I recently visited both Scotland and Ireland and one thing they are both known for is bad weather. I was in both countries for a week and a half in the middle of summer and we didn’t have any sunshine so they definitely delivered. Luckily Scotland and Ireland are known for certain beverages that I enjoy. I have many Irish whiskys I like but on this trip I picked up a small bottle from a shop in Edinburg. With all the bad weather we spent many nights being cosy [gezellig (with link)] in front of the fire and what better way to enjoy a fire than with some whiskey!
I first took a photo with my phone so that I could share some of the atmosphere with my friends and very quickly realized that I was doing it a great disservice to the cozyness that I was feeling and to the picture that I had in my head. It took me a few hours of playing around to get to the final image and because I was taking my time. The side benefit of taking my time was that there was very little postprocessing to do :)
The lighting setup was not very complicated. I set up a softbox on camera right placed close to the bottle creating the beautifully soft front light. I still wasn't satisfied with only this light as the clear glass of the bottle blended into the background. To remedy this I added a second bare flash from behind to the left to give the bottle some shape.
I am quite happy with how the picture turned out. It did turn into more of a product shot than an atmosphere shot as I had intended but I was out of the rain, I learned a lot, the fire was gezellig, and the whiskey was warm and satisfying :D
I am planning to get back to posting regularly as I have missed a few posts so keep an eye out for more :)
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