Food Styling for Photographers

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