Magical Mojitos....

The summer is winding down and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate one of the last 90 degree days in Chicago than with an ice cold mojito.



Watermelon Mojito - garnished with a watermelon spear and mint leaf


A mojito is potentially a very dangerous drink. If it’s made just right, it tastes so good that you aren’t aware of all the rum inside… until it’s too late. Of course, depending upon your schedule and your plans, a bit of rum may not be the worst thing in the world.

This shot was inspired by what we assumed would be the last 90 degree day in Chicago this year. We went out to lunch, sat outside on a patio, played some bags, and enjoyed some mojitos in mason jars. What a perfect end to the season.

When setting up this shot we wanted to show a cold, refreshing drink to toast the end of a beautiful summer. In lighting, we wanted an outdoor feel so we had to create a sky and a sun. We placed a huge flat high above our set, toward the left side, and shined a large point source through it, with no modifiers on the light. This gave us our sky and the light of a partly cloudy day, but that wasn't enough, we needed some directional light from our sun. So we brought in another point-light source from the back left, a little lower than our sky light. That gave our sun light some direction, and also reflected nicely on the ice in the jar. As you would expect, the shot was very contrasty, so we brought in a white card on the right, very close to our jar, just outside the frame. This card bounced some of that sun’s light back onto the jar and opened up the lighting.

Over all, the lighting was fairly simple and highlighted all aspects that we wanted to accentuate.






Mint Mojito - garnished with a lime and torn mint leaves
We lit this mojito almost exactly the way we lit the watermelon mojito. The difference between these shots was that we dropped the camera angle to show more of the mint inside the jar and brought a soft light from behind to add to our sky light. The addition of the soft light made the scene a bit more flat, as though more clouds had rolled in, making the mojito itself the superhero.

Mushroom Ravioli...

Making your own ravioli isn’t a job for beginners, but the taste is well worth the effort.

You can see how this shot developed in the "how we did it" photos below.

Once the pasta is created, you can craft the stuffing – cheese, spinach and meat are all fine options, but mushrooms are the pièce de résistance. Don’t bother with a marinara or Arrabriata sauce for this recipe. A basic garlic and oil sauce, aglio olio in Italian, with a winning combination of fresh basil and chopped walnuts, topped with crushed red pepper, shows off the shape of the pasta and complements the mushroom flavor without overtaking it.

Lighting the set was fairly simple. We created a window-lit setting, by placing a large, soft light source on the right, slightly to the back. This light accentuated the beautiful highlights on the sauce that coated each square of pasta. Since the light was relatively close, the inverse square law (the power of the light will be inversely proportional to the square of the distance) was making the left side of the plate darker than we wanted. We brought in a small white card to bounce the light back and fill in the shadows.  At this point, the ravioli appeared somewhat flat and needed a enhancement.  From the back left, we brought in a small point source light to catch the rim of the pasta and add the ‘punch’ we were seeking.

The Stand-in:

Click to Expand

Maker's Mark...

Patience now a days is a thought of as a thing of the past.  Everyone wants instant, now and later can't wait.  Some things demand patience and if you can wait, some of the best things life has to offer will be waiting.  About 6 years of waiting will give you Maker's Mark Whiskey...

Again Brian and Ryan had one of those days where they decided to shoot a very similar project.  This project was a bottle of whiskey.  They again separated and did their respective shots.

Brian's Shot

Brian set up a window frame behind the set and created an over exposed, soft light  coming through.  This helped give a great natural look and feel to the photograph.  To fill the photo so it wasn't just back lit, he brought in a soft box on a boom from high left, and a white card on the right to reflect some of the light back onto the bottle.

Ryan's Shot

Ryan decided to keep this shot clean.  "The whiskey sells it's self" was the approach he wanted to take. This shot was also very simplistic in its approach.  He put the bottle and the glass on a very small white pedestal to get them up off a surface.  This allowed for the highlights to run top to bottom with out a break.  A smoked plexiglass was put behind the bottle, and a large point source with a grid was used to get gradations in the liquid.  A large soft light source was positioned very close to the bottle on the left side, which gave a solid highlight.  On the right, a white card to reflect that light, and to also act as a light source.  A small point source was aimed at the top of the card which gave a subtle highlight on the top right of the bottle.