Creating Coffeeshop Vibes in the Studio
The Goal:
When I saw the pottery of Molly Harper of Soul Pine Pottery I just knew I had to photograph a piece from her “Birch Collection” I wanted to capture the warm natural vibes of the mug while drawing attention to the texture of the clay’s surface.
The Process:
After trying several natural wood surface for the image I settled on a plastic cutting board, the dark color and well-used texture provides contrast and interest, while the synthetic material makes the wood-like finish of the mug stand out. The scattered beans and metal coffee maker begin to tell a bit of a story, implying coffee in the mug without actually needing a drop of fluid. To finish the look I used a faux-brick background with shafts of light glancing down it, the goal here was to imply a larger space in the background, perhaps a coffeeshop or cozy brownstone.
Since the coffee pot and mug were actually empty I added the steam in post, using additional assets. I created the steam by photographing smoke coming off of a blown out candle on a black backdrop. I simply lit the smoke from behind with a gridded softbox to avoid spill onto the background and then used the “screen” blending mode to remove the black.
The scene was lit with three Flashpoint/Godox lights. with softboxes. The two background lights have large gridded stripboxes, while the key light has a Glow Parapop and a roll of diffusion softening the light. To fill in the shadows I used a 6’ pop-up reflector/background from Studio Essentials. To remove smaller shadows and created controlled reflections on the beans and coffee-maker I took several extra exposures, utilizing a few pieces of white card in the frame, which I then merged to create the final image.
The Final Product:
I ended up with an image that tells a small story, implying far more is going on inside and outside the frame than actually is. This is the true struggle of environmental product photography and studio still-life imagery; creating the feeling of a real world setting within the limited space, time, and resources available.
