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Shoot: Beer Bottle Icy Effect

Lesson 22 from: How to Be a Commercial Photographer

Rob Grimm, Gary Martin, Aaron Nace

Shoot: Beer Bottle Icy Effect

Lesson 22 from: How to Be a Commercial Photographer

Rob Grimm, Gary Martin, Aaron Nace

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Lesson Info

22. Shoot: Beer Bottle Icy Effect

Lesson Info

Shoot: Beer Bottle Icy Effect

I'm starting to dress the bottle and tow us. That means that we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna put on all of our ice chips and all of our spritz eso It's gonna look like it just came out of the cooler. So I'm gonna sit down right now, and I'm going to do that. I'm gonna put the first bottle out there. I've already got it partially dressed with my slush, and then I'm going to spritz it, which is going to give it the drops. It makes it looks like it's all dewy and condensate in cold. Gonna do that first bottle. We're gonna pop it out there. We're gonna take a quick look. We're gonna side if I put on two months or too little, and then we're gonna do the second bottle based off of that. So here we go. You got anything to add to it? No, I don't at this point. Okay, So what I'm doing is I've created this little table. You guys saw my bull of ice goo that I created before, right? So I'm working on that. I used a little graduated cylinder and I measured 50% water and 50% glycerin, and I put...

it into my little favorite spritz bottle. This is how I get the little drops all over the bottle. This gives me a nice random size drop that comes out. You don't want all the drops to be the exact same or it looks totally weird because that's not how condensation, you know, looks the best. It actually naturally kind of condensates at the same rate, but it doesn't look good that way. So you can go down to Walgreens or wherever and get a bunch of different spray bottles. I have tested many of them out. This is from a optical company queen. Your eyeglasses. Um, this is my This is like the Holy Grail for me of spritz bottle. So this one is my favorite, but you can go out and you can You can just test him out and see which one works best for you. Yeah, it's true. It's my favorite. So what I'm doing now is just marking where everything is on the set where we ended up where we liked it. Just so we can now replace these bottles with the actual hero battles. And it's easy, Teoh go back to where we were. So we're using that blue goo. We use it for just about everything. You can get it from just about any art store. It's good to put up posters. Who was that Lady Vera here? Who? Farrah Fawcett here. A faucet guy, if you don't. If you haven't lived, it's just haven't lived. Okay? Can you guys to jump up here and help me? Um, just hold that in the background for me like that. This stuff is really sticky and slimy, and it goes everywhere, and I'm gonna go ahead and I'm going to start to apply this. So this glycerin and water mix at here's to that spray that I put on and it stays. Water by itself would just sheet right off. And if it didn't thank you. If it didn't, it wouldn't last very long. It would disappear. So the glycerin really helps. It helps give us staying power. All right, You ready? Let's pull a front bottle. So this is a little nerve racking as we move it from one spot to the next. And I want to try to do my best not to touch it and walk as gingerly as possible going between these three. Right here. Okay. Okay. So this slush that's on the bottle will stay like that for days. We've been able. We don't keep it that way, but yes, So you don't know. It'll start to dry out and I'll start to get crust. You can puff it back up, but it will last for quite some time. I just needed to last today, right? Because that's all the time that I've got. So come on now. Pretty dramatic change in the way. That bottle. Look, that's not bad. Okay? So heavy on the left side. Looks like we're little. So I haven't done any kind of critical focus. So maybe I should do that. A pack. You want to give me your thoughts on that guy? In terms of spritz and slush? We'll probably get a little bit better. Focus with traditionally, how spritz does Bud Light Platinum? Barry's Brits very spread all Anheuser Busch stuff. Looks like it's covered in water. You won't blow that up a little bit. Go ahead and walk us down the whole bottle. Let's start at the top. Can walk us down so you can see that the difference in how sharp? Yeah, this is all right. And I I feel like I'm heavy on the on. The Sprits are on the slash. I'm sorry on the left side, and I'm absent a little bit on the right side and my still in attack. Um, because if I'm not, I got to move the camera. Well, it looks like the bottom of this m were a little soft here, but as I go up the bottle, Okay, Uh, looks like right. You hear the short just above the shoulders, the sharpest. So back focus. Just a a couple of centimetres. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to move the camera ever so slightly, which sucks because I don't want to change everything. So, Rob, move the camera just now because we couldn't quite critically focus on the front of the bottle on if we were to move the table that we have to move the entire set on all the lights, which isn't really an option at this point, I want to see the whole thing to. So that window that just popped up was everything being backed up and then replicated as well. It's not something I have to worry about right now. Yeah. Please guideline in terms of like, well, beer bottles should be your bottles always be frosty and great stories that truly per client. Yeah. I mean, most of the time, the ones I've dealt with have always been cold. I mean, that's how you basically drink beer so well. And the other thing about it, it's, you know, it's the refreshment. A dry bottle of beer doesn't look very appealing. It doesn't look very appetizing. Uh, so, you know, we refer to these as a refreshment cues because that's really truly what they are out, man. And quick question from M tracker in Spain. Do you use manual or auto focus? Manual? Always. You know, up until the last generation of that camera, there wasn't auto focus on on this hostile blind system. So now they had a nana on 34 They did everything. No, it's pretty sure that look sharp. Some of that might also be the printing still slightly soft, that could be sharper. Still, the neck and that look sharp in here. The other thing. I'm gonna have to shoot this in multiple pieces for focused because I'm at such an extreme angle with a giant lens, It's gonna have toe move around a little bit. And what is your aperture? 13? Okay. Oh, I gotta move back again. All right. Bottom of the bottle's still. Are you shooting with your 1 20 or you're 80. Larry's. This is the zoom, the 50 to 1 10 and we're at 70 millimeters. You can see that information's right here. Where I so 101. 25th. This is the nice thing about this program. Is everything can be changed from the computer. You don't have to touch the camera. Almost. Ever. Still looks pretty awesome. All right. It's good. Yep. All right. I need to swing around just a hair. And can you tell us one more time? What you mixed with water to make the ice? Yeah, straight up. I dio 50 50 mix. So for that, I did in 10 milliliters of glitter and town of water. To me, that's the right mix. I'm very comfortable with that. It depends on the spray bottle. The aperture, You know, the little dot in the spray bottle is gonna tell you what the best mixes. So sometimes for other bottles, It might be 60 40 but for this bottle, it's kind of dead on 50 50. And this is really It's my favorite bottle. That's looking pretty good. Okay, I'm to give this some more slush on the right side. Are you cool with it On the left side? Yeah. Mawr spritz. Uh, hold on the second. Sorry. This is typically where I will start taking notes and we'll start exporting the files, so I'm just doing that now, Okay. I'm gonna have to really pick up the pace. I'm worried that we're got so much to do on this. There's there's just a lot to do. So I'm going to go try to hustle it up a little bit. And I'm also gonna try to continue talking so we don't have dead Oeiras. I'm just sitting here doing this stuff because I really want to show you guys how we do. All these beer pours their fun. Uh uh. No. Let's try it. We'll see if they don't they have in the past, but I'm gonna work even better. My question is, he said he used to shoot before by five. Due to time you switch. But now because you're not shooting with four by five, you're gonna have to shoot multiple images for focus. You're gonna have to straighten those lines that could have been done in camera. Yeah, it could have been. You never could have gotten all of it focused before my five. There's no way you wouldn't have had that latitude. Yeah, you could straighten it up in four by five. For me, the problem with four by five is that you can't. There's not a really great way to look through a four by five the way you can. A medium format. When I was shooting with four by five and a digital back on it, you had to use a sliding back or you had to compose with the computer. And while I adapted to it, I really hated controlling a camera this way while looking at a monitor trying to compose just I got good at it, but I never liked it. So I went this direction and I'm happier. Yes, sir way Remove this. I know it's not a big sir right there. Absolutely. That was just saying that this chunk of ice you'll see on the screen over the m you can't have anything that's covering the I mean, yeah, it just makes it You can't even read it. So that's just a little bit just a It's a plot bottle. Yeah, So if you if you notice how I put this ice to go ahead and pop it on the poise and zoom back out If you notice how I put all this fake guys, it's mainly around the edges. Some of the drags up through the middle. But we're really leaving their logo pretty clean because we don't want to interrupt it that clients absolutely hate it. When you put Google top of their logo, it's the brand. They spend all this money developing it, and then you just mess with it so and it shows up much more on the outside. So when you guys look at it, you don't really think about Wait a minute. That's solutions you know, is mainly on the outside. But your mind does register this as Wow, that's a really refreshing looking beer. And you want it. Admit it. You want it right now a bud light platinum. So I'm gonna add a couple more in the face. Hey, Rob, Tommy Nikon just said in the chat room. Rob's trying to shoot a national ad, and he's getting acts about the slush mix. True, people are still asking. There's still a little bit confused about what goes on the bottle, and people are fascinated by the slush mix. Russian ice water. But you do spend a lot of time doing this, don't you? Yeah, it's methodical. Um, you've got to be patient. All right, pop that police. And are you happy with that? Can I go ahead and dress the second bottle? Yeah, I'm happy route. OK, but this lush mix and the heated water it actually helps bring the bottle toe life. Is that what absolutely you're trying to? Yeah. I mean, look what Look at the bottle on the left, but it's just a bottle on the right bottle. I mean, there's just a monumental difference in a way that's two bottoms. Feel the one on the right is really holding light. It's that's really holding the light. It's got a lot of vibrant, just got life. It's got on a resolution to one on the bottle on the left just doesn't look that interesting in terms of appetite appeal. I mean, it's cool. There's some cool, like going on it if you look at the left edge light. I mean, that's kind of cool, but I like the bottle on the right where that left edge is also highlighting those little ice chips, and it just looks far more appealing. And this is what they're Brent. This is what the brand wants. They want there beverage to be really appetizing. They want you to, like, crave it. Well, it's working because people in the chat rooms are saying they're getting very thirsty right now. Good s. So I think this is a success about, you know, you're gonna have a new fan club for a Bud Light Platinum, I think then, of doing one job. Care of the question. Um, Rob, do you have ah, methodology, Teoh, how you paint the bottle? Do you start? Bottom top are do. If you noticed I started from the bottom and started dragging it up, Um, if I go top down, it tends to roll and flick off. If I drag it up, it tends to kind of push in, and it here is I go. So I have you know, learned from experience that this is the way for me to go with it. A lot of this stuff just it just pops off. That's the way it goes. Um, you can see it all collecting on the bottom, but it just takes a little bit of patience and a lot of practice and, yeah, stick it on there, see? Sort of paint from the bottom up rather than, like, just dabbing it on there. I paid from the bottom up. I have a question from Curio. So who asked about the hidden glass? Like, how does it make sense to you in your story? Um, in its current in its current spot, the hidden glass, like the hidden glass of beer behind the bottle like, what is the what is the story having that well, this last behind the bottle. The story is that, you know, we want to make this about sociability, about drinking, you know, having having a beer with a friend. And we want to show two things. We want to highlight the beer, and we want to highlight the beer bottle. So, to us, it's really critical that the brand get across that you know that this is Bud Light Platinum. Which is why the bottle is more heroic. And then the glass in the background. It lets you know what the beer really is gonna look like now that here, right now, it doesn't look very good. And it's gonna when we really start to spruce it up. It's not even gonna look like this at all. You will be surprised at the differences. All right? Almost there. Robs. You want me to mark this last one for this bud Light you can't accept? I don't have a card in there yet. I still want to see what kind of glow I get going on it so well, what? Do you know what you could morning this. You on a silver card or white card? Silver, please. You can mark it as a base file. Okay, in case we need something from it. Sure. I have built a little stainless steel, seamless little tiny one in my studio that has a light on it, and I can have the light on behind it. And it makes it a lot easier for me to see what I'm doing. Because the bottle is then glowing from the inside. Um, and it also the stainless steel catches all the drips, and then I can just wipe it up. So that was something I just built in afternoon. And it has made a huge difference in my spritzing life. Tell us about your slush in life. But you know what? It couldn't be better. I'm very happy with my slash. It's all working very well. This stuff is really gooey and sticky and slimy. All right, so let's get that guy out there too. It So right there. I didn't see in between all four. Yeah. I'm gonna pull this one out so I can slide it back in there. All right, So our friend Blue Goo is really helping us in terms of getting those right back into the same position so we can compose it properly. All right, let's take a quick pop of that here. You want to help out? Oh, How'd that feel? Feel pretty good. Damn, That's pretty good. Okay. Heavy on the right side. Without question. That way too much here. That just, like, looks like big white boogers. And I don't have enough here. That's also coming out too much so I'm gonna try to flatten those out. So I'm looking to see it's these guys right here. I need to drag him down, make them smaller. So I used little markers for myself on the bottle, like I'm looking, and I'm seeing that it's across from the M. This bottle is not gonna be in focus because I only have enough of 13 so I'm gonna have to shoot for the back of it. I'm gonna have to back focus and shoot it separately. Gary, would you shrink out so I can see it? 100%? Oh, yeah, That's a big water. So now I just very gingerly I put myself in the position of the camera and go based on what I just saw on the monitor. And I find, too, in those areas. What's fire? Another police looks better. We blow up on the n u m for me and just to the right of that go up a little. I'm sorry. I'm good down. Okay, uh, in between. Right there. That guy's big, and that is directly opposite e u. So, honest to goodness, we can analyze these little bits of slush and spritz all day long, and we often dio pop another and see how that looks. Pat your thoughts. It's looking great. Okay, good. So we're in a good spot for that. So the very next thing that I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pull my beer glass, get it out of there. I still feel some of that glistening on me. Grab it with love gloves. Gonna get kind of wet. If I If I grab it at the very back, it'll be hidden by the beer head. Anyway, So let's do this. I need bring that guy there. Bring that guy there and we're gonna slide this beast out.

