

Setup On White (4)

Step 5. Place a scrim on to one side of the subject and curve it towards the front of your camera. This will bounce some more light on the front of the subject.

Setup On White (3)

Final Result

Beverage 2

 

On Black

Step 1. Shoot against a Black background and place your subject on a black reflective surface. I used my favorite prop for this setup. A granite tile.

Step 2. Place a light with a softbox behind and to the side of the subject pointing directly at the subject just to get a good rim light going on the side of the subject.

Setup Coke (2)

Setup Coke (1)

Step 3. Place another light with a softbox on the opposite side of the first light. Make sure both lights are even to get even rims on the subject.

Setup Coke (3)

Setup Coke (5)

Step 4. For the main light, get another light source, I was using a small Yongnuo 460 flash, and placed a snoot on it. I used a DIY snoot made out of illustration board. Place this last light above the camera pointing down at the subject.

Setup Coke (4)

Final Result:

Beverage 1

I played around with the angle of the snoot to get a different light on my subject.

Beverage 4

Extra!

Of course a dark setup like this absolutely requires some light painting. Set the camera for some longer exposure (5-6 seconds) and turn all the lights off. Then you can light-paint the back using a small LED flash. (I used the LED flash of my phone covered with a red gel).

FUJI9203

Beer with Gel

Step 1. For this last setup, I placed my subject – a beer bottle – on a DIY wooden table. I was also shooting against a simple black wall.

Step 2. Place a light with a softbox on one side of your subject.

Setup Beer (2)

Step 3. Get a piece of white cardboard or illustration board and place it behind the bottle, angle it at about 45 degrees, so it catches the light coming from the softbox.

Setup Beer (3)

As you can see, the illustration board acts as a reflector and illuminates the inside of the bottle. Now cut the illustration board until you can’t see it behind the bottle.

Setup Beer (4)
Setup Beer (1)

Step 4. Place another light with a softbox on the opposite side of your first light and place it towards the back of your subject to get rim lighting on the side of the bottle.

Setup Beer (6)

Setup Beer (10)

Step 5. Now place a small silver reflector on the right side of the bottle to get some fill on the label of the bottle. Place another light at the back with gel to get some background light.

I placed a bare studio strobe with a yellow gel for the background.

Setup Beer (8)

Step 6. To soften the light from your main light more, place a scrim in front of it and you can also angle it towards the camera. I got my white acrylic sheet and placed it in front of my main light.

Setup Beer (9)

Final Result:

Beverage 5

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailThe Tasty Ice Cream DIY Softbox Container Pictorial Default ThumbnailLighting – Low key Lighting Setups Four DIY lighting setups to help lighting a scene for under $150 15 Hard Core Lighting Setups To Have You Light Like A Ninja

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: food photography, food photography tips, lighting tutorial, still life photography

Laya Gerlock: from diyphotography.net

About Laya Gerlock

Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao, Quezon City (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!

« The Best Macro Lens You Probably Already Own
Watch A 12 Hours Photoshop Breakdown That Places Newly-Weds on The Planet Hoth »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Jollylook Pinhole SQUARE DIY pinhole camera kit shoots Instax square film
  • The “Digitally Analog Polaroid” runs ChatGPT code on a Raspberry Pi
  • My first year with the Mamiya M645 medium format film camera
  • 2023 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest unveils jaw-dropping winning photos
  • Rare albino giant panda caught on camera in China

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy