Photographing Clear Liquid Bottles (Gin/Vodka)

Wondering how to make bottles look beautiful? All will become clear…

Discover a host of clear bottle photography techniques that you can easily and effectively try out for yourself!

Learn from a pro as Karl shows you step-by-step how to light and photograph bottles of clear liquid such as gin or vodka.

You’ll discover how to achieve perfect condensation to create that cold, desirable look. Learn which backgrounds and base surfaces work best, and how to light the product beautifully using just two lights.

You’ll also learn how to incorporate additional lights to highlight the label and reduce unwanted shadows, further enhancing your shot.

Simple steps for photographing clear bottles:

  • Prepare the bottle – This includes cleaning the bottle and creating controllable condensation
  • Select the background and base surface – These will have a big impact on your overall image
  • Light the product – This can be done using just a few lights with basic modifiers
  • Photograph the bottle – Determine your composition and camera settings

If you enjoy this class, check out our Whisky Photography and Wine Bottle Photography classes. You can also find tips for creating your own perfect condensation in The Perfect Pint and Condensation Cold Look.

Questions? Please use the comments section below.

Comments

  1. I have a question about Broncolor RF triggers. I frequently find that one or more of my lights won’t fire though I haven’t changed anything between the lights working and then one or more failing. I have never had this problem with ProFoto. More specifically, I have two Siros L lights. If I use the sync cable on one, it always works. If instead I use the RF trigger for both, sometimes they will both fire for awhile, then they won’t, and then they start firing again. As far as I can tell, nothing has changed on my end from them working, not working, then working again.

    Sometimes, I will add a sync cable to one light, then add another light. That requires the RF trigger. I think that it is when one is synced with a cable and the other connected by RF, this happens more often but the reason I do it at all is because I’ve had the RF fail on both, so I add the sync cable to get at least one light functioning.

    Do you have any idea what might cause this behaviour?

    1. Hi, Yes this has happened to me and I’m not sure why, I thought it was the battery running low but when I press the test button it seems to work so I think it is more to do with the signal from the camera to the hot shoe to the trigger but I need to look into this more and speak to them. If I find out I’ll come back to you.

  2. Keylor in this explanation used the same distribution of lighting, but I put two clark panels whose color is white and I did not reach the same result, which caused your opinion, and what is the best way to avoid the pairing of light with the product

  3. Hi Karl,

    I have another question regarding measurements:

    a. Thanks for the answer regarding the thickness, but what are the other measurements of your polished metal sheet? It looks to be about 2ft by 3ft. Also, (19:30 min into the video) you mentioned that the only complaint that you have about the polished metal sheet is that you would like to have it wider. How much wider would you like to have it? I will have my sheets cut that way if I know of a better size.

    b. What are the measurements for the acrylic my guess is 2 1/2 ft by 4 ft. Im I correct?

    Regards, Victor

    1. Hi Victor, Yes I would have preferred 3ft x 3ft for the polished metal for single bottles but on occassion the narrower one is useful if you want to get the lights closer. I have a acrylic in lots of different sizes for this reason. I can’t say there is any one best size as every job is different and we keep lots of sizes, I’d say I’m commonly using 4ft by 4ft thought but I have bigger and smaller and lots of different colours and textures.

  4. Hi Karl,
    Greetings from San Francisco.

    Questions.

    1. I just visited a large metal company, who sells the polished metal sheets. But they only sell in 4 x 8 foot sheets and in various thicknesses. They want to know what thickness I want. Customers are not allowed to walk through the warehouse due to safety rules. So, I couldn’t do it by eyesight or feel. (The 4 by 8 sheet is fine) I just need to get the thickness right.

    Can you tell me what thickness are your polished metal sheets?

    2. Regarding the Frosted Acrylic. My local plastic supplier, wants to know if I want 40% or 60% frosted. Can you please recommend which one for me to purchase? My guess is by your video is 60%.

    Regards,
    Vernon

    1. Hi Vernon, hello from the UK.
      1. My sheets are quite thin probably about 2mm, they bend and dent very easily, it won’t matter if you go for thicker it will probably just be more expensive.
      2. Again this doesn’t really matter as long as they diffuse the light into a ball. The 60% will diffuse more quickly so is the best bet.
      Cheers Karl.

      1. Hi Karl!
        I also tried to find the right frosted perspex, as there are several types of frosted Perspex in their catalogue. I did some research during the last hour.

        The 40 or 60 % Vernon is asking for refer to the light transmissive characteristics of the product. It is important to understand that in the products data sheets they always refer to the light transmission and not to light absorption.

        The link you provided somewhere else in this blog leads to the Polar White S2 030 frosted Perspex. The Polar White S2 030 has a light transmission of 60 %. A 40 % product would then transmit less light and as such diffuse light quicker. The Lee 216 for example has a light transmission of 36 % which is much denser than the Perspex Polar White S2 030.
        What I figuered out so far: if one cannot find the exact same product you are using (Perspex Polar White S2 030) and has to look for an alternative manufacturer of acrylic glass: ask the supplier for: neutral white (not clear), light transmission plus/minus 60 %, depending on how fast you want to have the fall off, frosted on both sides. For german speakers: frost, satiniert, mattiert are synonyms.
        And now I am going to find a supplier here in Austria to order what I just figuered out during the last hour.
        Greetings from Vienna

          1. Hi Karl. Just to be sure. You provided a link to your supplier of the frosted perspex. This link leads to the Perspex Pastel Polar White S2 030. Is this the exact plate you are using? Because there is also the Pastel Crystal Clear S2 000. I would help a lot if you could clarify which of the two possible ones you use.
            Thanks a lot for your help. We love you all for sharing your knowledge!

