I am a keen amateur photographer, and undertake most of the photography needed for our business myself. OK, it might not be quite as professional, but I have to say that it saves quite a bit of money!

Probably the most difficult of all subjects to photograph is food – certainly if you want to make it look appetizing, it really is quite an art. There is a lot of ‘re-touching’ that goes on, both before and after the shot, but thanks to software such as PhotoShop it has now become slightly easier to achieve the required result.

Believe it or not, another difficult subject is wine, or more specifically the bottles – they are after all made of a reflective material and therefore getting the highlights and shadows exactly as you want them can become quite a challenge. Reflections can  also be a problem, as proved in my most recent session.

Some of the bottle shots that I use on our website are done at home, on our terrace – I quite like the effect of the background image mirrored in the bottle. It makes the pictures just a bit more interesting, and also helps add a bit of colour….. or at least that is, until the washing on your clothes airer appears in the background (see today’s photo)! Despite looking closely at every possible detail – potential scuffs or marks on the bottle or label, lighting, shadows, focus, aperture etc., etc., I did not notice that part of the reflection in my latest series of shots was of our washing! Of course, it would have been possible to modify the image in Photoshop using a healing brush or clone tool but to do a good job is actually quite time consuming, and so, upon reflection (no pun intended), I opted to do the entire shoot again. I guess that’s why we sometimes need to call in the professionals.

I am a keen amateur photographer, and undertake most of the photography needed for our business myself. OK, it might not be quite as professional, but I have to say that it saves quite a bit of money!

Probably the most difficult of all subjects to photograph is food – certainly if you want to make it look appetizing, it really is quite an art. There is a lot of ‘re-touching’ that goes on, both before and after the shot, but thanks to software such as PhotoShop it has now become slightly easier to achieve the required result.

Believe it or not, another difficult subject is wine, or more specifically the bottles – they are after all made of a reflective material and therefore getting the highlights and shadows exactly as you want them can become quite a challenge. Reflections can  also be a problem, as proved in my most recent session.

Some of the bottle shots that I use on our website are done at home, on our terrace – I quite like the effect of the background image mirrored in the bottle. It makes the pictures just a bit more interesting, and also helps add a bit of colour….. or at least that is, until the washing on your clothes airer appears in the background (see today’s photo)! Despite looking closely at every possible detail – potential scuffs or marks on the bottle or label, lighting, shadows, focus, aperture etc., etc., I did not notice that part of the reflection in my latest series of shots was of our washing! Of course, it would have been possible to modify the image in Photoshop using a healing brush or clone tool but to do a good job is actually quite time consuming, and so, upon reflection (no pun intended), I opted to do the entire shoot again. I guess that’s why we sometimes need to call in the professionals.