Turn Off The Auto-Pilot

Sometimes we get stuck in our ways, so it’s important to keep an open mind and break away from them once in a while.

I was thinking about that today during a shoot for Goose Island Beer Company.  It’s easy to run on automatic pilot.  You want to shoot a product and make it look good, you put a soft light in front of it, and bingo… nice shot.  Or is it?

The first time I produced a beer video that’s what I did, and I couldn’t figure out why the beer wasn’t photographing well.  I started experimenting with my lights and the solution practically jumped off the screen.  Backlight.

Unless you want a silhouette, I would never think to shoot with only a backlight, but the results were stunning.  By putting the light behind the glass, the beers’ colors came to life.

Auto-pilot isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

–Tony Gnau

You might not want to watch the following video if you’re thirsty. :-)

VIDEO Goose Island-Honker’s Ale