          2. Hi Herwig, I’m afraid I’m not sure I have so many different sheets of perspex and some of my frosted ones are quite old as they last a long time given that I only use them to diffuse the light as backgrounds and they are not close up in the shot. I go through a lot of white and matt gloss as base surfaces because they scratch easily but again I just ask my local sign company to deliver and they’ve not specified the type, sometimes it’s different brands which I can see from the peel of protective material. Once I needed a brown/grey tinted frosted background and they sold it in clear for boat windows so I had it sand blasted on both sides to make it frosted. You can also apply frosted film to the normal ones (but not as good as frosted). I do know that the frosted that I use tends to be a little blue colour cast. Most suppliers will send you sample packs of smaller pieces to test. I hope this helps.

      2. To make it all clear now. I contacted the Technical Service Mangager at Perspex and asked him for the transmission value of the Perspex Polar White S2 030 with a 5 mm thickness. It is round about 45 % . So if you have to buy an alternative product, ask the supplier for a milky/opal white one, frosted on both sides, with a transmission value of 45 %. This corresponds to a 55 % light absorption which is a 1.15 light loss in f-stops.

        If you need a faster light fall off, than go for less transmission values (thicker plates), for a smoother light fall off, go for slightly higher transmission value (thinner plate).

        I hope, that helps.

  5. Great video! I am struggling to get the opal frosted acrylic and the polished stainless steel sheet in Australia (that isnt a really small size). Just spent 45 minutes on eBay with no luck. Do you know any suppliers or other search terms? I have tried opal frosted acrylic sheet / polished stainless steel sheet .

    1. Hi Anis, any plastic supplier or sign surface company will have frosted acrylic/perspex. Alternatively you can use the normal white gloss opal acrylic and ask the sign company to put window frost sticker on it. For the polished stainless steel you’ll have to try metal work shops if your hardware store doesn’t stock it. The other option can be acrylic mirrors.

  7. Hello Karl, about frosted acrylic i’m wondering if is this sheet Opal Frosted with 60% to 70% light transmission or is Clear Frosted with 80% to 90% light transmission?thanks indeed

  8. Hi Karl,

    I watched two of your tutorials (one on Youtube and the other live) photographing glass bottles.

    The first one (Balvenie whiskey) you used a seamless white background paper lit it up with a flash head fitted with a filter. In the second shoot (Absolut Vodka) you used a frosted acrylic background illuminated from behind using a bare bulb fitted with a frosted dome. So here are my questions:

    1. In the Absolut Vodka shoot, is the acrylic frosted on both sides?
    2. Did the use of frosted acrylic replace the technique of using a seamless background paper for all your shoots of this type, or are there situations where you would use one technique over the other (seamless vs frosted)?

    Thank you for any insight in this respect!

    1. Hi Ed,
      1. Yes
      2. The look of the gradient is different with acrylic and is better for certain shots, especially if I need to create a complete circle. The paper technique can be a problem if the paper has ripples but works well if you use a flat wall or board. I use the flat wall on model/fashion shoots and many whisky shots where I want a coloured wall, like brown etc.

      1. Hello Karl, thank you your reply! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience on the craft. I truly enjoy how well you present the subject matter and your step by step approach in building the set! Keep up the good work!

      1. Hi Karl. Sorry I forgot you use different lights to myself. I use the Godox AD600 do you know if they will fit these or there are any available. Thanks for your time . Merry xmas to you and your team. Great learning platform

        1. Hi Wayne, here is a link to the broncolor protective domes, I think the ones for their Siros lights are smaller than the others but I’m afraid I don’t know the exact sizes without measuring them, also their would need to be something on the Godox to hold them in place as their is a small spring loaded pin and edge that keeps these domes secured.

  11. Hi Karl

    I agree with you when you said that you should remove any back label of glass bottle so based on that , do you have an idea how to remove the back label for some soft drinks as they are printed hard on the same bottles ?
    I tried to remove it by using a scalpel but without any benefit, it really sounds annoying during shoot

    thanks

    1. Hi if it’s printed directly to the glass, depending on the process you may not be able to remove it. Ask the manufacturer or client to provide you it without it on the back.

  12. I Karl, I’ve seen this workshop and the others of the red wine and whisky. All of them are very nice, thank you.

    Now I have a doubt on one specific situation, which tecnique would you use if you have to shoot a dark bottle with clear liquid, like a champaign bottle or some white wine bottles?

    1. Hi Pedro, you would use the same technique as for our live whisky and other whiskey tutorials but with a silver card for the bottle

  14. Thanks Karl for your amazing tutorials, first I’m from Egypt so we speak Arabic and i hope one day you have Arabic subtitles because alot of my friends want to join your school but they can’t understand english for me actually it’s okay. Second can i use white acrylic sheet instead of the frosted one i see u sometimes use white also because i found the frosted one is very rare in my country and also what the difference between the white and the frosted one to know when to use each one… thank you

    1. Hi, and hello to you in Egypt, I have visited many times for diving, love the Red Sea and the Egyptian people are always very helpful. just so you know we have english subtitles if that helps your friends! Yes you can use the white acrylic instead you just have to be careful with light facing it because it is glossy you may get a light reflecting like a mirror, but if your lights are in a good position then no problem.

  15. Thanks Karl, Loving these tutorials and learning lots whilst having fun, I am a newborn photographer and looking at different genres to push me out of my comfort zone. I do enjoy the way you explain everything its easy to follow 🙂

    PS: I love your studio space.

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