Food Styling for Photographers

(Dana P.) #1
CHAPTER THREE

Th e Beverage of Choice


When shooting a cold beverage, you may have options
available regarding the liquid in the glass. In many
cases the real beverage will work fi ne. In fact, in some
instances, the real beverage is the only choice, especially
when photographing carbonated drinks, which must
be freshly opened and poured right before fi nal photog-
raphy. Beer is not included in this discussion. Th ere
are many techniques that apply specifi cally to beer
styling for photography and warrant an entire chapter-
length discussion perhaps better saved for another
book.


set. But if it changes in any way, leaves a fi lm, or creates
a ring at the fi ll line, you might want to consider using
a substitute.
I like to use the real beverage for white wine photos. Room
temperature white wine is transferred into a hero glass that
has been treated with the frost technique. Th e wine and
glass will remain hero quality all day, unless fruit fl ies get
into it. Th ey can be removed with tweezers.

Red wines, normally served at room temperature, don’t
require glass treatments. However, they may require
testing before they are photographed because some red
wines are opaque. If you want to capture light through a
red wine, it’s often necessary to water down the real
thing. Th is maintains the correct color family of the wine
but also gives enough transparency for light to bounce
through the liquid.

Milk and cream often pick up a slightly blue color to the
camera. My milk of choice is either half-and-half or
Elmer’s Glue-All. Most often the glue works best at full
strength right out of the bottle.

Frosted Glass Preparation Techniques


Th is technique uses dulling spray to achieve the frosted
appearance on a glass. Th e frosted look indicates to the
viewer that a chilled liquid is in the glass. Dulling spray

TRICKS OF THE TRADE I prefer using canned carbonated
beverages when possible. Open a new can each time you fi ll a hero
glass. Use a large-mouthed funnel to pour the carbonated beverage
directly from the can into the glass on set. Cover the area of the set
around the pour with a couple layers of paper towels before starting
to pour.

If you are uncertain about your choice of whether to use
a real versus a substitute liquid, run some tests. Put the
actual liquid in a stand-in glass and let it remain there
undisturbed for an hour or two at room temperature.
If the liquid appearance has not changed after that
length of time, you can be fairly comfortable using it on

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