# Cocktail Photographer > Brent Herrig is a cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director based in New York and London, working since 2007. He shoots cocktails, spirits, beer, wine and liquid motion for brands, agencies and hospitality groups, uses AI to extend real drinks photography for drinks brands, and offers drinks and taste consulting and AI consulting. Brent Herrig has photographed for Ketel One, Tanqueray, Belvedere, Chandon, Baileys, Smirnoff, The Botanist, Koloa Rum Company and HH Bespoke Spirits. He was principal photographer of The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015), winner of the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book, and of The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem (2018). He served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits. There is no fixed studio. Shoots run through a network of partner studios, bars and locations in New York and London, chosen to fit the brief. Brent Herrig travels for campaigns, and production travel has included Napa Valley, Oregon's Willamette Valley, England's sparkling wine country and Piedmont in Italy. Every AI frame starts from real photography of the client's actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography, and the pack and label are checked against the approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, liquid, garnish, setting or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief. To start a project, send a short brief through the contact page: the drink or brand, where the work will run, and roughly when you want to start. Brent reads every inquiry himself. This file is the full text of every page in the sitemap, generated from the rendered pages at build time. The short index is at https://cocktailphotographer.com/llms.txt. --- ## Cocktail & Drinks Photographer, Built for Campaign Scale. URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/ Page title: Cocktail Photographer | Brent Herrig | NYC and London Summary: Cocktail photographer Brent Herrig, working since 2007, has shot drinks for Ketel One, Chandon and Belvedere. Based in New York and London. Stills and motion. ### London + NYC Bases. Global Execution. Brent Herrig is a cocktail and beverage photographer based in NYC and London. He shoots drinks that hold attention for Ketel One, Chandon, Belvedere, and The Dead Rabbit. Book a Call See the Work Scroll Portfolio ### Selected Work Six ways drinks get shot, from a single bottle on white to a full bar in working light. - Drinks Photography Cocktails and mixed drinks for menus, campaigns, and paid social. - Spirits Advertising Bottle-first campaign frames, color accurate and brand coded. - Bar Photography Bars and venues shot in their own light, service running. - Bottle Shots Clean packshots and hero bottle frames, on white or in the dark. - Wine Campaigns Vineyards, tasting rooms and the glass, from bottle to pour. - Liquid Motion Pours, splashes, and cinemagraph loops off the same build. Experience ### Behind the Camera Since 2007, Based in New York and London. Since 2007 Shooting drinks for a living is a specific craft: how a bottle behaves under light, how liquid reads on camera, how a brand team reads a frame. I have spent enough years in it to get those right before the shoot day, not during it. 50+ brands From independent labels and bar programs to the biggest houses in the category, including brands under Diageo, Pernod Ricard, and LVMH. Every one gets the same label fidelity, brand color, and cleared usage built into the shoot. NYC + London Based in both cities, with a network of partner studios, bars and locations in each, so both major markets are covered directly rather than flown in. Most campaigns ship end to end from a single base, crew and kit already in place. US, UK, EU, UAE When a campaign needs a specific city or property, production travels wherever the brief points, across the globe. The same lighting approach and crew standard travel with it, so the work stays consistent wherever it lands. ### Trusted By Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Partners ### What Clients Say About Working With Brent > I highly recommend Brent, very professional photographer, has great suggestions to help create the best image for you. He is very easy to work with. He is punctual in both onsite visits and finishing his edits for review. I would definitely recommend Brent. Ehren Ryan Chef, Common Lot > What a great experience working with Brent. Very professional, he gave us so much advice to progress our communication with content and PR. Also such a talented photographer. He was able to capture the atmosphere of our space. We are getting great feedback online thanks to his work. Highly recommend! Joffery Tilly Owner, Musette Wine Bar, Harlem > We spent time searching for a local photographer who specialized in food and drink. When we came across Brent, we knew we had a clear front-runner. Brent's work is extraordinary and he is easy to work with. We can't wait for our next shoot, to showcase our new menu and guests enjoying our space. Top-notch service! Frank J Wilkinson Owner, Rabs, Staten Island Generated frame What I do ### One Production, Every Format Your Brand Needs. Hero frames, supporting angles, negative-space crops, and motion loops captured from a single build. The same rig shoots still and motion, so the campaign ships as one coordinated asset package instead of three disconnected shoots. Process ### Three Pillars, One Production Partner. Photography + Motion #### Visual Production Campaign, advertising, and hospitality photography. Calm on set, fast in post, and built for the usage terms you actually need across print, digital, and paid social. View Work Generated frame Shoot + AI Extension #### Hybrid Production One controlled shoot, then AI-assisted extension. Turn a single build into the full set of variants the media plan requires without re-lighting the same bottle ten times. How It Works Generated frame Systems + Strategy #### AI Consulting Systems for scaling visuals with brand integrity. For in-house teams and agencies building pipelines, asset libraries, and governance that ship on budget and on brand. Start a Conversation ### The Bigger Picture - Brent Herrig CreativeFull Creative Portfolio, brentherrig.comFood, beverage, hospitality, portraits, advertising and motion. Learn More → - Generated frameBrent Herrig CreativeAI Creative StudioHybrid production and AI extension for scaling visuals across platforms. Learn More → ### Common Questions Q: Who is cocktail photographer Brent Herrig? A: Brent Herrig is a cocktail and beverage photographer based in New York and London, working since 2007. He has shot drinks for Ketel One, Chandon, Belvedere and The Dead Rabbit, and was principal photographer on The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual. Q: Where is Brent Herrig based? A: Brent Herrig is based in New York and London and shoots through a network of partner studios, bars and locations in both cities. He travels for campaigns when the brief calls for it. Q: How do I hire Brent Herrig for a cocktail shoot? A: Send a short brief through the contact page: the drink or brand, where the work will run and roughly when you want to start. Brent reads every inquiry himself and replies with next steps and a few questions. Q: What is cocktailphotographer.com? A: A dedicated beverage photography portfolio by Brent Herrig covering cocktails, spirits, beer, wine, bottles, bars, and liquid motion. Based in NYC and London, available worldwide. #### Start a Project. Send a short brief. I read every inquiry myself. NYC and London based. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Brent Herrig, Cocktail and Drinks Photographer in New York and London URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/about Page title: About Brent Herrig | Cocktail Photographer NYC and London Summary: Brent Herrig is a cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director in New York and London, working since 2007, and former CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits. About My first job behind a counter was soda jerk at an ice cream parlor in Iowa. Now I photograph drinks for spirits brands, bars and agencies, and for one spirits brand I helped decide what went in the bottle. In short: Brent Herrig is a cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director based in New York and London, working since 2007. Book a Call ### Trusted By Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. ### What Goes Wrong With Drinks on Camera A cocktail has about five minutes under the lights before the ice, the glass and the condensation start to give out, and the label still has to be right in every frame. Glass, liquid, ice, condensation, labels and highlights all have to be controlled at the same time. The other problem starts earlier. On many launches the liquid, the serve and the picture are planned by different people who never sit at the same table, so the drink that tastes right is not always the drink that photographs right. I plan the drink for the camera before the shoot. ### How I Got Here #### Learning Light in Fashion I grew up in Le Mars, Iowa, studied at Iowa State University's College of Art and Design, and moved to New York to be a fashion photographer. I did the first thing I knew how to do, which was to learn from the best, so I assisted a lot of fashion photographers. Each one lit differently, for different reasons, and that education stayed with me. Over enough shoots, I realized fashion was not for me. Brent Herrig teaching commercial lighting. #### A Chef Friend and a New Subject Then a chef friend asked me to photograph his food for a new venture. I threw away my fashion portfolio, shot a whole new food portfolio, and never looked back. What held me was the story behind the thing: who made it, and why. Since 2012 I have photographed more than 60 chefs and bartenders in seven countries for Spoonfuls of Inspiration, a series built around each person's favorite spoon. At a Spoonfuls of Inspiration exhibition. #### Into the Bar My drinks work grew out of editorial. From 2012 to 2013 I was principal photographer on Serious Eats' "We Chat With..." column, and one of those shoots took me to The Third Man, where the bartender built complex drinks from simple ingredients like fennel, apple brandy and champagne. From fashion I borrowed the lookbook: I photographed a run of mixed drinks against a single backdrop. Shot that way, a whole menu reads as one family, which works for product photography and for seasonal menus alike. After the column came the books. For Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, the team behind The Dead Rabbit in New York, I was principal photographer on The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015) and The Dead Rabbit Mixology and Mayhem (2018), and I created the product photography for their bar BlackTail before it opened. From Brent's Dead Rabbit book work. Principal photographer of The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, the book that won the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book. ### Building a Spirit From the Liquid Up Years of photographing drinks taught me what makes one worth photographing. Then I got to work on the other side of the bar. As CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits, the spirits line from Harlem Haberdashery, I helped take the brand from concept to launch: the rum's taste profile, the char levels of the barrels, where the rum was sourced, and the gin's botanicals, worked out over hours of tasting until we had the blend the brand uses today. I curated every cocktail on its cocktail page and helped with packaging and bottle development. For Koloa Rum Company in Kauai, I helped curate cocktails around their rums and photographed them. At home I keep a recipe collection of more than 400 drinks and spend a lot of time on fat-washing, infusions, carbonation and homemade tinctures. That is the reason to hire me: one person who knows how a drink should taste and how it should look, so the liquid, the serve and the picture get planned together. That is what my drinks and taste consulting does. Building a spirit or a launch? Book a call. HH Bespoke Spirits rum. ### What Clients Say > "We spent time searching for a local photographer who specialized in food and drink. When we came across Brent, we knew we had a clear front-runner. Brent's work is extraordinary and he is easy to work with. We can't wait for our next shoot, to showcase our new menu and guests enjoying our space. Top-notch service!" Frank J Wilkinson, Owner, Rabs, Staten Island > "More than his wildly versatile shots or his down-to-earth professionalism, Brent leaves you with the absolute sense that your creative project lies in good hands. That is a priceless reassurance. He can adapt to the needs of high-concept composed shots or something more home-cook friendly, and even meld the two effortlessly. Would highly recommend, for art direction in particular." Russ Lane, Chef Consultant, New York ### How I Work On set at a zinc bar while the bartender works. #### Real Questions Before the Shoot Every project starts with a pre-production call, and I come to it with real questions about the drink, where the pictures will run and what the launch needs. Then I send a considered plan. I pad the schedule for creative choices, so a pivot on the day is easy instead of a scramble. I would rather lose a booking than promise a result I cannot deliver, and I have. #### Five Minutes per Hero Drink I read the light first. As I put it, bring the food, or the drink, to where the light is. Each cocktail is staged, then shaken and moved into a cold glass for the frame, and the hero shot has about five minutes before it starts to fade. I direct the bar team on timing so the next drink is ready when the light is. For The Dead Rabbit, that pace meant 25 drinks styled and shot in a single production day. When the photographer is confident in the process, the client is confident in the process. > "I am a purist through and through. Even down to the ice that I use, I really enjoy using actual ice versus plastic cubes ... I want to make sure that it's truth in advertising when I shoot." Brent Herrig #### Finished Files, Never Raws I review every frame as if I were the client. If something gives me doubt, I flag it first: "Hey, check this, what do you think?" You get finished, retouched files, not raws. Handing over raws is like asking a painter to just give you the paint. ### Where AI Fits I have used AI in my production for more than three years. My rule is craft first, tools second. Every AI frame I make starts from real photography of your actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography, and the pack and label are checked against your approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, the drink or the setting is photographed or generated is agreed with you in writing before production. When in doubt, I label it, and I can tell you which frames were photographed and which were generated. More on how I use AI for drinks brands. ### Brands, Books and Press In all, I have photographed campaigns, menus, and content for 50+ beverage-led and hospitality brands, and shot drinks at the WhistlePig tasting room. My photography also appears in several cookbooks and has been published in GQ, Serious Eats and The New York Times. ### Questions About Brent Herrig Q: Who is Brent Herrig? A: Brent Herrig is a cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director based in New York and London. He has worked as a photographer since 2007, for brands including Ketel One, Tanqueray, Belvedere, Baileys and Koloa Rum Company, and served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits. He was principal photographer on two Dead Rabbit cocktail books. Q: Where is Brent Herrig based, and does he travel? A: Brent Herrig works from New York and London and travels for campaigns. Production travel has included Napa Valley, Oregon's Willamette Valley, England's sparkling wine country and Piedmont in Italy. Shoots run through his network of partner studios, bars and other locations in both cities, and the brief sets where a project is shot. Q: What cocktail books has Brent Herrig photographed? A: Brent Herrig was principal photographer on two books from The Dead Rabbit in New York: The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015) and The Dead Rabbit Mixology and Mayhem (2018). The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual won the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book. His photography also appears in several cookbooks. Q: Does Brent Herrig use AI on every shoot? A: Brent Herrig does not use AI on every shoot. His own rule is craft first, tools second: AI goes into a project where it adds speed, range or efficiency, such as early concept sketches or more formats from a finished shoot, and stays out where it would replace judgment. He has worked with AI in his production for more than three years. Q: What is Brent Herrig's position on labeling AI images? A: Brent Herrig's position on labeling AI images is simple: when in doubt, label it. He can tell a client which frames were photographed, which were extended and which were generated, so the labeling question can be answered from the record. Every generated frame shown on this site carries a visible label saying so. Q: Does Brent Herrig shoot real drinks with real ice? A: Brent Herrig calls himself a purist, down to the ice: he uses actual ice rather than plastic cubes because he wants truth in advertising when he shoots. On his sets, approved bottles, labels, glassware and drink builds come first, and cocktails are shaken and swapped into a cold glass once the light is set, leaving about five minutes per hero drink. Q: How does a project with Brent Herrig start? A: A project with Brent Herrig starts with a short brief through the contact page or a booked call. He comes to the first call with real questions about the drink, the channels and the launch, then follows with a plan for the shoot. He reviews every frame as if he were the client, and flags any doubt before delivery rather than after it. ### More From Brent Herrig - Cocktail PhotographerSpirits Advertising PhotographyCampaign work for spirits brands, from hero packshots to media-ready crops. Learn More → - Cocktail PhotographerCocktail Book PhotographyThe Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and Mixology and Mayhem, frame by frame. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceAI Creative for Drinks BrandsHow Brent uses AI to extend real drinks photography, and where he keeps it out. Learn More → - ServiceDrinks and Taste ConsultingLiquid direction and launch cocktails for spirits founders, with the HH Bespoke and Koloa work. Learn More → #### Tell Me What You Are Pouring Book a call and tell me the drink, the channels and the launch. I will come with questions, and my aim is to make the shoot the easiest part of the whole process. Book a Call See the Work --- ## AI Cocktail and Drinks Imagery, Built on Real Photography URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative Page title: AI Cocktail and Drinks Photography | Brent Herrig Summary: AI cocktail and drinks photography for spirits brands, built on real photography of your bottle. Compare traditional, directed and hybrid routes. AI creative for drinks brands Brent Herrig is a New York and London cocktail photographer who uses AI to extend real drinks photography for spirits and drinks brands. Every AI frame starts from real photography of your actual bottle. Pick a route below by how many formats you need, how settled the look is, and who will run the AI work. Book a Call ### Which Route Fits Your Brand When accuracy is the point #### Traditional Photography Hero packshots, launches and anything where the label and the drink have to be exactly right. No AI involved. Learn More Generated frame Before you shoot #### AI Creative Direction Test visual directions as sketches, then lock the references, label rules and approvals so every frame reads as one campaign. Learn More Generated frame One shoot, many formats #### Hybrid AI Production Real drinks photography planned for extension into seasonal, regional and social versions. Learn More Your team runs it #### AI Consulting for Your Team Workflow mapping, label and claims rules, review steps and training for brand and agency teams. Learn More The table below compares a traditional shoot, hybrid AI production and fully generated imagery on the questions drinks brands ask first. Traditional shoot, hybrid AI production and fully generated imagery compared for drinks brands Question | Traditional shoot | Hybrid AI production | Fully generated Bottle and label | Photographed, checked against the approved label | Starts from real photography of the actual bottle, checked against the approved label | Invented unless built from real pack photography Glass, liquid and setting | Photographed | Photographed or generated, agreed in the brief | Generated Formats and versions | One set per shoot day | Many formats, seasons and markets from one production | As many as needed, accuracy varies Cost drivers | Shoot days, crew, locations | Shoot days, model training, versions, review time | Generation and review time Disclosure | Usually none | Decided per market from the record of what was generated | Decided per market, often required in the EU Ownership | Human photography | Photography and human selection can be protected | Purely AI output is not protected in the US General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. Client work ### Hybrid Production for a Real Spirits Brand Hybrid production is a real drinks shoot planned so AI can extend it afterward; the full method is on the hybrid AI production page. For client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, the bottle was rendered by a model trained on reference photography of the actual bottle, and the campaign world was generated around it across seasons, regions and formats, including a 30-second spot. Every frame shown is labeled as generated. Generated video 30-second spot. Devil's Grin Texas Gin, client work. Product-trained model, generated environment. Watch on YouTube Transcript and description Voiceover: At Devil's Grin Texas Gin, we believe if your drink doesn't carry its weight, it's not worth the pour. Some choices don't need convincing. They just feel right. We don't ask you to switch. It just happens. And it makes everything else feel like the old choice. Devil's Grin Texas Gin. America's craft gin. On screen: Friends gather at an open-air bar under a Texas flag, with a bottle of Devil's Grin Texas Gin on the counter. A bartender sets down an iced rocks glass, gin is measured into a highball beside a grill, and friends talk on a city rooftop with the bottle and a lime highball in front. A cocktail is passed across the bar, glasses meet in a toast over a marble table, and the film ends on the Devil's Grin logo and the line "America's Craft Gin" above the skyline. A QR code marked "Find yours." stays in the lower right corner throughout. ### What Comes From the Camera and What AI Adds #### The Bottle and Label Always Start From Photography Every AI frame starts from real photography of your actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography. The pack and label are checked against your approved label before anything ships. #### Everything Else Is Agreed in the Brief Whether the glass, the liquid, the garnish, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. AI earns its place in environments, seasons, regional settings, format crops and motion from stills. For a one-off hero frame, a traditional shoot is often the better call, and Brent says so. #### Checked Before It Ships Every generated element is checked against the real serve before approval. Your approved glassware and drink builds set the limits AI works inside. Reference imagery is locked, labels are reviewed at full size, and approvals run in set steps. When there is any doubt, a generated frame carries a visible label, and Brent can tell you which frames were photographed, extended or generated. ### AI Creative Questions From Drinks Brands Last reviewed October 2026. Answers that touch law or regulation are general information, not legal advice. Q: Can AI make realistic cocktail and spirits photos? A: AI can make realistic cocktail and spirits photos for simple scenes. It often struggles with liquid transparency, carbonation, ice structure, foam, reflections and glass edges, which Brent Herrig names as the hardest areas for AI in drinks imagery. He checks every generated drink against the real serve before approval, and the bottle always starts from real photography. Q: Can a drinks brand use AI instead of a photoshoot? A: A drinks brand can replace some shoot days with AI, but not the photography of the bottle itself. Every AI frame Brent Herrig makes starts from real photography of the actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography, and the pack and label are checked against the brand's approved label before anything ships. AI then adds settings, seasons and formats. Q: When should a drinks brand choose traditional photography, hybrid production or fully generated imagery? A: A drinks brand should choose traditional photography for hero packshots and launches where label and liquid accuracy are the point. Hybrid production suits one shoot that has to feed many formats, seasons or markets. Fully generated imagery suits early concepts and short-lived social content that does not depend on an exact pack. Alcohol advertising rules apply to all three. General information, not legal advice. Q: Can AI-generated images be used in alcohol ads in the US, UK and EU? A: AI-generated images can be used in alcohol ads in the US, UK and EU under the same rules as any alcohol ad. In the US, TTB's March 2026 tips require accurate product depiction and approved labels. In the UK, the ASA says the CAP Code applies however content was made. In the EU, Article 50 adds disclosure duties for realistic AI content. General information, not legal advice. Q: How does hybrid production help label and legal review? A: Hybrid production helps label and legal review because every frame traces back to real photography of the approved bottle, and Brent Herrig can say which frames were photographed, extended or generated. That record gives the label team and counsel facts to work from. It does not remove any legal duty, and every campaign still needs its own review. General information, not legal advice. Q: Is AI drinks photography cheaper than a traditional shoot? A: AI drinks photography is not automatically cheaper than a traditional shoot, and there is no honest universal saving. Savings come from reusing one real production across formats, seasons and markets instead of rebuilding each scene. The cost drivers are one-off or ongoing use, model training, shoot days, the number of versions and review time. Brent Herrig scopes each project against those factors and publishes no flat figure. Q: Do drinkers react badly to AI in drinks advertising? A: Some drinkers react badly to AI in drinks advertising, mostly when the AI is visible. Coca-Cola's 2024 AI remake of its holiday ad drew criticism as soulless and visually flawed. A 2025 CivicScience survey found 36% of US adults less likely to buy from a brand using AI in ads, 10% more likely and 54% unswayed. Brent Herrig's answer is real photography of the pack and plain labeling. Q: Can AI reproduce a spirits bottle label accurately? A: AI cannot reliably reproduce a spirits bottle label from a text prompt, and one vendor guide warns that a source photo does not prove a generative edit left the label unchanged. Under 27 CFR 5.235, any label shown on a container in a spirits ad must reproduce an approved label, so Brent Herrig checks every frame against the approved label at full size. General information, not legal advice. ### Work and Guides Behind This Approach - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI Production for Drinks BrandsHow a hybrid drinks shoot runs, what one production can deliver, and how the bottle and label stay accurate. Learn More → - InsightsTTB Compliance and AI in Spirits AdvertisingWhat TTB rules mean for AI frames in spirits ads, plus the rules by market for the US, UK, EU and New York. Learn More → - Generated frameBrent Herrig CreativeAI Lifestyle Creative at brentherrig.comThe full Devil's Grin Texas Gin client case on Brent's main site, including the 30-second spot and how the product-trained model works. Learn More → - Cocktail PhotographerSpirits Advertising PhotographyThe traditional route: campaign photography for spirits brands. Learn More → #### Not Sure Which Route Fits? Book a call and tell Brent the drink, the channels and your launch window. He will recommend a traditional shoot, AI direction, hybrid production or consulting. Book a Call See the Work --- ## AI Creative Direction for Drinks Brands URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative/direction Page title: AI Creative Direction for Spirits and Drinks Brands Summary: AI creative direction for drinks brands: directions tested before the shoot, locked references, label checks and approvals that keep AI frames on brand. AI creative direction AI creative direction is art direction applied to AI work before a drinks campaign commits. Brent Herrig tests visual directions as low-cost sketches, then locks the reference imagery, label checks and approval steps so every frame, from any team, reads as one campaign. Book a Call Generated video 30-second spot. Devil's Grin Texas Gin, client work. Product-trained model, generated environment. Watch on YouTube Transcript and description Voiceover: At Devil's Grin Texas Gin, we believe if your drink doesn't carry its weight, it's not worth the pour. Some choices don't need convincing. They just feel right. We don't ask you to switch. It just happens. And it makes everything else feel like the old choice. Devil's Grin Texas Gin. America's craft gin. On screen: Friends gather at an open-air bar under a Texas flag, with a bottle of Devil's Grin Texas Gin on the counter. A bartender sets down an iced rocks glass, gin is measured into a highball beside a grill, and friends talk on a city rooftop with the bottle and a lime highball in front. A cocktail is passed across the bar, glasses meet in a toast over a marble table, and the film ends on the Devil's Grin logo and the line "America's Craft Gin" above