Stepping into the world of product photography might seem daunting. There’s a lot to cover but if you’re starting a new beverage company be it a brewery, a distillery or soft drink and you either haven’t got the budget for a professional drinks photographer yet or just fancy giving it ago. Then, this guide will help you with a few tips and tricks to get you started and teach you the basics of how to photograph drinks for marketing.

Plan Your Photoshoot
I can’t recommend this enough. Good drinks photography is not a spur of the moment thing. For example, if you want to create content for Instagram and your website for the next month. Then you need to plan out how many photos you’re going to need. What aspect ratio and pixels work best for your domain host, social media’s and how many images you want to have for each. This is something I work with my clients on right at the beginning and if you just want some free advice, then don’t hesitate to reach out.

I then like to work out the context of the photoshoot. What’s the story we’re telling? Is it just a clear shot for E-commerce? What’s your branding like? If you’re shooting outside. What time of day is the sun at the best position? Do you know the landscape for engaging images? All these things are needed to build the set or shoot on location.

Once you’ve made a shot list and you have an idea of the direction you want to go. You might want a list of things you will need for the photoshoot like props, backgrounds, or any other products that complement your product but DO NOT steal the show. You should only use props that make sense by adding a story and context to your product photoshoot.

Equipment needed

• Camera

  Obviously, you’re going to need a camera. Now there’s nothing that quite compares to a proper DSLR/mirrorless camera with proper lenses but these can cost thousands. And that’s only the beginning. You’ve then got to learn how to use the thing. They’re not as simple as turning it on and pressing the shutter. Not if you want to get the most out of them. If you happen to have one, fantastic! But if you only have your phone, that’s okay too. Most modern phones are capable of taking pretty good images of your drinks and products PROVIDED you follow a few simple techniques.

• Tripod

  This can be a box, a stand, a wall to prop up against. The more stable the thing holding the camera, the better. I use a 12kg tripod to hold my Nikon D810, it’s a beast. If you walk into it, you will get a bruise.

• Subject

  Hopefully this will be your product that you want to photograph but it’s good to practice with anything really. I would recommend keeping it small so you can move it around and get good angles easily though.

• Lightsource

  It can be a window, the sunshine or artificial studio lights aka flash. Anything that gives off light will technically work. The key here is being able to control it. More on that later.

Composition

The composition of your product photo is similar to any other area of photography. Photo composition is how a photographer arranges visual elements within their frame to attract a person’s eyes. There’s a near limitless number of ways to compose a photograph but there are a few tricks you can learn to get started.

• Camera Angle

  You can use low angles to make your product look powerful. Level shots work best for hero shots and E-commerce. You could even try a birds eye view aka flat lay. These are easy things you can experiment with and have fun to see what you like but the best advice I can give you (particularly outdoors) is to try to get out of the usual field of view that we people see with, relative to your subject. In other words, crouch down or get up high. Don’t just plonk a bottle on a table and snap a photo of it. You’re not a tourist on holiday. This photo is going to represent your business, your brand, your entire ethos. Show it the love it deserves.

• Composition Techniques

  I won’t go into too much detail here because composition can take up a whole blog of its own but a few easy things to play with are rule of thirds, symmetry, colour, depth of field, negative space, use of repetition and patterns.

Lighting

This is the most important thing in drinks product photography. It’s also the trickiest to get right and what still life product photographers spend their entire careers working to improve. I’ll briefly cover the four most common light sources and how to get good results with each. Bottles and reflective products are notoriously difficult to photograph because they reflect everything in the room.

• Sunlight

  You haven’t got much control here however you can yield very good results outside if you follow these few simple techniques. During midday, the sun is very harsh and creates hotspots on your product with strong shadows. To avoid this you want to photograph your products during the first or last hour of daylight. They call this golden hour. It creates beautiful, warm and soft light for your products. Try playing around with the products position in relation to the sun and photograph it from the side or even position the product between you and the sun.

• Room lights

  It’s not a good idea. You’re going to see all the reflections of the room in your bottle or anything else that’s glossy.

• Window light

  You can use it but get the product close to the window. Also throw a bedsheet over the window to diffuse the light. This will create a much softer light which works better for glossy products.

• Artificial light

  This is the go to tool for 99% of product photographers out there. They’re the best because you can control every minute detail. You can change the power and spread. Mould the light into shapes. Make it look soft or hard using different types of modifiers and diffusion. The only issue is they’re very expensive and require a lot of time to learn how to use them. That said if you want to try taking a photo of your products using artificial light then you could try using a torch. A torch isn’t as powerful as studio lighting so it’s important to make the room as dark as possible first. Block the window light, turn off anything that’s not needed and then set up a torch next to your product. Try from the side, above and behind. Take a photo with each. Chances are it’s going to look bad because you need to modify the light. Adding some paper or a white sheet between the torch and product can help diffuse the light into something a little softer. Furthermore, you may need to block light from bouncing off the room walls using black card or curtains. Anything that absorbs light should work.

The Set

During the planning phase you need to figure out who you are you marketing your product to? What story are you trying to tell? This will be key when matching your set to your product.

• Background

  Where is your scene set? If you’re photographing a bottle of gin or rum then it might be good to have it look like it’s in a bar. If it’s a condiment then maybe put it next to a BBQ. In a lot of commercial photography, we use more abstracted scenes. Scenes that don’t necessarily look real but are very attractive. Have a look at my portfolio for a few examples.

• Props and Models

  I’m going to categorise props and models as the same thing because they need to be used in a similar way in your product photoshoot. It’s important that they add context to the image but they must never be distracting from the main subject (your product). Playing with depth of field is a good way to use props without them stealing too much attention.

And there you have it. That’s a few things to help you get started with product photography. If you ever need any help photographing your drinks then please don’t hesitate to reach out. Remember I also offer 10 free E-commerce images when you book your first shoot with me so if you’re struggling. I can help you get your foot in the door.

Good luck and have fun!