DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

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

Submit A Story

How to photograph wine and give it bold look using only one speedlight

May 10, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 10 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Photographer Dustin Dolby is known for his tutorials where he shows how to take professional-looking product shots with minimal gear. He guided us through taking fantastic cosmetic products shots, and photos of wine bottles that make you want to drink a glass of it (or the whole bottle). This time, he guides us through another way of photographing wine.  Instead of giving it bright and soft look, he goes for something darker and bold. Personally, I prefer this style, and it’s the kind of look that would go perfectly with strong-tasting red wines. This kind of photo almost makes you feel the taste of wine – and it’s created using only one speedlight and 4 photos blended together with some Photoshop magic.

Dustin starts by taking four photos of the bottle, which he’ll later blend together in Photoshop. The first one is a photo with the speedlight and a strip softbox on the left. If you don’t own a softbox, I believe some of the DIY solutions will do the job. You can add a black background and face it away from the stripbox, and it will give you the perfect render in-camera.

After taking the photo with the light on the left, it’s time for the second shot and moving the light to the right. You need to make it symmetrical, and you can check it by comparing the thickness of the white line of the light. When they’re approximately equal, that’s it.

Next, place the softbox behind the bottle and take the shot. This will create a mask for Photoshop and save you some time for cutting the product out.

Finally, take the strip box above your product, center it and take the shot to lighten the label. Depending on the label, you can even use the bare flash, and it’s exactly what Dustin did. This way, he got a lot of details from this velvety, shiny purple label and it turned out really beautifully.

Now that you’ve taken 4 shots, it’s time to take this party to Photoshop. You’ll need to get all the images in Photoshop as separate layers and create the bottle selection from the shot with light behind the subject. From here on, Dustin applies some “tricks of the trade” to make selections and blend in the different shots. He tweaks them to remove the dust, make the lines of light more symmetrical, add a fake reflection of the bottle and some fake purple light behind. In the video, you can see how the magic happens, and the editing workflow starts at 4:35. Here’s Dustin’s final result:

When Dustin does it, it looks easy, but I guess it takes some time in Photoshop to get the result like this. Still, this is a really affordable way of creating a product shot that brings out the beauty of the bottle. To me, it seems that this kind of photo even gives a hint how the wine tastes. So, even if you spend a lot of time in Photoshop after taking the shots, the result is definitely worth it, and of course – you can have a glass of wine to celebrate the job well done. Cheers!

[How to Photograph Wine Bottles | Bold Look | Dustin Dolby]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to photograph wine bottles with speedlights and a kit lens How to create a classic and moody photograph of a wine bottle Instagram ditches retro hipster camera icon for a bold new colorful rebrand How to professionally photograph glassware with one speedlight and a kit lens

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Dustin Dolby, Photography, product photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja 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.

« Phase One announces IQ3 100MP Achromatic, a 100MP B&W medium format digital back
How to build DIY color-changing LED wand light for $30 »

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

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

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