the skyline. A QR code marked "Find yours." stays in the lower right corner throughout. ### What AI Creative Direction Covers AI creative direction for a drinks brand covers four parts: the visual directions tested before a shoot, the reference imagery the work is held to, the label and pack rules, and the approval steps. Brent Herrig sets all four before anything is generated, so the brief, the shoot and every AI frame work from the same decisions. #### Visual Directions Before the Shoot Before a shoot day is booked, Brent explores a few visual directions as AI sketches. Glassware, garnish, light, setting and mood can be tested while changes are still cheap. The brand picks one direction, and the brief is written from it. The sketches are concepts for the decision, not deliverables. The pair below is different: campaign frames for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, with one bottle rendered by a model trained on reference photography of the actual bottle and placed in two generated environments. The full client case is on the hybrid AI production page. Generated frame Devil's Grin Texas Gin, client work. Product-trained model, generated environment. One bottle, two settings: sunlit limestone and a white holiday table. #### Locked Reference Imagery Approved bottles, labels, glassware and drink builds come first. From them Brent locks the reference imagery every frame is held to, along with lighting and composition rules and brand color targets. The references are written into the campaign brief, not handed over as a kit. #### Label and Pack Rules Every AI frame starts from real photography of your actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography. The pack and label are checked against your approved label before anything ships. Packaging checks and a label accuracy review are built into the direction from the start. The rules behind that check are set out in the guide to TTB compliance and AI in spirits advertising. #### Approval Steps In AI creative direction for a drinks brand, Brent Herrig reviews frames against the locked references, and nothing is final until it passes a structured approval. The process is art directed and reviewed, not prompt-and-pray. When a team makes AI frames at volume, it is no longer approving one image. It approves the templates, the prompts and the review gates that decide whether a hundred variations stay on brand. Every generated element is checked against the real serve before approval. ### Who AI Creative Direction Is For AI creative direction is for in-house drinks brand teams, agencies, creative studios and founders under pressure to produce more assets across more channels without giving up taste or brand consistency. It fits a brand team before a launch or a seasonal push, an agency creative director running a drinks account, and an in-house studio that already makes AI frames and needs them on brand. The direction can run on Brent Herrig's own productions, or it can guide an in-house or agency team's AI work, with Brent reviewing frames against the references and rules. Either way it is a scoped engagement with its own brief, not a license. ### People, Age and Claims in AI Drinks Imagery Generated people and generated settings in a drinks ad answer to the same advertising rules as photographed ones, and in some markets to added AI disclosure rules as well. This section covers two risks under those rules: how old a generated person looks, and what a generated scene implies about the product. When in doubt, a generated frame carries a visible label, and Brent can tell a client which frames were photographed, extended or generated. Which markets require an AI label is covered under AI consulting. #### Apparent Age UK CAP rule 18.16 says anyone shown drinking alcohol or playing a significant role must neither be nor seem under 25. US industry codes set 25 as the minimum age for models and actors. On September 16, 2026, the ASA ruled that an AI-generated character in a UK gambling ad seemed under 25, although no real person existed. The same "be or seem" test sits in the alcohol rules. Every generated person in a frame Brent directs is checked for apparent age. #### Origin and Health Impressions TTB rules bar statements, symbols and vignettes that create a misleading impression, including impressions about origin and health. A generated scene can create one without a single word of text, so every setting is reviewed against the label and the claims rules before a frame is approved. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. ### From Direction to the Shoot The approved direction becomes the brief and the shot list for hybrid AI production, including what will be photographed and what may be generated. Whether the glass, the liquid, the garnish, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. Teams that want their own people trained to run AI work to the same standard can start with AI consulting. ### Questions About AI Creative Direction Last reviewed October 2026. Answers that touch law or regulation are general information, not legal advice. Q: What is AI creative direction for a drinks brand? A: AI creative direction is art direction applied to AI work before a drinks campaign commits. Brent Herrig writes down the lighting, casting, color, composition and packaging rules, locks reference imagery from approved assets, and sets the approval steps, so frames made by any team read as one campaign. The direction starts before anything is generated. Q: How do you keep AI drinks images on brand? A: AI drinks images stay on brand when the work starts from approved assets: the real bottle, label artwork, glassware, drink builds and brand color targets. Brent Herrig sets AI inside those boundaries, with locked reference imagery, lighting and composition rules, packaging checks, label accuracy review and a structured approval before anything is final. The process is art directed and reviewed, not prompt-and-pray. Q: How do you keep a set of AI drinks images consistent? A: A set of AI drinks images stays consistent through the system, not the tool: one brand book, one reference set, one color grade and one approval step. Vendor guides report that generations drift even with fixed settings, so each frame is compared with the real reference before approval, and the last frame in a set is checked against the first. Q: Can AI creative direction guide an in-house or agency team's AI work? A: AI creative direction can guide an in-house or agency team's AI work as well as Brent Herrig's own productions. The engagement sets the reference imagery, the label and packaging checks and the approval steps the team works to, and Brent reviews frames against them. It is scoped as an engagement with a defined brief, not a license to a kit. Q: How many visual directions should a drinks brand test before a shoot? A: A drinks brand has no fixed number of visual directions to test before a shoot. Brent Herrig uses AI sketches for previsualization so a brand can compare setting, light, glassware and garnish while changes are still cheap, then the brand picks one and the brief is written from it. The sketches are concepts, not deliverables, and final frames start from real photography of the actual bottle. Q: Should AI drinks campaign images include people? A: AI drinks campaign images can include people, but with care. UK CAP rule 18.16 says anyone shown drinking or in a significant role must neither be nor seem under 25, and US industry codes set 25 as the minimum age for models and actors. Generated faces are easy to mis-age, so every person in a frame is checked for apparent age. General information, not legal advice. Q: Do the 25-plus model rules apply to AI-generated people? A: The UK apparent-age test for ads has been applied to an AI-generated person: in September 2026 the ASA ruled that an AI character in a gambling ad seemed under 25. Alcohol rule 18.16 uses the same test, so applying it to synthetic people in drinks ads is the cautious reading. US codes ask for proof of age that a synthetic person cannot supply. General information, not legal advice. Q: Can AI-generated backgrounds create origin or health claim problems? A: AI-generated backgrounds can create origin or health claim problems in drinks ads. TTB rules bar statements, symbols or vignettes that create a misleading impression, including about where a spirit comes from or what it does for health. A generated Highland glen behind a whisky made elsewhere, or a yoga scene implying wellness, should be reviewed against the label and the claims rules. General information, not legal advice. ### Related Services and Guides - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionThe next step after direction: real drinks photography planned for extension into every format the plan needs. Learn More → - InsightsAI Versus Traditional Beverage PhotographyWhere AI holds up on a drinks frame and where it fails on liquid and labels. Learn More → - InsightsTTB Compliance and AI in Spirits AdvertisingHow TTB, UK and EU rules apply to AI-assisted spirits visuals, with a review workflow. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeDoes My Ad Need an AI Label?Brent's plain-English guide to which AI images need a label, by market. Learn More → #### Start With the Look Book a call and tell Brent about the launch, the channels and who will make the frames. He will come back with questions and a way to test directions before anything is shot. Book a Call See the Work --- ## Hybrid AI Production for Drinks Brands URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative/production Page title: Hybrid AI Production for Drinks Brands | Brent Herrig Summary: Hybrid AI production for drinks brands: real photos of your bottle, extended with AI into seasonal, regional and social formats, checked before it ships. Hybrid AI production Hybrid production is a real drinks shoot planned so AI can extend it afterward. Brent Herrig starts every AI frame from real photography of your actual bottle, agrees in the brief what else is photographed or generated, then builds seasonal, regional and social versions that are checked against your approved label before they ship. Book a Call Generated frame. The workflow ### How a Hybrid Drinks Shoot Runs A hybrid drinks production runs in four steps, from the format plan to the review packet. The real shoot is step two, and the AI work that follows starts from approved photography and approved references. - Step 1 Plan the Variation Matrix Every format, season and market goes on the list first, so one shoot is planned against the whole media plan. Whether the glass, the liquid, the garnish, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production.The capture plan adds negative space for layouts and clean plates for extension. The label team signs off the concept before the shoot. - Step 2 Shoot the Real Anchor The shoot runs like a normal commercial drinks day, with extra coverage: more angles of the bottle, pours and surface references. Cocktails are staged first. Once the light is set, the drink is shaken and swapped into a cold glass, and there are about five minutes to capture it.Where the brief calls for it, this photography becomes the reference a product model is trained on. - Step 3 Build From Approved Photography AI work starts from approved photography and approved references. On long-running campaigns, the bottle can be rendered by a model trained on photography of the actual bottle, so the pack holds across every frame.From there, AI builds the environments, seasons, regional settings and format crops around the product. - Step 4 Review and Deliver The label and pack are checked at full size on every frame. The brand gets a side-by-side packet of photographed and generated frames for its own review, and Brent can tell the brand which frames were photographed, extended or generated.If a tool or a rule changes, the look can be rebuilt in camera. Real productions ### What One Production Can Deliver A hybrid drinks production can deliver hero stills, supporting angles, clean plates, seasonal and regional versions, social cuts and motion loops, with the exact list agreed in the brief. Devil's Grin Texas Gin shows what one hybrid production delivered. #### Devil's Grin Texas Gin: One Shoot Day Plus Eight AI Production Days For client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, 1 shoot day plus 8 AI production days produced 32 still assets with 6 ratio variants, 4 finished CTV pieces and 18 motion clips, including a 30-second spot. The bottle was rendered by a model trained on reference photography of the actual bottle, and the environments were generated around it against one brand book. See the full Devil's Grin Texas Gin case on Brent's main site. Generated frame. Devil's Grin Texas Gin, client work: product-trained model, generated environment. Pack accuracy ### How the Bottle and Label Stay Accurate Every AI frame starts from real photography of your actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography. The pack and label are checked against your approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, the liquid, the garnish, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. Liquid is where AI errors show first: transparency, carbonation, ice structure, foam and glass edges. Any generated glass, liquid or garnish is checked against the real serve before approval. On long-running campaigns, the bottle can be rendered by a model trained on photography of the actual bottle, so the pack holds across every frame. Brent also holds every frame to three house rules of his own, on top of whatever each market requires: - No glass touching lips. - No competing brand labels in frame. - No person who could read as under 25. Label and legal ### Built for Label and Legal Review Hybrid work is built for your label and legal review, and your counsel makes the final call. Four current rules touch AI imagery in drinks advertising. - United States. TTB's tips of March 2, 2026 say AI images must not misrepresent the product's appearance, color or characteristics or create a misleading health impression, and a bottle or label shown should reproduce an approved label. TTB also offers a free, voluntary advertising pre-clearance service. - European Union. Since August 2, 2026, Article 50(4) of the EU AI Act has required disclosure of AI-generated or manipulated content that could pass as real, with a lighter duty for evidently artistic work. - New York. Since June 9, 2026, New York law has required ads shown to New York audiences to conspicuously disclose a synthetic performer, an AI-generated human who does not look like an identifiable real person. - United Kingdom. In guidance published June 11, 2026, the ASA said the CAP Code applies regardless of how content was created. For the full rules by market, with sources, read Brent's guide to TTB compliance and AI in spirits advertising. For a team AI policy, who owns AI-extended images in the US and UK, and the records behind disclosure decisions, see AI consulting. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. ### Questions About Hybrid AI Production Last reviewed October 2026. Answers that touch law or regulation are general information, not legal advice. Q: What is hybrid AI production for drinks brands? A: Hybrid AI production for drinks brands is a real drinks shoot planned so AI can extend it afterward. Every AI frame starts from real photography of the actual bottle, and the pack and label are checked against the approved label. What else is photographed or generated, from the glass to the setting, is agreed in the brief. Brent Herrig offers it from New York and London. Q: What happens on a hybrid AI drinks shoot day? A: A hybrid AI drinks shoot day runs like a normal commercial drinks shoot, with extra coverage planned for AI extension: more angles of the bottle, clean surface references, pours and negative space for layouts. The brief already says which elements will be photographed and which may be generated, so the shoot captures everything the later AI work needs to start from. Q: How are liquid, ice and condensation handled in AI drink images? A: Liquid, ice and condensation are where AI errors show first in drink images. Brent Herrig names transparency, carbonation, ice structure, foam and glass edges as the hardest areas. Whether a pour is photographed or generated is agreed per brief, and any generated glass, liquid or garnish is checked against the real serve before approval. Condensation that reads as generic shine gets rejected. Q: What does a hybrid drinks production deliver? A: A hybrid drinks production can deliver hero stills, supporting angles, clean plates, seasonal and regional versions, social cuts and motion loops from one production. Formats on recent hybrid work include 16:9 and 3:2 for web and paid media and 4:5 and 9:16 for social. Brent Herrig can tell a client which frames were photographed, extended or generated. The exact list is agreed in the brief. Q: What did TTB say about AI-generated imagery in alcohol ads? A: TTB's March 2, 2026 tips say AI images in alcohol ads must not misrepresent a product's appearance, color or characteristics, must not carry untrue or misleading health statements, and any bottle or label shown should reproduce an approved label. The tips cite 27 CFR parts 4, 5 and 7 and point to TTB's free, voluntary advertising pre-clearance service. General information, not legal advice. Q: How does a drinks brand get label-team and legal approval for AI creative? A: A drinks brand gets label-team and legal approval for AI creative by building review into the workflow. In the four steps Brent Herrig publishes, the label team signs off the concept, the real product is photographed, generated work is built from approved photography and references, and a final packet shows photographed and generated frames side by side for legal review. General information, not legal advice. Q: Does the EU AI Act apply to drinks advertising? A: The EU AI Act can apply to drinks advertising. Since August 2, 2026, Article 50(4) has required anyone publishing AI-generated or manipulated content that could pass as real to disclose it, with a lighter duty for evidently artistic work. Machine-readable marking duties on existing AI tools are deferred to December 2, 2026. Fines can reach EUR 15 million or 3% of worldwide turnover. General information, not legal advice. Q: What does New York's synthetic performer law require? A: New York's synthetic performer law requires ads shown to New York audiences to conspicuously disclose a synthetic performer, meaning an AI-generated human who does not look like an identifiable real person. It has applied since June 9, 2026, where the advertiser knows a synthetic performer is in the ad. Penalties are $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for each later one. General information, not legal advice. Q: Can bars use AI-generated cocktail photos on menus and delivery apps? A: Bars can use AI-generated cocktail photos on menus and delivery apps, but a picture that does not match the drink in the glass risks guest trust. On Brent Herrig's hospitality work, what is photographed from the bar's actual serve, and what if anything is generated, is agreed per brief before the shoot. Delivery platforms set their own photo rules, so check each one before launch. Q: What does hybrid AI production look like for a real spirits brand? A: For Brent Herrig's client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, hybrid AI production meant 1 shoot day plus 8 AI production days, which produced 32 still assets with 6 ratio variants, 4 finished CTV pieces and 18 motion clips, including a 30-second spot. The bottle was rendered by a model trained on reference photography of the actual bottle, with environments generated around it. ### Related Work and Guides - Cocktail PhotographerLiquid Motion and CinemagraphsMotion from real pours, the source material for loops and spots in a hybrid plan. Learn More → - ServiceAI Creative DirectionLocked reference imagery, label and pack rules, approval steps, and how apparent age is handled in AI drinks frames. Learn More → - Generated frameBrent Herrig CreativeAI Lifestyle Creative at brentherrig.comThe full Devil's Grin Texas Gin client case on Brent's main site, where the work is described as generated frames. Learn More → - InsightsTTB