Photographing one of my favorite cocktail recipes, the Tailspin

I was introduced to the Tailspin cocktail from my friends and mixologists Eric Lockridge from Prep Kitchen in San Diego, and Ryan Andrews from Craft and Commerce in San Diego (two bars within 2 blocks of my home – oh yeah).  These guys know their stuff and always introduce me to classic and modified cocktail recipes every time I visit one of their bars.  I’m a photographer who happens to love everything cocktailing and offered to photograph this drink using the RX Bitters line they just successfully kickstarted.

Cocktail recipes: the Tailspin

The delicious tailspin cocktail

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and then fill with ice.  Stir until chilled and slightly diluted.  Strain over coupe glass (I picked this one up at an antique store for $10 – score.)  Garnish with a spiraled lemon twist.  Big ups to Eric Lockridge who made this twist with a paring knife because I didn’t have a channel knife at my place – he’s a damn craftsman.  Equal parts gin, green chartreuse, and sweet vermouth give this drink a direct but balanced spice.  The extra barspoon of campari gives is just a touch of bitter and the 2 dashes of RX Bitters Aromatic #7 brings it all together.  I hadn’t had a Tailspin before but its now one of my favorite cocktails.

The cocktail recipes photo setup – all you need is a window for awesome photos

Half the time we don’t have the luxury of a giant photo studio when we need to photograph our cocktails. There is nothing better than a stunning drink photo to really sell the cocktail. With my experience as a photographer, I wanted to show everyone reading this how freaking easy and fast this can be. All you need is a camera and a windown.  Your camera doesn’t even have to be a good one- your iphone can still pull it off ). I just set this cocktail on a birch wood panel I got at home depot and put it to the left of a window with indirect light. See the diagram below:

Tailspin cocktail recipe

When you shoot drinks, always try to light them from behind or side.  While the window was to the right, I positioned the camera so the window as behind and to the right of the Tailspin.  Natural light always makes everything look great because its super soft.  Thats it!

Good lighting means a better cocktail photo

I’m going to start doing way more cocktail recipes, photos, and setups.  If you’d like to follow along feel free to subscribe to my email list, I’ll ping you when new drinks are put out. In the meanwhile I wrote another quick post on how to setup up an infinite background (I photographed a bottle of bitters) with just a few pieces of printer paper and a window.  Check that one out here: https://hackingphotography.com/product-photography-tips/

Cheers!

-Mike Newton