One of my most important clients has got to be Bacardi and covering their events has evolved into a major part of my work in the past few years. Besides catching the right atmosphere in my photoseries, getting some really nice “drink shots” is one of my favorite challenges.

This one was taken at Lowlands 2010, Holland’s largest band-based festival, where the Groove Tube area is transformed into somewhat of a massive Bacardi-bar. It’s mostly the place to hang out after midnight and a seriously nice place to photograph.

In my quest for some cool photos I was hanging around the bar with my trust Canon 50mm lens (the f1.8, as the lot more expensive f1.4’s will usually break down immediately after warranty expires) and a manual setting of 500ISO, f2.2 and a shutter of about 1/30th of a second. Higher ISO rates usually tend to really oversaturate the abundant reds (bear in mind it’s a Bacardi event and there is a lot of red to come by!). A 1/30 shutter I can still manage easily without a tripod, especially since the 50mm is such a lightweight lens.

These low shutters will usually end up getting me blurry photos if my subject is moving but the “mint in glass” can be timed right to get no motion blur at the exact moment. What makes this one extra nice is the smile on the bar ladies face. It’s just a moment that speaks for itself. I hope you like it as much as I do.

The image has been slightly cropped and the Bacardi logo in the glass was darkened a little bit. A bit of a palm leave was deleted from the left bottom corner. No color adjustments were made.

Client: Bacardi Netherlands
© 2010 Fotograferen net