Class Materials

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Example_Production_Book-RGG_Photo.pdf
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Ratings and Reviews

Totoo
 

I have gratefully been watching this tutorial for free online, and as always CreativeLIVE has done an awesome job in bringing one of the best instructors of the trade and his creative team to help us improve and enjoy a higher level of understanding and performance in the skills we would like to achieve. I am humbled as always and ever so grateful. I would love to purchase the course myself, but since I live abroad, it is practically impossible, I hope those who can, would. I would just like to add one of the most interesting things I have learnt from this course is the careful attention these guys are paying to minute details and the amount of patience it takes to achieve their goals in each project. Stay inspiring, Totoo in China

Ivan
 

Outstanding course! I'm a former creative director, now photographer full time and have had the unique experience working with studio photographers for commercial products in the past. This course is right on and very close to my experiences, and now that I'm behind the camera, it's nice to see some of those trade secrets revealed. Commercial work is fussy and you often have to sweat the details, but the results can be astonishing and rewarding. Rob and Gary do an excellent job explaining the ins and outs, without any pretention or hold-back on secrets. Something that's always annoyed me in the past, photographers never liked revealing their process. It's great fun watching Rob and Gary work a shoot, and Aaron Nace is beyond amazing in his retouching skills. I don't expect to break into this field, but I wanted to learn how things are done, for my own personal projects. I particularly enjoyed learning how they get the look of ice, ice crystals, and frost on the sides of glass bottles. I purchased several items from Trengrove, as they suggested. Their acrylic products are not cheap, but the quality is amazing and I'm very pleased and looking forward to experimenting. Thanks to all at Creative Live, RGG studios and Aaron Nace for this presentation.

Doors of Imagination Photography
 

This course is outstanding. I would consider it an advanced level. Having a good understanding of the technical aspects of photography and lighting is recommended. Rob Grimm takes you into two real product shoots. These were not canned demonstrations, but the real thing including working to get the lighting setup just right. The postproduction section with Aaron Nace was enlightening. This does require a good preliminary understanding of Photoshop. It was amazing to watch them build the final images for the client in real time. This is by far my favorite course to date.

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