Assignment: The client is a distributor of adult beverages, and specializes in exotic cocktails. Colorful drinks in fancy glasses. From martini glasses to tall, skinny glasses, the drinks are both colorful and delivered with style in most establishments.
He wants a shot to augment his marketing campaign, and show the products he delivers in a trade ad for the adult beverage industry. The ad will be short on copy, but strong on visuals. Most other advertisers in the magazine opt to show their trucks and forklifts, but he wants to grab the attention of the viewers by showing them the end use of the products he delivers.
A striking, cool shot of an exotic drink or a unique glass (stemware) shot with a visual kicker that grabs their attention is all he needs to capture their attention to his logo/services.
This is for a single glass or up to 5 glasses.
ASSIGNMENT: STEMWARE with a hint of color
Shot one: Against pure white or black. We want to see the edges of the glass(es) and use color to accent shape or design of your composition.
I would suggest either bright field lighting or dark field lighting.
Color can be introduced by what is in the glass, a prop that augments the drink (strawberry, cherry, lime), or something totally different. Impress the client with something that grabs the attention of the restaurant owners/managers and it is a win.
You may add liquid to the glassware. You can pop a cherry or strawberry into it, slice a lemon for the side, or add one other item to bring color to the image. This is optional.
The image may be a portrait or landscape. The client doesn’t have an art direction that he wants to pursue, only that it should be a very dramatic shot.
He has a few examples that were pulled from different places. He doesn’t want to copy, but only to give you some ideas of stuff he likes.
ASSIGNMENT: Only One image for the assignment. Either dark background or light. Put the other image (the one you didn’t put in the review) into the Facebook Group and attach it to your main shot (comment) so we can see both, the main shot, and the one in the comments section for that photo.
IDEAS FOR YOUR LIGHTING
Make sure you work a bit with the size of your light when you are doing the dark field lighting. Should it be a wide, large light on both sides of the glass or a thin bit of light shining around? Should the black area behind the stemware be only slightly larger than the glass or should it be quite a bit wider?
These are some choices you will have to make, but make them from a position of knowing what you want to achieve.
On the white background… will you use a very slim black card to add edges or will you use something much wider for a deeper reflection? Again, these are ideas for you to determine for your own vision.
Make sure the horizon is straight and doesn’t come into the glassware at an awkward point on the stem.
Clean the glass so it has fewer dust or water spots.
Soft gloves will keep the glass looking good.
Double-check to see if there are any other lights that could be reflecting into your glassware. Make sure the camera, and you, are not reflecting from the glassware as well.
Dollar stores have cheap glasses and stemware.
OPTIONAL EXPERIMENT.
Try splitting the glass with black and white to see what happens. This means part white background, part dark field background.
