I recently stumbled across a new business up in the Cotswolds this week who have brought distilling both whiskey and dry gin to the Cotswolds for the first time. Cotswolds Distillery is the brainchild of New Yorker Daniel Szor whose love of the Cotswolds and whiskey has brought about one of the most exciting new business in the district. The passion Daniel and his team have for quality spirits is clear as soon as you try their inarguable small batch release dry gin, which inspired me to take some simple product shots using a single light source and minimal props.
I started off with a simple composition, making sure the bottle holds to strongest position in the frame and the diminishing height of each object leads you out the frame. I tried it with and without the bottle as well as clour Vs black and white. Both shot at shutter speed 1/20 second, f/13, ISO 100 @62mm.
Knowing some of the ingredients that go into their gin a quick dash in the garden and a raid of the drink cabinet and you have some subtle props to add some interest to the composition. Shutter speed 1/20 second, f/10, ISO 400 @52mm.
I was not 100% happy with the landscape framing of the previous shot so with a steady hand and some cursing when the lavender fell over for the 20th time I finally got a portrait shot which has a stronger composition with the bottle really dominating the frame. Shutter speed 1/25 second, f/8, ISO 560 @65mm.
To finish off I wanted to bring it all together with the ingredients, the bottle and also something completely different. After taking the test shot to make sure the composition and lighting was where I wanted them a simple slice of lime carefully dropped and a quick shutter finger adds some really dynamic to this simple product shot. Thanks to the off camera flash it really freezes the action and gave me my favourite shot of the day. Shutter speed 1/20 second, f/8, ISO 560 @65mm.