Compliance and AI in Spirits AdvertisingRules by market and the label-review workflow in detail. Learn More → #### Plan One Production for Every Format Book a call and share the formats, markets and seasons the plan has to cover. Brent will map them to one production and say plainly if a single traditional shoot would serve you better. Book a Call See the Work --- ## Consulting for Drinks Brands and Their Teams URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting Page title: Consulting for Drinks Brands | Brent Herrig Summary: Two consulting tracks from Brent Herrig: drinks and taste consulting for spirits founders and brands, and AI consulting for drinks teams and agencies. Consulting Brent Herrig offers two consulting tracks for drinks brands. Drinks and taste consulting helps founders shape a new spirit's liquid, launch cocktails and launch creative, and helps established brands build a cocktail program. AI consulting helps brand and agency teams decide where AI fits in their drinks content and how to review it. Book a Call ### Two Tracks for Two Different Problems Brent Herrig's consulting splits by problem. If the open question is what goes in the glass, from a new spirit's taste profile to the cocktails that carry a launch, it is drinks and taste consulting. If the open question is how AI fits into a drinks brand's images and how those frames get reviewed, it is AI consulting. On the drinks side, Brent served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits, where he helped develop the gin and the rum, and he helped curate cocktails for Koloa Rum Company. On the AI side, he has worked with AI in his production for more than three years, including the generated frames for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin. Building a spirit or a cocktail program #### Drinks and Taste Consulting Liquid direction and launch cocktails for founders, and cocktail programs for established spirits brands. Learn More Generated frame Bringing AI into your drinks content #### AI Consulting Where AI fits in your drinks content, the brand and label rules, the review steps, and training for your team. Learn More ### How Consulting Engagements Work A consulting engagement with Brent Herrig starts with a call, takes one of three formats, and can stand alone or lead into a shoot. Scope and terms are agreed in writing before any work starts. #### A First Call With Real Questions Brent treats a first call like a pre-production call and shows up with real questions about the project. He competes on care and preparation, not on price. > "What a great experience working with Brent. Very professional, he gave us so much advice to progress our communication with content and PR. Also such a talented photographer. He was able to capture the atmosphere of our space. We are getting great feedback online thanks to his work. Highly recommend!" Joffery Tilly, Owner, Musette Wine Bar, Harlem #### Session, Project or Retainer Consulting runs in one of three formats. A strategy session works through an open decision with the people who own it. A scoped project has its deliverables written down before it starts. A retainer is ongoing advisory for a team that wants Brent on hand while the work develops. #### On Its Own or Paired With a Shoot Either track can run by itself or feed straight into a photography shoot. For HH Bespoke Spirits, Brent curated the brand's classic cocktails and then photographed them. Drinks and taste consulting covers the liquid side, and AI creative for drinks brands covers making the images. ### Questions About Consulting Q: What is the difference between AI consulting and drinks and taste consulting? A: AI consulting for drinks brands is about images and workflow: where AI fits in a brand's content, how frames are reviewed and how a team is trained. Drinks and taste consulting is about the liquid and the serve: a new spirit's taste profile, launch cocktails and cocktail programs. Brent Herrig offers both, separately or together, and either can feed into a photography shoot. Q: When should a drinks brand hire a consultant instead of an agency? A: A drinks brand should hire a consultant while a decision is still open, and an agency to make and run the campaign once it is settled. Open decisions include what a new spirit should taste like, which cocktails carry a launch, and where AI belongs in the content. Brent Herrig's consulting can sit alongside an agency, and either track can feed a shoot. Q: What does a creative consultant for a drinks brand cost? A: The cost of a creative consultant for a drinks brand depends on format and scope, so Brent Herrig publishes no price. Engagements take one of three forms: a focused strategy session, a scoped project with defined deliverables, or ongoing retainer-based advisory. The cost drivers are the format, the number of sessions or deliverables, travel, and any shoot attached. Scope and terms are agreed in writing first. Q: What happens on a first call with a drinks brand consultant? A: A first call with Brent Herrig as a drinks brand consultant covers the brand, the team, the problem and the date that matters. He comes with real questions, the kind a pre-production call needs, and leaves with enough to recommend a format: a strategy session, a scoped project, ongoing advisory, a photography shoot, or a mix of these. Q: Does a drinks brand need consulting or just a photography shoot? A: A drinks brand needs a shoot when the brief, the drinks and the look are already decided and the job is to capture them well. Consulting fits when a decision is still open: where AI belongs in the workflow, what a new spirit should taste like, or which cocktails should carry a launch. A first call with Brent Herrig is the quickest way to tell which a project needs. Q: Can drinks brand consulting be done remotely? A: Drinks brand consulting can be done partly remotely. Strategy sessions and AI team training can run remotely or on site, while tastings and cocktail development happen in person around the actual liquid. Brent Herrig is based in New York and London and travels for projects, so the format follows the work and is agreed when the scope is set. ### Related Pages - Cocktail PhotographerAbout Brent HerrigThe story behind the consulting: fashion training, bar culture, cocktail books and building a spirit from the liquid up. Learn More → - Cocktail PhotographerCocktail Book PhotographyPrincipal photography on two Dead Rabbit books. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceAI Creative for Drinks BrandsIf the job is images rather than advice: traditional, directed or hybrid production. Learn More → - InsightsHow to Hire a Drinks PhotographerWhat producers and brand teams should look for in a portfolio and a brief. Learn More → #### Talk Through the Problem First Book a call and describe what you are building: a new spirit, a cocktail program or an AI workflow. Brent will suggest the right track and format. Book a Call See the Work --- ## AI Consulting for Drinks Brands and Agencies URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting/ai Page title: AI Consulting for Drinks and Spirits Teams | Brent Herrig Summary: AI consulting for drinks brands and agencies: where AI fits and stays out, label rules, review records, disclosure mapping by market and team training. AI consulting Brent Herrig advises drinks brands, hospitality marketing teams and agencies on where AI belongs in their visual content and where it should stay out. The work covers workflow mapping, brand and label rules, review steps and records, disclosure mapping by market, and hands-on team training, delivered as written workflows and guides the team works from. Book a Call Brent Herrig teaching commercial lighting. ### What AI Consulting Covers The aim of Brent Herrig's AI consulting is a documented AI image workflow a drinks team can run itself, with an approval step and a record for every frame. The work covers five areas, from mapping how content is made today to training the people who make it. #### Workflow Mapping The work starts with how drinks content is made and approved today: who writes the brief, who shoots it, who signs it off and where it runs. From that map, Brent marks where AI can improve production, such as concepts, backgrounds and format variants, and where it should not be used at all. #### Brand and Label Rules AI-allowed and AI-excluded zones are agreed per asset type. Every AI frame starts from real photography of your actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography. The pack and label are checked against your approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, the liquid, the garnish, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. Prompt structures are written against the brand book to keep glassware, color and garnish consistent across a campaign. In production work for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, the bottle was rendered by a model trained on reference photography of the actual bottle. #### Review Steps and Records Brent sets up a review step before anything ships, plus a simple record for each frame: what was photographed, extended or generated, which references were used, and who signed it off. Every generated element is checked against the real serve before approval. The same records answer the questions that come later from label review, legal and the brand team. #### Disclosure Mapping by Market Brent maps the EU, New York, UK and platform rules to the team's markets so counsel can decide faster. He does not give legal advice. The review records show counsel what is in each frame, so each disclosure decision starts from facts. When a case is gray, label it. #### Team Training Training is hands-on and built on the team's own bottles, drinks and briefs. Sessions cover where AI fits in a drinks production and where it stays out, and prompting for glass, liquid, garnish and label fidelity. They run as a focused workshop, inside a scoped project or as part of ongoing advisory. ### Who AI Consulting Is For AI consulting from Brent Herrig is for teams under pressure to produce more assets across more channels without losing taste, brand consistency or production standards. That