Food Styling for Photographers

CHILLING FACTS ABOUT COLD BEVERAGES

Slushy Drinks: Th e Magic Frozen Margarita

Pour four cups of Glacéau Vitaminwater Tropical Citrus

sport drink into a large clear glass container. Your task is

to closely match the color to the margarita mix. I usually

remove the label from the margarita mix bottle for a

better visual of the color. Th e sport drink will need a little

green coloring added to it. With a toothpick or skewer

tip, pick up just a touch, not even a drop, of liquid green

food coloring and stir it into the sport drink. A little

green food coloring makes big changes, so go slow. To

better match the margarita mix, I chose to add a hint of

SAFETY NOTE This method of creating a slushy drink is for

photography purposes only. The mixture is not for consumption!

I remember years ago renting a margarita machine for a

photo shoot. It took a couple hours for the machine to chill

the mix to the perfect slushy consistency. Both the photog-

rapher and I had to be completely ready for the hero. He

had to have the lighting perfected and I had to have numer-

ous glasses prepped because the photo life of the slushy

mixture was less than 2 minutes, even though the building

air conditioner had chilled the room to a point where the

crew members were all wearing sweaters!

With new technology a very realistic fake slushy frozen

margarita can be made for the camera. With the right

supplies and tools the process is quick and simple and

produces great results. Th e photo life of the hero mixture

will be about fi ve times longer than that of a frozen mix.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE Use the margarita mix you purchased

for color matching only. The high acid and sugar content of some

margarita mixes interferes with the Soil Moist granules’ absorbent

qualities. For these same reasons you’ll want to avoid using sport

drinks that have a higher acid or sugar content.