Cocktails; the best models in the world

OK, so this post was supposed to be me reviewing the Ninetyeight Bar in Shoreditch but I had a new camera which I was still figuring out, the lighting was a little too romantic and I had a few drinks and lost my wits.  Therefore any cocktails photos are far too shameful to show.  Plus you can read my previous review on it here.

Therefore I'm using this post to explain how I take photos for these posts.



1. The camera.

So currently I had been using the Sony NEX model for PCC photos.  It's a bit bulky but it's got great colour and sharpness so it's worth lugging it along when I'm off for cocktails.  Never on dates though.  Definitely never on dates.



However my friends bought me a new point and click camera for my birthday which may start to replace the Sony for cocktail shots.  I now have a Canon Powershot to replace my rubbish Canon Ixus.  The Ixus takes rubbish photos and refused to die (I was so pleased when the lens jammed when I dropped it in the sand at the full moon party in Thailand but then it came back to life the next day, grr).

3 of us now have the same Canon powershot.  Hence my girly sticker.



With the powershot, I can still play around with the aperture, shutter speed and white balance (pretty much the only things I bother with on a camera) but not deal with the large size of the Sony.  Poor Sony will be saved for non-alcoholic events (it's better for everyone that way).

2. The composition

This is something I know I need a lot of work on.  You'd think there was only so many ways to take a photo of a cocktail drink until you read other blogs or go on Pinterest and realised how 1D your creativity was.

Below is one of my favourite photos.  I faithfully stuck to the rule of thirds but I think the awesomeness of this photo probably has something to do with the fact that it was generally an awesome cocktail. 

From this post

Another one I like it where I take it from above.

From this post

However I'm going to keep on trying with getting some more original compositions happening.

3.  The colour and the crop

I am a lover of the filters.  That probably makes me a cop out but I use them so there you go.  On my laptop I have an app called Fhotoroom and my favoured filter is generally the 'Americana' one.  What this does is make the shadows really dark so the colours deeper.

Using the last image which was a recipient to both the crop and the Americana filter, the contrast is there but hopefully not significantly different.

Those are the main things I take into consideration before I put up the final photos.  Behind the scenes I am also armed with my phone or P&C to take a photo of the menu so I remember what goes in the drink.  The other things I have to think about is atmospheric lighting, obliging / non-obliging staff and the general amusement of new members of PCC who don't realise that I'm not making an odd record of my drinks but it is in fact for this.  Probably still makes me a bit odd though.