covers in-house drinks brand teams, hospitality marketing teams, agencies and creative studios that already value strong creative work and make or commission AI visuals. For agencies, the work can sit inside the agency's own brief and approval chain. The agency keeps the account and the client relationship. Brent adds the AI rules, review steps and training behind it. Founders shaping a new spirit's liquid, launch cocktails or launch creative want Drinks and Taste Consulting instead. ### Formats Brent Herrig's AI consulting runs in three formats, from a single session to a retainer. Team training can run inside a scoped project or ongoing advisory, or on its own as a focused workshop. The scope of each is agreed in writing before work starts. #### Strategy Session For a team deciding where AI belongs before it commits. Brent walks through how the team briefs, makes and approves drinks content today and names the first places AI should go and the places it should stay out. #### Scoped Project Workflow design and implementation support for a team ready to build, delivered as written workflows and guides. Brent maps the content pipeline, plans which shots to capture for later extension, sets the brand and label rules, writes prompt structures against the brand book, puts the review step and records in place, and trains the team to run it. #### Ongoing Advisory Retainer-based advisory for teams building a creative system that supports campaigns over time. Brent advises on new briefs and asset extensions as they come in, and team training can run inside the retainer. ### Where Your Counsel Comes In In AI consulting work, Brent Herrig sets up the creative process and the review packet. The brand's legal team and counsel make the legal calls, including disclosure, claims and contract terms. Brent does not give legal advice. In the UK, the ASA said in June 2026 that using automated tools does not move responsibility from the advertiser. The brand needs to know what is in every frame before the ad runs. The review records give counsel those facts. For the TTB, UK, EU and New York rules in one place, see the guide to AI rules by market for spirits advertising. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. ### Questions About AI Consulting for Drinks Teams Last reviewed October 2026. Answers that touch law or regulation are general information, not legal advice. Q: How is AI consulting scoped for a drinks brand team? A: AI consulting for a drinks brand team is scoped around the team's existing pipeline. Work starts with a look at how content is made and approved today, then moves to workflow design, brand and label rules, and training. Formats range from a single strategy session to a scoped project or ongoing advisory, and Brent Herrig agrees the scope in writing before work starts. Q: Who can train a drinks marketing team to use AI for visual content? A: Brent Herrig trains in-house drinks brand teams to use AI for their visual content. Training covers where AI helps and where it should not be used, building references and prompts against the brand book, label and claims checks, and the review step before anything ships. Sessions are hands-on, built around the team's own bottles, drinks and briefs, as a focused workshop or within ongoing advisory. Q: What should an AI policy for a drinks brand cover? A: An AI policy for a drinks brand should cover the approved tools, how the real pack is referenced, rules for people and apparent age, claims and origin checks, how disclosure decisions are made and recorded, and a review step with records. Brent Herrig helps brand teams set the creative rules and review steps in that policy, while counsel owns the legal terms. General information, not legal advice. Q: Who is responsible if an agency's AI breaks alcohol advertising rules? A: In the UK, the advertiser stays primarily responsible if an agency's AI breaks alcohol advertising rules: the ASA said in June 2026 that using automated tools does not move responsibility from the advertiser. TTB's March 2026 tips on AI imagery are addressed to industry members and do not say how responsibility splits when an agency's AI produces a noncompliant ad. Review rights belong in agency contracts. General information, not legal advice. Q: What records should a brand keep for AI-extended campaign images? A: A brand should keep the original photographs, the approved label and pack references, drafts, a record of human edits and selections, and a note of which frames were photographed, extended or generated. Those records support ownership, because the US Copyright Office protects human contributions, and they speed up label review and disclosure decisions. General information, not legal advice. Q: Should a drinks brand ban AI? A: A drinks brand does not have to ban AI: a ban is a policy choice, not a legal requirement, since the advertising rules apply to AI ads as they apply to any ad. A policy can set boundaries instead, such as AI for concepts, backgrounds and variants, real photography for the pack, and a review step before release. General information, not legal advice. Q: Who owns AI-generated campaign images in the UK? A: AI-generated campaign images in the UK are currently protected as computer-generated works under section 9(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, for 50 years, with the author being the person who made the arrangements for the work. In March 2026 the government proposed removing that protection for wholly AI-generated works while keeping it for AI-assisted work. No repeal date is set. General information, not legal advice. Q: Do I have to label AI-generated images in drinks ads? A: Whether AI-generated images in drinks ads need a label depends on the market and what the image shows. EU Article 50 disclosure duties have applied since August 2, 2026 to realistic AI content, New York requires disclosure of AI-generated human performers, and the UK test is whether the ad misleads. Platforms add their own rules. When a case is gray, label it. General information, not legal advice. Q: Can an AI consultant work inside an agency's brief instead of replacing the agency? A: An AI consultant can work inside an agency's brief instead of replacing the agency. Brent Herrig's AI consulting can fit the agency's existing brief, approval chain and delivery schedule, adding AI rules, review steps and training for the team, while the agency keeps the account and the creative relationship with the brand. Scope and roles are agreed in writing before work starts. Q: Who owns AI-extended campaign images in the US? A: In the US, purely AI-generated material is not protected by copyright, and prompts alone do not make the user the author, under the Copyright Office's January 2025 report. Human-made elements, such as the original photography, and creative selection, arrangement or modification can be protected. Usage rights for the finished work are set in each project's scope. General information, not legal advice. ### Related Services and Guides - Generated frameServiceAI Creative DirectionWhen the team needs a look defined before any frames are made. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionWhen the brand would rather Brent run the shoot and the extension work. That page also explains the EU and New York labeling rules. Learn More → - InsightsAI Rules by Market for Spirits AdvertisingTTB, UK, EU and New York rules for AI-assisted spirits visuals in one place. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeDoes My Ad Need an AI Label?Brent's plain-English guide to which AI images need a label, by market. Learn More → #### Map Where AI Belongs in Your Workflow Book a call and tell Brent how your team makes and approves drinks content today. He will suggest a session, a scoped project or ongoing advisory. Book a Call See the Work --- ## Spirits Brand Consulting: Liquid, Launch Cocktails and Cocktail Programs URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting/drinks Page title: Spirits Brand Consultant for Founders | Brent Herrig Summary: Spirits brand consulting for founders and drinks brands: liquid direction, launch cocktails and cocktail programs, from the CMO behind HH Bespoke Spirits. Drinks and taste consulting Brent Herrig helps spirits founders decide what a new spirit should taste like, which cocktails it launches with and how it looks on camera. As CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits he helped develop its gin and rum, from barrel char to botanicals, and he helped curate cocktails for Koloa Rum Company around their rums. Book a Call HH Bespoke Spirits gin, poured as a negroni. ### One Person for the Liquid, the Serve and the Picture Drinks consultancies usually work on the liquid and the bar; photographers work on the images. Brent Herrig works on both, so the liquid, the launch cocktails and the launch photography are planned by one person, and the serve is built for the camera before launch. Brent was CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits. He helped curate cocktails for Koloa Rum Company around the brand's own rums, keeps a personal recipe collection of more than 400 drinks, and was the principal photographer on two books for The Dead Rabbit, including the award-winning Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award, Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book). ### HH Bespoke Spirits: From Tasting Table to Launch Brent Herrig served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits, the spirits line from Harlem Haberdashery, and helped take the brand from concept through launch. He helped decide the taste profile of the rum, the char levels of the barrels and where the rum would be sourced, and worked through the flavor profile of the gin over hours of tasting and botanical tests until the team reached the blend the brand uses today. He curated every cocktail on the HH Bespoke cocktail page, curated cocktails for specific events, and photographed the brand's classic cocktails. Packaging and bottle development were part of the same role. The liquid itself was produced by a distiller; Brent's part was the brand side of the decision about how it should taste. Classic cocktails