All language subtitles for 01-02-Getting Started-The Toolbox.mp4

Let's go through the tools that you're
going to need to really make Beveridge

photography.

Sing.

It's not a ton of stuff, it's not
outrageously expensive.

And yeah, I've cut a studio full of
good gear and good junk.

But we can kind of distill this down
into some things that are going to be

important to you.

That's really going to make a
difference to the way your cocktails

and your liquor bottles look.

It's really quite simple what we're
going to start with.

So first and foremost, we have to clean
off the labels on the backside of any

cocktail bottle that we have.

Absolutely do not want that it creates
a big dark spot where light doesn't

come through.

It's just gross.

That's a mistake I see people make, and
it honestly kind of puts me through the

roof.

So first thing's first, a good razor
blade.

I have lots of good sharp raiser boys I
keep on my set.

They're great for scratching off the
labels.

Sometimes you will find that liquor
companies will actually use a baked on

ink or an enamel to put text or type or
label on the backside.

That can be really difficult to get
off.

A raise a blade will usually work
unless it's ceramicated that's going to

be a problem.

And we can maybe talk about that a
little bit later.

But get some good sharp razor blades.

They're really important to keep them
clean, because they're going to make a

big difference on getting off those
back labels.

Now, of course, once you've scraped all
the glue and all that gunk off of the

backside you're going to need goof off.

This will really help get all that
remaining glue off and get the bottle

nice and clean.

I do treat liquor bottles very
differently than when I'm doing beer.

Bottles they're just a completely
different animal.

I don't need to treat them in the same
fashion, because it's not going to be

coated with slush and ice chips and all
kind stuff.

Every once in a while, depending on the
need, we will have to code a bottle.

I'm only going to use gloss

that's it.

Never am I going to put mat spray on
it, because if I put mat on it, it's

going to lose that polish.

Even gloss is going to dull it a little
bit from its natural polish.

So I want to be very careful how I use
this and again, I only use it sparingly

on a rare occasion.

So let's continue down that road of
special effects.

Because there are times where I want to
make a beverage look really appetizing,

right?

I want to bring that refreshment cue
into it.

I may want to add some

droplets, some condensations, some
little ice chips.

So in that case, I'm going to use my
ice powder and my crystal ice.

These two things are really common in
beer photography, but we use them a

little bit more sparingly in Beveridge
photography, simply because it's not

going on the outside of the glass that
much.

However,

when we're making things like
margaritas or dackeries or really

slushy cocktails, I don't want to use
relice.

It's going to dissipate and melt almost
immediately.

I'm never going to get my shot.

So that's when we turn to something
like crystallace.

It gives us that look of real ice,

but it'll sit on set for hours, for
days, without dissipating.

So this is what we turned to.

Now, along with that is glyceroom.

Glycerin is the way to get droplets,

if you want droplets and little bits of
condensation.

A mix of glyster and water is the way
to go.

And I'm always using those inside of my
atomizer.

This is a particular favorite of mine.

You want to measure out the ratio of
glycerin to water, because every

atomizer is a little different and
glycerin's thick.

So depending on the size of the hole in
the atomizer it's going to come through

or it's going to plug up.

So you want to play with it.

So get yourself a little beaker, a
little way to measure it

and write down exactly what

quantity or what mixture of glyster
into water is going to work best for

each atomizer.

I have the marked, so I know exactly
what mix I want to put in each

atomizer, and I can repeat that time
and time again, year after year.

Consistency is important.

And you can also get little beakers
like this.

These are also really nice, because
they pour really well.

Just another way to measure, either way
you go, it's just fine.

Now, along with that,

I always have eye droppers.

Eyed droppers are a great way to add a
little bit of droplet to just a

particular point.

I can also use it to remove some liquid
from a cocktail if I've gone a little

too far.

The other thing that I use are these
pipes.

Now these are little plastic

pipes, and they have a squeeze balm on
the end.

These are narrow, they're more narrow
than the eye dropper.

So I can get this down inside of a
cocktail.

And I can remove some liquid if I've
added too much, or if my cocktail's

dying, if the carbonation isn't looking
good and it's just kind of croaking,

I can use the pipe to pull some of that
out, so I can add fresh carbonation to

give it life.

Sometimes I need to go further and pull
all of the cocktail out.

So a straw is a great way to go there.

I literally just drink it out.

You don't want to necessarily drink it,
because you're going to get pretty

loaded.

