Add Pizazz to a Beer Bottle

Ever wanted to get that magazine shot pizazz when shooting a bottle? I took my beer bottle from meh to wow! in one easy step.

Ever wanted to get that magazine shot pizazz when shooting a bottle? I took my beer bottle from meh to wow! in one easy step.

I needed a quick shot of a beer bottle for a book I’m working on so I grabbed a bottle out of the fridge, placed it on the table in front of a black backdrop, used the lights as they were already set for something I shot last week, and took the shot.

The okay version of a beer bottle
The okay version of a beer bottle

It was pretty bland.

I then grabbed my Nikon Speedlight, attached it to my Elinchrom ELSP-R trigger and placed it behind the bottle. I shot again.

Lit from behind beer bottle
Lit from behind beer bottle

It was pretty great.

Speedlight flash positioned directly behind bottle
Speedlight flash positioned directly behind bottle

The light from the small flash provided an inner glow to the beer and some castoff from it provided highlights to the table to make this shot. The two studio lights were at 180 degrees from each other. Actually, they were slightly ahead of the bottle, but not much. The had softboxes on with diffusers in place. And the speedlight was naked, aimed straight at the camera through the bottle.

No fuss, no muss. It took longer to download the card than it took to set up the shot.

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