Photographing Whisky in Water… Without Getting It Wet
A behind-the-scenes look at solving a tricky product photography problem
How do you photograph a whisky case sitting in water, when the case absolutely cannot get wet? That was the challenge when we were commissioned by The Leith Agency to photograph The Samhla Collection from the Bladnoch Distillery. The concept was beautifully simple: the wooden presentation cases and bottles would appear to sit in a pool of black liquid, with ripples radiating out from the product.
There was just one problem.
These were limited-edition cases worth thousands of pounds each, and putting them anywhere near water was completely out of the question.
So the question became: how do you create the illusion of water without ever risking the product?
Why Not Just Use CGI?
Some people assume a brief like this would simply be created in CGI. Having worked on many shoots involving liquids, I’ve always believed that if you want an image to feel real, you need as much real photography in the process as possible.
Of course, CGI can achieve remarkable results but doing it convincingly often requires significant time, budget, and specialist work. If you can capture the physics of light, reflections and liquid in camera, the final image tends to feel more authentic.
The Solution…
The concept we developed turned out to be surprisingly simple. Since the real products couldn’t touch water, we created life-size replicas that could.
But these weren’t physical mock-ups. Instead, we carefully photographed the real products first, capturing them in multiple stages, layers, and lighting setups to produce perfect finished product images. Those final images were then printed life-size.
The prints became stand-ins for the real products and were safely submerged in water. By lighting and photographing the water’s surface, we could capture authentic ripples and reflections of the product images - exactly as if the real cases were sitting in liquid.
Bringing It All Together
Once we had photographed the ripples and reflections, the final stage was compositing. The perfectly lit product images, the ripple reflections, and the supporting elements were brought together and carefully retouched to produce the finished visuals.
And then, of course, the final step: press the magic glue button in Photoshop.
Simple… once you know how.
The Takeaway
Commercial photography often looks effortless in the final image. But behind the scenes it’s usually about finding creative ways to solve practical problems.
In this case, the solution was to photograph the effect of the product in water, rather than the product itself. The result delivered the dramatic visual the agency wanted, while keeping the whisky and its presentation cases perfectly dry.
For a more detailed behind-the-scenes video on this or other examples, visit the video section of our website: https://www.richardmountney.com
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