Who Knew Beer Was Such a Good Photography Subject?
In looking for inspiration for my next project for Comm197, I came across a man named Sergio Gotthard who goes by the Instagram handle of @gotthard_beer.
His well-laid-out Instagram feed is filled with incredible images of beer. He photographs a wide variety of beers ranging from mainstream beers, such as Heineken or Guinness, to beers with crazy sounding names like, “The Hop is in The Head III, Double IPA.”
@gottard_beer shows his photography prowess through a combination of masterfully thought out color palettes as well as many photo composition techniques similar to those talked about in this week’s lesson. While he explores many different photo composition techniques, the main techniques I see @gottard_beer use are layering (he often has both the beer can/bottle stacked in front of or behind a perfectly poured glass of beer), negative space (there are a few photos with very simple single color backgrounds allowing the beer to act as a frame to the background), and of course, the rule of thirds.
He uses all of these photography tools, as well as some others I am sure we have not gone over, to create a beautiful and cohesive Instagram feed about beer photography.
I think @gottard_beer’s strong point is his very intentional use of color. I love how cohesive the colors are and how they are not taking away any focus from the subject while still acting as another interesting visual. This intentional use of color is something I want to focus on when I go out to do my own still-life product photography. Additionally, he uses layering very well. Not only does he do it in an aesthetically pleasing way, he chooses things that make sense to be in the background of his subject.
For example, he layers a beer called, “Pancake Brunch Stout,” with nothing other than some delicious looking pancakes and blueberries.
As far as @gottard_beer’s style goes, he seems to have to beer glass or can or both take up two thirds or one third of the space, but never the entire image.
There is always some sort of visible background in his posts. Something else I found interesting is that he does not shoot in a one to one aspect ratio like most other still life Instagram photographers. All of his shots are shot as a portrait layout. I believe this to be intentional as beer is naturally, rectangular rather than a square. It allows him to capture and show the beer’s form more than if the image was constrained to a square.
This is something I will try to think about when I capture my images. I will play around with what aspect ratio my chosen object is better suited to be shot in.
