Check out these beer images:
Beer aisle
Image by diwong
Tiger beer for Bob! ;D
Beer Setup Shot
Image by nickwheeleroz
Strobist Information:
The beer bottles are sitting on a sheet of glass on top of an open ended cardboard box. In the bottom of the box is an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 flash head pointing straight up. On either side of the bottles are two SB-28′s in large soft boxes pushed up close to the edge of the bottles. Both are set to 1/2 power (I think). All the flashes are fired by PW’s. The background is seamless black paper and there is a length of black velvet draped on the inside back wall of the cardboard box.
I learnt my lesson from the last time I tried this setup and polished everything first to remove as much dust as possible, however I still had to clean up the glass surface quite a bit in Lightroom. I also touched out the back edge of the glass.
Picture here (although not of this actual shot): Beer Picture
For a more detailed description of the setup, check out this article on www.diyphotography.net/ called Floor Lit Table Top Studio Project
Many thanks to Udi Tirosh for publishing this.
Learn how to light: www.strobist.com
Awww Di. I bet you bought the whole shelf….
Party at the Wong’s!
Have party, never invite moi?
Joz~ Lol!! No-lah… didn’t buy any. My family doesn’t drink beer!
Eh, no party at my hse… ;P If have also I think u guys got to BYOB! 
D
Kel~ Haha! No, no party… nx year cny u come to my uncle’s hse lah! There got beer…
D
Makin’ me fickin’ thirsty, woman! I love it (just had a Coors Light, too).
Lol! It’s a hot day over here today…
What kind of soft boxes are these? I’m looking to get something similar for my Canon 540ez’s.
@Robertv
These are Elinchrom soft boxes. They came as part of my D-Lite 4 flash kit. You can see that they are not the same size and if I was going to buy some I would go for the larger ones. The attachment on these is for a studio head sized flash. My SB-28′s are just propping them up really. They would be no good with the 28′s if there was nothing to rest the bottom edges on!
I have thought about making some kind of adaptor to hold them with, but to be honest I don’t use them that much. I prefer umbrellas as they are so much more portable and quicker to set up.
Thanks for the details Nick. I see what you mean about propping them up now I look closer. I guess I need to decide on a Box type I want to use based on which studio lights I will buy in a few months.
I have got my eye in Dlite 4′s so might just splash out all in one!
I tried this setup, but when my SB800 fires I get an almost white glass surface. Not the rich black in your photo with the bottle reflecting. I had no flashes to the sides nor any top down lights. Is the depth of the box from the glass plate to the flash important?
@geirrosset
You do need the flash to be low enough in the box that the light is directed straight up. If it is too high, it will be in view of the camera. You also need to make sure the back wall of the box is black and the angle of the camera to the glass is around 45 degrees. Also try decreasing your aperture. I shot the beer pictures on f22. I did a quick test to see if I could get the glass to go white and at around f8 it was almost totally white.
Hope this helps.
Of course! That’s exactly what it is, I had my aperture set way too big. I should have thought of that. I took some macro’s of insects on glass a while back (http://www.flickr.com/photos/geirrosset/1053870639), and the aperture was essential for getting the reflection right. Some times the brain needs a little jump start to remember things
@gerrosset
Great stuff, I look forward to seeing the results!
Nick can you give me some info on how you did the polishing and what you used. I just did a shot of a coke bottle and the glass looks dirty and smudged no matter what I do to it.
@yellomello
I cleaned the glass using Windex with vinegar (that’s the product name, not me adding anything extra
). I found it is best to use a new lint free cloth (or you just end up smudging the existing dirt round). I also polish one side first, put the glass in place for the shot and then polish the top side. This saves you having to touch the glass again.
Even after doing all this, I still find there is a lot of dust that never shows up until you start editing the picture at which point you just have to fall back on the clone and heal tools!
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Strobist Gear, and we’d love to have your photo added to the group.
Very nice shot! Love the smooth lighting. Take a look in my photostream, I did a shot of a Stella Artois beer with a top of the line ghetto setup. Behind the scene pics included!
Here is a tip that I use to clean everything before a shoot. Go by your local hardware store and pick up a painting tack rag.
They come one to a sealed plastic bag. After you clean with glass cleaner wipe everything down with the tack rag. Works great,
Check out my shot of the bowl and chop sticks on my flickr site.
Thanks
Joe
Thanx for the idea Nick, I’ve tried it aswell;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25909338@N00/2359968837/in/pool-str...
love your tutorials and creativity
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Great stuff.
I have the exact same Elinchrom lighting kit, they are very verstaile.
Thanks for showing the setup.
excellent setup… very useful.
I know this is old, but just wanted to say thanks! I have been trying to figure out how to light my "beverage" shots. Still being new to all of this- your photo helped a lot!
Great setup.
Thanks for the wonderful strobist information.
Creative approach!
That is Awesome!
Hi Nick, love these shots..they look amazing. I am definitely going to try this. Just wanted to ask something. You use a Dlite 4 as underlighting, what is the best way to achieve the same effect with a flashgun? I was thinking of making a conical contracption like a reverse snoot with a diffuser to focus the light as the flashgun would be too harsh. Any other ideas?
Very nice! Love this…
I sure will try…
Hi Nick, thank you for this tutorial. I did it as well but I used umbrella instead of softbox. I have issues of umbrella’s reflection and the bottle is too dark. You can find the picture here.
Love it! Love it! Love it!
There will be more bottles in my gallery.