So you can suck it into your mouth and
spit it into a glass off on the side of

the set.

But this is a great way to get in
there, because you can get the straw

down inside of the cocktail, usually
without disturbing the ice too much.

Because remember, when you're building
cocktails, you want to set your ice.

You want to get it in position, and you
don't want to move it, because every

time you move it cocktail looks totally
different.

And the last thing that I use for
removing or adding liquid is a turkey

baster.

And this one has a needle attachment on
the front of it.

Because, again, I can get down inside
of a cocktail.

I can squeeze this bulb, and I can suck
some of the liquid out, and then I can

add fresh or, if I want to go the
opposite way.

This is a great way to put liquid
exactly where I want it.

Make sure I'm not splashing on the
sides, creating additional droplets of

problems that I don't want in the image.

Tweezers.

Every photographer has to have
tweezers.

These are just a lifeblood.

They're on all my camera stands, and
they're really important in any kind of

beverage photography, to move things
around.

Tweezers are indispensable.

They're cheap, but they go a long way.

Now you can't always use tweezers to
move a big chunk of ice inside of a

cocktail.

It's never going to fit.

So

one thing that I have made a little
investment in is a pair of medical

forceps.

These are great

because they're much larger.

They kind of act like scissors.

And I can get them around a cube of
ice, and I can pull it out of a

cocktail, or I can gently add one end,
kind of flip it, move it around.

Deeds are really handy.

They're just a few Bucks, but they'll
make a big difference in the way you

dress your cocktails.

A flashlight, yeah, flashlights are
really good for several reasons.

Sometimes in the studio it's really
dark, my lights are down kind of low.

And I need to use this for focus.

I can shine right on my label, and I
can get a little bit extra light to

help me focus.

But one of the things I use this for
the most is looking at the glass and

looking at the bottles.

Because they have facets, they have
embosses, they have cuts, they have

things that the brands have put in
there that are really important.

Like habiki.

Habiki has 32 facets going around that
bottle.

And every one of those facets has a
particular meaning.

It's really important to the brand.

So by using a flashlight, I can kind of
come in and look at what direction I

want to bring a light source in order
to get those to highlight, without

bringing in all my lights and changing
my whole set.

Something as simple as a small light
source can really kind of help you move

around your set and figure out.

All right, I want to put my light there
it's a time saber.

This is a little burnishing tool you
get theseties at art, supply stores,

it's just kind of plastic back end,
right?

And I use this to rub labels down.

Sometimes it'll start to peel.

You can add a little bit of glue or
rubber cement to the backside and use

this to rub it down.

It's nice, because it's got a nice
rounded edge, and it won't cut and it

won't tear your label.

And that's also important.

And scissors.

I always have a small pair of scissors.

I like these.

Spring loaded scissors they're just a
lot easier to work with.

Because sometimes when I'm garnishing a
cocktail and I want to just remove a

little piece of mint or something
that's not in the right spot, I can get

in there and snip this.

Nice.

And gently spring loaded scissors.

They're awesome.

All right.

I want to show you just a few more
things that are really important to

have onset.

So when it comes to your set first and
foremost, you always want to have it

level.

So I always have a spirit level right
on my camera.

Stand.

Liquids, are going to go with whatever
level your set is.

So if it's off, so you're cocktails.

So is the liquid in your bottles.

And you don't want that,

build your set nice and level, both
horizontally and vertically.

So going away from your set, going away
from your camera and going across your camera,

you want to make sure that you're nice,
in level, in every direction

before you build yourself on top of it.

Now, to go along with that

anglefinder,

this is also really important for
repeatability.

I have a lot of brands that come back,
and they add extensions.

They have a new whiskey, they have a
new variety, new flavor.

And the images now need to go with the
family of images that I shot a year ago.

So when I'm on set and I've got my
image completed, and we know we're in

the right place and it's done, I use an
anglefinder to get the pitch of my

camera, and I write all that
information down.

So if I have to rebuild it later, I can
come back and I can get the set really

close, if not dead.

On.

Other things to have onset that are
important.

A little brush.

Static brushes are really important.

These things really help clean the
bottles.

I use these all the time.

I use them in many ways more often than
I do.

Canned air.

Cand air is critical, because you want
to be able to get everything off for

the set.

But sometimes you can blow stuff off
the set that you don't intend to, or

you can move things that you don't
intend to.

Obviously, this is great for getting
dust off of a set.

