Mojito, Manhattan, Martini
Or how to photograph cocktails
Mojito, Manhattan and Martini. Always love it when I get a change to shoot drinks using studio lights to freeze movement. So when asked to shoot a Mojito, one of my favourites, a Manhattan and a Martini. The 3 “M’s” I jumped to it and got all my studio lights out to create the shots. Because I use mainly natural light these days, my studio lights don’t get out of the cupboard often.
So pleased I can use the skills learned so many years ago to freeze the olive that splashes into the Martini! Furthermore I used the snoot accessory to create the halo around the martini glass. This seems like to create the sparkly effects on the rim of the glass too. What joy. A large softbox placed overhead to enhance light reflection in the glass.
A lot of trial and error went on as we where trying to get the olive in the right position with a great splash! Mojito, Manhattan and Martini are classic cocktails and feature in many magazines.
So photographing cocktails seems to be tricky because of reflections and placement of the lights. Here are a few tips.
Use the real product if you can as it is noticeable. Especially relevant to the gin, the texture is needed to give the smoothness to the glass and splash. Quite often the olives with the red pepper are a dull green. We used a fresher olive, pitted it and placed the red pepper inside. Another option is to change the colour of the olive in post-production.
