TopoChico Spec Ad Photoshoot

A case study in canned beverage product photography.

Project Goals:

Create several different speculative advertisement style photographs of TopoChico canned beverage products. Use brightly colored backgrounds to highlight the playful nature of this brand.

Challenges:

Drink cans are cylindrical. Highly reflective cylinders, such as the mirror-like finish TopoChico cans, reflect everything around them. In this situation, the cans very clearly reflected studio lights and stands, cameras and tripods, photographers and everything else in the surrounding general environment. Additionally, highlights from lighting are undesirably harsh and can even mask important details. These reflections distract attention from the hero subject of images and often completely cover up the product branding.

Techniques Used:

• Two bold background colors were chosen, one yellow and one light blue. The yellow was analogous to the color scheme of both the TopoChico Lime and Tangerine products. The light blue was complementary to the color of the Tangerine products.
• White acrylic sheet was used as a baseplate to obtain reflections under the product. Acrylic works better than glass for this purpose, as glass will often show doubled reflections.
• Reflections were controlled by constructing a white muslin cloth light tent from one edge of the background and wrapping all the way around in front of the scene to the other edge of the background. A small hole was cut in the front for the camera to shoot through.
• The scenes were lit by aiming rectangular soft boxes through the muslin fabric to prevent harsh highlights.
• Ice was simulated using small, hand cut blocks of silicone.
• Condensation on cans was accomplished using a sprayed on mixture of glycerin and water.
• Images were all focus stacked in post production to ensure that the entire scene is in sharp focus.