SUMMER 2021:: 9: ASSIGNMENT NINE: POURING SOMETHING LIQUID

DUE SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

ASSIGNMENT: A POUR SHOT

THE POUR SHOT

You can use beer, or wine, or lemonade, or root beer, or ginger ale… Whatever you want to pour. The brief: A close up of a pour shot… it can be from oblique to the camera to straight over top. It must show an interesting ‘splash’ or something interesting in the glass as it is pouring in. Props include a bottle to pour from, or a can, or a container, and a glass/goblet/container to be poured into.

We must see the color of the liquid being poured.

We must see the pour into the container.
The background must remain uncluttered.
The masthead of the magazine must be easily seen.

Lighting Cues: Often to light something pouring, we need some backlight. Liquid rarely looks good when it is front lit. We lose the liquidity of it, as well as the inherent color – or at least the perceived color of it – with front light. Whether window or strobe, make sure the light is coming through the liquid.

Shooting Cues: One way to get a perfect pour is to mount a bottle with no bottom on it. Take a wine bottle and cut off the bottom of it with a glass cutter. Be very careful to do this without having a sharp edge that can cut your hands. Put some masking or gaffers tape along the sharp edge if you have no way to dull it. Mount the bottle with the spout coming into the frame at the exact point you want it to be, and pour the liquid in from the backside of the open bottle.

You can use Gaffers tape to mount the bottle to a stand or boom if you wish… be creative. If mounting a bottle or can is not going to work, then you must have something to cue you for the pour to make sure the can or bottle is not too close to the glass or out of the frame. I do want to see the vessel pouring as well as what it is being poured into.

Here is a whole page of beer shots for you to examine. Notice the lighting. Here is a page of wine pouring shots as well. And for the non-alcoholic approach, here is soda being poured as well.

Do not copy. Look, see and learn… then do something fantastic. It will be going on the cover of a magazine.

The layout is included here. POUR-COVER.psd NOTE: IMPORTANT.
This layout has been moditied. Please use this one.
POUR-COVER.psd

PLEASE UPLOAD THE LAYOUT SHOT AND THE ORIGINAL SHOT WITHOUT LAYOUT.
And a BTS shot as well, of course.

POUR SHOT PDF

THEY LIKE THESE:

ASSIGNMENT INFO:

STILL LIFE

This will more than likely be a still life / product type shot. Make sure you watch all of the videos above. Pouring something is harder than it looks. Heed the ideas on mounting the bottles, and do some test shots first to see how it is going to work.

A good pour shot looks seamless, easy, and is very eye-catching. Color can go a long way toward selling the shot as well.

VIDEO CLIPS

I got two words for you: slow motion. Take us through the act of pouring in a sensual, investigative way. 15″ is all we need.

LIGHTING

Location: Fine, but make sure the pour is highlighted. To make a great pour shot we need highlights, and highlights usually come from back and side light. Also, make sure you are prepared to add some fill with a strobe or two. Trying this on location means a lot of fill and bounce cards, maybe even some shiny ones. This is a cover shot – NOT an editorial which can be a bit more loose.

Studio: Guard your floor. Pour shots can be very messy. Be sure you have a way to backlight the pour so it has color in it. Use all of your skills to make sure the pour looks amazing. If you are alone, it may make a lot of sense to have a bottle cut for you at a glass store. That way you can mount it in the frame and it won’t move while you are shooting.