Our product photography runs Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per image. Drinks tend to land in the upper half, and the reason is the materials. Glass reflects everything, liquid shows every speck of dust, and the moments that sell a drink, a pour or a wisp of steam, only last a second.
Why drinks take longer than other products
Glass. A bottle or a glass reflects the lights, the room and the camera. Getting clean edges without hard hotspots takes careful lighting and time.
Liquid colour. Juice, tea and coffee have to look like themselves. Lit from the front, a juice goes flat and dark. Lit from behind, it glows. That backlight is a separate setup.
Label colour. Brands care that the liquid and the label match on screen, especially when the colour is the brand. That's retouching time, and it's worth asking about.
The pour takes several tries
A live pour is the image that makes someone thirsty. It's also the hardest to get. The stream has to land in the right place, the glass can't overflow, and splashes have to be clean. Each attempt means a wipe-down and a refill.
If you want pours in your set, say so in the brief. They change how the day is planned.
Tea and coffee need a set around them
With hot drinks, buyers want the ingredients and the moment in the frame: whole spices, loose leaves, a spoon stirring. That means props, a styled surface and more time per frame than a clean pack shot.
What else moves the number
Condensation and ice. Cold drinks look cold because of droplets and ice. Both need to be faked or refreshed constantly under hot lights.
Number of variants. Five flavours in matching bottles share one setup, so the cost per image drops. Five different moods is five setups.
Pack shots versus styled shots. Marketplace main images are clean pack shots and cost less. Styled, poured and ingredient shots cost more. Most listings need both.
What to check before you book
Ask whether pours or splashes are included or quoted separately. Ask how many units of product the studio needs, since drinks get opened and used up. Ask what retouching covers, especially colour matching between the liquid and the label. And ask to see glass and liquid work they've actually shot. Plenty of studios shoot boxes well and struggle with a bottle.
Food shoots have a different set of problems, covered in food product photography pricing. For how per-image pricing adds up across a batch, see what decides the bill on a product shoot. And to plan a drinks shoot with us, start at our food and FMCG page.