These are also great for getting dust
off a bottle, off of the front of a

glass where you don't want to.

We're on the risk of air kind of
damaging something.

Now sometimes we have cocktails that
are hot, and it needs steam coming up

off of that.

One of the ways we can do that is
simply to use smoke cloth it's

basically like canvas, that's been
soaked in some sort of chemical.

Not exactly sure about the science
behind it,

but I know it works really well.

Just to give you that little bit of
steam coming off of a cocktail.

Simple tool.

Great effect

glassware.

This is a big thing for me.

I hate cheap glassware.

I just hate it.

Hate it.

Hate it with a passion, because I can
see it so clearly.

Onset.

That it's not good.

It doesn't have the quality

you need to make a cockchail really
look heroic.

They've got to be heroic.

I mean, you're shooting images for the
brand.

The cocktail has a little good.

So invest in good glassware.

One of the things that I have found
over the years, particularly cheap glassware,

if you have stem glassware, and you
rotate the base,

you're going to see it actually lean a
little bit.

There is going to be a side where it's
just slumped.

I think that one of the things that
happens when glasses are made, they're

put into a mold, they're blown right
through a mold, and then it pulled out,

and they can actually start to slump a
little bit.

Just slight movements, not huge, but
slight

that can cause parallax.

When you're actually onset, you can
kind of see those things kind of moving

a little bit.

So when I'm actually composing my
image, I have the cocktail glass out

there.

It's always dry, it's empty to start
with.

I'll put it out there and i'll rotate
it, and i'll look for the best side.

The side, to my eye, appears to be the
straightest and has the most clarity.

That's where I want to begin when I
build a cocktail glass.

So again, always invested in really
good cocktail glasses.

It's going to go a long way to making
your images much, much better.

So there are a few things that we need
to have when it comes to accuracy

on mixing a cocktail.

I want the cocktails to be pretty close
to identical to the recipe.

Mainly to cover the client, for legal
reasons.

There are times when we fudge that and
stretch it, because a particular liquid

can be really dark and a light will
come through it.

So we may thin it out a little bit, but
for the most part, get a jigger,

make sure you measure and try to file
the recipe.

Exactly.

If you can do that, you're covered.

The client is covered.

If there's any kind of question later,
because we live in such a latitious

society where people like, well, my
cocktail doesn't look like what you

did.

Ok,

sorry,

but that's the exact recipe.

You always want to follow that as
closely as you can.

So I do use jiggers there.

A variety of different sizes and shapes,

and they're an important thing on set
when you're actually mixing the cocktails.

Another thing you can get are little
cocktail skewers.

These are basically props.

There are tons of different sizes and
varieties of them.

I have in a million different types,
just to give a little bit of interest,

a little bit of character

to your cocktail.

I also use the stirstick.

Now this is important to when you want
to mix a cocktail.

If you don't want to shake it, shaking
Ads, bubbles, it really changes the

actual way a drink looks.

So these are really nice.

They're the real deal.

And you can just shake up a cocktail.

So when you're mixing cocktails,
another thing you want to get is a

muddler.

This is really important for drinks
like mohedos, where you have to take

the garnish, and it has to be
macerated, mashed up and stuck

throughout the cocktail or in the
bottom of it.

This is really the best way to do it.

The reason this has the spikes on the
bottom is to release the flavors and

the garnish, whether it's grapefruit or
mint or what have you.

This will really get the flavor and the
aroma out, which is going to make the

cocktail better.

It also gives it just that authentic
look.

And that's one of the things that I'm
really going forward.

So now let's get to the stuff that I
think is really important.

This is going to be kind of maker break.

For

pure Beveridge photography.

And it's ice,

the wrong ice

will absolutely kill the way images
look.

I see people make mistakes.

This is just small.

Ice.

It's plastic.

It's super cheap.

It's super gross.

It comes in a variety of shapes and
sizes.

I actually have these and sometimes use
them as filler, particularly if I'm

doing a shot where I've got a cooler
and I need a whole bunch of ice,

i'll use these as filler down below.

But man, I've seen people use these as
actual hero larger ones than this.

It's terrible.

Plastic.

Ice just absolutely will tank an image,
and it just won't look good.

Invest some money in some decent ice,
and I'm going to show you the real

stuff.

So

this is a collection I've had for a
long time.

So keep that mind, I've had this for a
long time.

I've been doing this for a long time.

So I've had the opportunity to really
kind of collect

this

as a monstrous container of ice.

