Hey everyone. I'm new to photography, I take mostly pictures of beer and use said pictures for reviews of said beer. I need to get some lighting rigged up. Any recommendations? I took this earlier using my nikon d3300 settings: 1/30 f 5.6 iso 1600 with a kit 18-55mm asf nikkor lense. Also a general critique of the picture would be appreciated.
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Here is a completely unedited version.
>>2879900
improve your background, it looks like you put the beer bottle on the floor behind your couch. this look is accentuated by the perspective from below the center of the bottle, which is very unnatural.
don't blur the top of the bottle
there are some serious noise problems in your postprocess, especially noticeable over the glass
work to get the bottle looking clean. the condensation is good, the wrinkled smudged label is not. you could e.g. try to pick a good one at the store.
you can do plenty of things with studio lighting to make this picture pop and make it more like an advertisement, if that's what you want to go for
http://www.bron.ch/broncolor/how-to/shoot-this-photo/samplephotos/
for a review that picture's totally serviceable though
>>2879921
Awesome, thanks for the advice. Here is something else I recently did. I feel I can shoot a lot better in bright natural light.
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>>2879924
focus is a bit off. watch those smudges on the condensation. don't cut the top of the bottle off. looks like there's poor illumination of the glass, you usually want it to glow more, or at least give it some more definition on the front. that table's also looking kind of bare, you might want something like a cheese plate blurred in the background. and again, the perspective is a little low for my taste, but some beer ads do use the towering bottle look. do some google image searches for beer ads to show how people shoot this stuff. or hey, look here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/beer/
>>2879930
Once again thank you. A spray bottle with a mist setting can easily fix the condensation issues.
>>2879937
Suggestion for editing software?
>>2879900
BJDrew's product photography video will be hugely helpful. You don't need all the equipment he has to still use the principles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kekNbGad2Lk
you should buy a cheapish tripod so you can shoot always shoot these at base ISO, maybe get a 50 1.8 too so you can isolate your subject better, it's a pretty affordable lens
>>2879900
Have you posted here before?
One of my recommendations the last time someone posted very similar questions was to ensure the subject (beer) had separation from the background - you want the subject to stand out, and you don't want anything distracting in the background.
You do at least have some highlights in both pictures which create separation. I would be mindful of shooting in locations where the background is the same colour, or similiar colour as the subject, as in the first photo.
The outdoor photo has some reflections in the glass of trees, sky and sun. I don't personally dislike that, but if you look at most product photography with shiny objects, there is extreme care taken to control reflection, maybe something to consider especially since you mention wanting to add lighting. The solution is to use "flags" to block the light source creating the reflection. In the case of the outdoor photo you could use flags to block off light hitting the bottle from the top, sides and from camera position, and light the subject with flash.
Google "product photography bottle" and you'll see most will have at least one rim/kicker (lighting from the side or rear to add a highlight on the side of the glass), a main light and sometimes a background light - so at most around 4 light sources.
You're already using continuous light so you could augment that with additional light sources, or create your own lighting from scratch.
Try playing around with some lamps before you buy anything. You don't even need a camera when using continuous light because you are seeing the same light the camera will capture.
I would personally recommend learning to use off camerea flash. You will be able to shoot at higher shutter speed and lower ISO which will result in cleaner images.
>>2880008
I have posted here and I do remember you telling my to have contrasting colors. I think you also told me to not cut off the bottle awkwardly. Great pieces of advice. I saw and instant improvement in my photos.
>>2880008
Another one that I've taken since getting some advice from you.
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>>2880020
Also how did it taste?
>>2880023
Really nice. Subtle tartness, rich oak on the back end with some dry grape tannens and all the booze was very well hidden even as it warmed.
>>2880025
Would drink/10, also cool hobby.
>>2880028
This is probably my favorite beer and photos since getting into this.
I'm glad the advice helped
>>2880033
Is a much better example of subject/background separation. I vaguely remember a silver can with orange and blue lighting last time which stuck in my mind as well.
I'd be wary of cropping the top off the bottle like that - I think a tight crop of the label could work though.
The focus is tack sharp which is great. I'm left wondering if I would prefer seeing the background glass being slightly more in focus, so either moved closer to the bottle or the photo taken at a narrower aperture.
You have a blog, right?
>>2880033
yeah love porters, great with food too.
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>>2880037
You are correct with the silver can and gray sky. I do have a blog but putting the work into it is tough right now, I have a newborn in the house. Here's a tighter cropped one that I like. I wish I had the glass closer for this one. I need to find a way to replicate this great natural lighting inside the house.
>>2880040
Creating daylight inside is pretty easy especially since you are working with small subjects, you just need a light source and a diffuser. Large diffuser relative to the subject (ie close proximity) will create soft shadows with light that wraps around the bottle. That setup could be as simple as a bright lamp and a white bedsheet, or you could invest in a flash and bounce it off a wall or ceiling, or mount it on a lightstand w/ softbox or umbrella.
Since the subject is so small you wouldn't need a huge softbox, something as small as 1x1 foot could be sufficient.
>>2880042
Great! I think this is the only board on 4chan where a person can get real, helpful advice.
>>2879906
Why is brick wall suddenly all fucked up in the middle?
>>2880040
I really like this one, but you can really see artifacts here, especially on the green.
I would try to shoot them all outside, since green background works well and creates feeling of life and you can get interesting light with sunsets.
Most product shots look lifeless so I don't really care for perfect lightning and colors of the product.
>>2880115
I'm not too sure what you mean about the brick wall? It'd my fire place and it isn't a full wall.
So I took a bunch of the advice, built a light tent out of a box and some sheets. Here is the result.
>>2880383
Can you show what the setup looks like? I'm interested to see how you set up everything. Looks pretty good.
>>2880383
You have a lot of reflections.
>>2880016
Oh man I love Rodenbach, my mother is from the town where the brewery started.
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>>2880460
You need to either flag the light from hitting the things it is reflecting off, flag the light from reflecting into the glass or adjust the exposure until that light is no longer captured. Obviously adjusting the exposure will also affect the lighting on the subject - this is where flash comes into it can easily overpower ambient light.
>>2880776
Sorry, meant to say -
this is where flash comes into its own as it can easily overpower ambient light.
