It all started with a trip to some of the beautiful local wineries in Lodi when I came upon a particular one called Heritage Oak Winery. My husband and I pulled up and at first I wasn’t expecting a whole lot because wineries were relatively new to me. When we got out we glanced around for a few minutes and then went into the tasting room. We were greeted by Tom Hoffman, the winery owner. He was a very friendly and welcoming gentleman and when it came to me introducing myself and my business he had all the time in the world to listen. He told us feel free to walk to the trails, tour the property, and enjoy the tasting room….and we did! After such a welcoming approach from Tom I decided to ask if he was in need of any photographic services and right then I was provided an amazing opportunity. He was curious if I could shoot wine bottles. At first I honestly had no idea what he was asking. “Shoot wine bottles?”. Weird. I then, after a seriously long blonde moment, finally realized what he was saying. I’m use to people saying or me saying things like “photographing people”, not “shooting wine bottles” so I think my mind went all weary when wine and shooting were put in the same sentence, but who knows, I might just be seriously too blonde deep down lol. After that I explained to him that I never have done wine bottles or product photography but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t. I am a professional photographer who is fully aware and knowledgeable in my industry and would be able to provide him professional images of his wine bottles regardless of experience. We exchange some prices and made a deal! Now I am extremely happy to say that after a few weeks of shooting the bottles and editing them, that I have provided my client with amazing photos of his wine bottles for his business.
Shooting product photography has it’s own problems from that of portrait photography. Portrait photography you have to worry about how the people look, the silly things they might accidentally do, and how they look and feel in a particular setting. All of those things matter a lot with portrait photography, but there isn’t too much technical skill attached to it. With product photography it’s very technical and precise! If you get too creative or angle the camera wrongly you will distort the product which in the end will deface the product and that’s a no go. Even the lighting is a tricky factor with product photography and with the wine bottles this was the biggest factor. As we all know, wine bottles are glass which reflects, and in turn can and will be a problem if not done correctly. At first we went into the whole photographing the bottles thing all wrong. We were so use to photographing people we just had to stop and recollect and then go from there. We ended up having to create a little studio room out of my seamless white backdrop paper. The shooting process only took a day, but the editing took about a week just because the client asked for the bottles to be cut out of the background so that it was just a bottle. Regardless of how much effort went into this session, I loved the opportunity and the challenge, and can not thank Tom enough for trusting in me.
So, with that said here are the sneak peeks. Enjoy.
This is the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, the one wine I tried for the first time in my legal drinking age and I liked it so much I bought one. This is how all the wines were photographed as requested by the winery owner, Tom. I actually took my engaged couple Stephanie and Juanito to Heritage Oak Winery for their portraits and they too loved this wine and winery!
After I did what was requested from my client I wanted to get a few creative shots, this is just one that I wanted to share with you.
Please take a trip out to Heritage Oak Winery and meet Tom and his wife, and explore their amazing wines and beautiful property for yourself. Tell him that Alicia sent you! 
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I will be having a Lighting 101 on the wine bottles so please look for that in the near future!
