Photography - Stephen Hamilton; Food Stylist - Lynn Gagne; Prop Stylist - Alicia Blais; Special Effects Rigger - Geoff Binns Calvery; Designer & Editor- Judith Mara
People frequently ask me; what is most difficult to photograph? I always answer; “ Models, that’s why I shoot food, they don’t talk back".
Kidding aside, I’d say that beverages present the biggest challenge. It’s one thing to shoot food photography with enormous appetite appeal, but a whole different area of expertise to photograph beverages.
There are many reasons. Liquids never stop moving. They can have bubbles popping and froth foaming. Beverages may need to be poured or stirred. And then everything on the set gets wet.
Hot Drinks need a stream of steam moving up and chilled tea settles down in a glass crusted with ice.
Whipped cream toppings melt in 2 minutes, as does ice cream.
The most enjoyable thing about shooting beverages are you are often looking through liquids which adds a whole new depth of field.
The classic composition is to use ice and carbonation as shown in the top video. But with the popularity of mocktails and cocktails it’s a chance to have fun and to get visually creative.
As many of my fellow shooters know, it takes a lot of planning, an excellent rigger and a great team to shoot beverages that make people very thirsty.