And I love it.

And I think you guys don't like it too.

So this is my hero is,

and it's in this container right here.

This is all

very high quality acrylic ice.

It makes a huge difference on set.

If you've got good ice.

I have them in a variety of shapes, and
sizes everything from kind of melted

cubes to more defined cubes, to odd
shape rectangulars

to shards.

And I really, really prefer the shards
to me.

And ishard just kind of has that
feeling of being natural, being

relaxed, being authentic.

So that's why I go with these.

They're not the cheapest things in the
world to buy.

So you can build it up over time, by a
few at a time, and then keep going.

As you get further and further into
Beveridge photography, there are a

couple different varieties.

You can get glass

ice and you can get acrylic ice.

The glass ice is even more expensive.

It has a tendency to actually fracture
a little bit easier than this stuff

does.

So ice is really important.

This is one place where you definitely
need to not scrimp, invest in some good

ice, because it's going to go a long,
long way.

Now, one of the things that you'll find
with ice that can be problematic is the

use of polarization, particularly
acrylic ice.

I use polarizers

all the time.

They're just the secret to the success
of my images.

Why they look so crystal clear why the
highlights are controlled.

It really changes the way that I have
worked.

So polarization is really important.

And I use a couple of things.

I use polarizers on my actual camera.

I have a mat box, a Lee filter holder.

And inside of it

I put the four inch

square polarizing filters.

As I rotate this,

it changes the highlights.

I can knock them down on my set, and I
can really control things.

I mention this because it also does
change with ice.

Ice has so many different facets, so
many different surfaces.

And as you spin this, you'll see
changes in the ice as well.

That's something you really want to pay
attention to as you're developing your

style and beverage.

You want to look at the ice, make sure
it's good.

Because one thing that can happen,

you can wind up with this really weird
rainbow effect.

It's just a polarization.

You've got to work with a little bit,
usually, moving the ice in order to

change it.

Polarizers are so important to me that
I also actually have them on my lights

as well.

Dual polarization is something that I
will go through in great detail.

Having a gel

on my actual light allows me to control
every light.

I can't control the highlight coming
off of every single light on my set.

That's so important, because

one of the biggest mistakes I see
people make is they've got light kind

of reflecting all over glass, all over
the bottles and coming in weird places

on the cocktail.

And it's just not effective.

You want to control that.

Polarizers are going to give you the
ability

to really control your highlights.

Tone them down, knock them out, put
them where you want them.

Huge advantage.

I can't stress enough how important
this is.

Now, along with that, I'm just going to
show you a couple little cards that I

use.

I use white cards

to get a little bit of light in on
bottles and on cocktails.

I also use silver cards, and we've just
got small stuff right now to

demonstrate with.

Silver cards are also really important
to get that authentic look of a clear

liquid of the right colored liquid
coming through.

And then we use gold cards,

obviously, with ambercolor liquids like
scotch and Bourbon.

If you need a little bit of light
kicking into the bottle or the

cocktail, a gold card is a great way to
do that.

And one of the things I also use on set
is black plex.

Black plex is something that you're
going to see in white line.

Black line in particular, it's a great
way to really get

nice reflection, clean reflection and
controllable reflection.

I use it in combination with the
polarizer.

It's much better than using white
plaques.

White plax actually tends to make

reflections kind of milky and
unbelievable.

Black plaques is a pure mirror.

And if I've got light coming in from
behind it, you can't even tell it's

black.

It goes completely white.

It's nice and clean it's the much
better way to go.

The last trick I've got for you is how
to bring real condensation to cocktails.

Special effects are great, and they
certainly have their place.

Personally, when it comes to cocktails,
I want to make it look as authentic and

is real and as refreshing and as
drinkable as possible.

I want it to be authentic.

So

I use authentic condensation.

I do with a steamer.

This thing is a cheap little tool in
many respects.

This one, I think, was about 4550.

They have much bigger industrial ones.

You can get the 200 hour steamer.

I made the mistake of buying one of
those things.

It takes about twenty minutes to warm
up,

buy the cheaper one.

I'm going to show you how to control
it, how to bring real condonization to

your cocktails.

It's going to make all the difference
in your cocktail.

And Beveridge photography

stuff's not super expensive with the
exception of the ice, and that's why I

do want you to invest some money.

But for the most part, all these things
you can get inexpensively,

have them onset, and they'll make a
huge difference, not only in your

workflow, but in the quality of the
images that you produce