curated and photographed for HH Bespoke Spirits. ### For Founders Building a New Spirit or RTD For a new spirit or a ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail, a founder's first decisions are about the liquid, long before the label goes to print or a shoot is booked. Brent Herrig works from the taste profile outward: what the spirit should taste like, which drinks it launches with, and how the bottle and those drinks look once they reach a bar and a screen. #### What Should It Taste Like? The taste profile is set over rounds of tasting that run alongside the distiller's work: which botanicals to test for a gin, what char level the barrels should carry for an aged spirit, and where the base spirit is sourced. The distiller produces the liquid. Brent helps the brand decide what that liquid should be. #### Which Drinks Carry the Launch? A launch needs a small set of signature serves, also called launch cocktails, for the website, social channels and launch events. Brent curates them around the taste profile, so each drink is built on what the spirit tastes like and shows how the liquid works in a glass. #### How Does the Bottle Read on a Back Bar and a Phone? A new bottle has to hold its own on a crowded back bar and on a small screen. Packaging and bottle development were part of the HH Bespoke work, and Brent plans how the bottle and the drinks are presented and photographed, from bottle photography to the launch cocktails on set. ### For Established Brands That Need a Cocktail Program A brand with a range on shelf needs drinks that present each product at its best on the website, on social channels and at events. Brent Herrig curates a cocktail program around the brand's own bottles, so the team has one set of drinks to use in all three places, and the drinks can be photographed as part of the same project. #### Koloa Rum Company For Koloa Rum Company in Kauai, Brent Herrig helped curate cocktails built on the brand's own rums and suggested specific cocktail blends for the brand to feature, then photographed the drinks and the lifestyle imagery. Cocktails Brent helped curate and then photographed for Koloa Rum Company. ### Bars and Hospitality Groups Bars and hospitality groups planning a menu, an opening or a seasonal refresh can bring Brent Herrig in for a smaller piece of work: a look at how their drinks will read on the menu and on camera. The bar team keeps its drinks. This pairs with his bar and menu photography. ### How a Drinks Consulting Project Runs - A first call. Brent comes with real questions about the liquid, who it is for and where the drinks will be seen: a brand's cocktail page, social channels or a launch event. - The taste profile or the bottles on shelf. For a new spirit, Brent works through the brand-side taste decisions with the founder: the taste profile, the botanicals in a gin, the char level of the barrels and where the base spirit is sourced. For an established brand, the work starts from the brand's own bottles, and Brent suggests cocktail blends for the brand to feature. - Serve development. Brent builds and tests candidate drinks around the taste profile or the brand's own bottles. He keeps a personal recipe collection of more than 400 drinks. In his own practice, he experiments with fat-washing, infusions, carbonation and homemade tinctures. - Launch cocktails or a cocktail list. For a founder, the result is a set of launch cocktails and launch ideas for the website, social channels and events. For an established brand, it is a cocktail list with a drink for each SKU, chosen to present that product at its best. - An optional shoot. When photography is part of the project, glassware, garnish, ice and color are chosen to hold up under studio light, so the drinks are planned for the camera from the start. Building a spirit or a cocktail program? Book a call. ### Questions About Drinks and Taste Consulting Q: What does a spirits brand consultant do? A: A spirits brand consultant helps a founder or brand make the decisions around a spirit: how it should taste, which drinks it launches with and how it is presented. Brent Herrig's drinks and taste consulting covers liquid direction for new spirits, taste profiles, botanical and barrel decisions, launch cocktails, and cocktail curation for brand sites, social channels and events. Q: Who hires a drinks consultant when launching a spirit? A: Founders creating a new spirit or ready-to-drink cocktail hire a drinks consultant when they need help with the liquid, the launch cocktails and the launch creative. Established drinks brands hire one for a cocktail program across their website, social channels and events. Brent Herrig's drinks consulting is built for both, founders first, and bars can use it in a smaller role. Q: How is the taste profile of a new spirit developed? A: The taste profile of a new spirit is developed through hours of tasting. For HH Bespoke Spirits, Brent Herrig helped decide the taste profile of the rum, the char level of the barrels and where the rum would be sourced, and tested botanicals for the gin over hours of tasting until the team reached the blend the brand uses today. Q: Why hire a drinks photographer as a spirits brand consultant? A: A drinks photographer who has worked on the liquid itself can plan the taste, the serve and the picture together. Brent Herrig served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits, where he helped take the gin and rum from concept through launch, including packaging and bottle development. He helped curate cocktails for Koloa Rum Company, keeps a recipe collection of more than 400 drinks, and photographed two Dead Rabbit books. Q: What is a signature serve, and does a new spirit need one? A: A signature serve is a drink a new spirit is introduced with, and a launch often uses a small set of them, also called launch cocktails, for the website, social channels and launch events. They show bartenders and drinkers how the liquid works in a glass. Brent Herrig curates them around the spirit's taste profile, then plans how each one is presented and photographed. Q: Can an established spirits brand get a cocktail program built around its products? A: An established spirits brand can get a cocktail program built around its own products. For Koloa Rum Company, Brent Herrig helped curate cocktails built on the brand's rums, suggested specific cocktail blends for the brand to feature, and photographed the drinks and lifestyle imagery. The same approach gives a brand a set of drinks for its website, social channels and events. Q: Can drinks consulting be paired with a photography shoot? A: Drinks consulting can be paired with a photography shoot, so glassware, garnish, ice and color are chosen to hold up under studio light from the start. For HH Bespoke Spirits, Brent Herrig curated and photographed the brand's classic cocktails, so the drinks and the images were planned together rather than handed from one supplier to another. Q: Does Brent Herrig work with bars and hospitality groups on drinks? A: Brent Herrig works with bars and hospitality groups on drinks in a smaller role. Groups planning a menu, an opening or a seasonal refresh can bring him in to look at how the drinks will read on the menu, in print and on camera. The bar team keeps ownership of its drinks. The work sits alongside his bar and menu photography, including two books for The Dead Rabbit. Q: Who decides the flavor profile of a new gin or rum, the distiller or the brand? A: The flavor profile of a new gin or rum is set by the brand's brief and made real by the distiller, who produces the liquid. On HH Bespoke Spirits, Brent Herrig worked on the brand side of that decision: he helped decide the rum's taste profile, barrel char and sourcing, and tested gin botanicals over hours of tasting until the team reached the blend. ### Related Work - Cocktail PhotographerProduct Photography on WhiteClean packshots and serves on white, the format behind the HH Bespoke and Koloa cocktail sets. Learn More → - Cocktail PhotographerCocktail Book PhotographyPrincipal photography on The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and Mixology and Mayhem. Learn More → - Cocktail PhotographerBeverage Lifestyle PhotographyDrinks shot in real settings with people, including the HH Bespoke Spirits and Koloa Rum Company lifestyle work. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceAI ConsultingThe other consulting track: where AI fits in a drinks brand's visual content. Learn More → #### Building a Spirit or a Cocktail Program? Book a call and tell Brent where the liquid is today and what the launch needs. He will come with questions about taste, serve and audience. Book a Call See the Work --- ## Cocktail Photography Portfolio URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/work Page title: Cocktail Photography Portfolio NYC, London | Brent Herrig Summary: Cocktail photography portfolio by Brent Herrig: spirits campaigns, cocktail menus, cocktail books, and motion for brands and bars, from NYC and London. Selected beverage and hospitality work from NYC and London ### A Cross-section of Beverage and Hospitality Work. Brent Herrig is a cocktail photographer based in New York and London, photographing cocktails, spirits, beer, wine, and hospitality for brands, agencies, and restaurant groups, working since 2007. The work here includes campaigns for Ketel One, Chandon and Belvedere, cocktails photographed for Dead Rabbit and Scarpetta Miami, and drinks photographed at the WhistlePig tasting room. Every photograph in the gallery below is original and produced for commercial use. A production day covers 10 to 30 drinks, with hero, supporting, and negative-space angles captured per drink, and pours, loops, and cinemagraphs shot alongside the stills from the same build. Work is organized by category so art buyers, producers, and brand teams can evaluate fit quickly. For process, rates, and usage terms, start with a call or project inquiry. ### Trusted by Cocktail and Spirits Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Cocktail Photography Specialties How cocktail work gets produced for campaigns, books, menus, and motion. Each card opens related work. - Campaign and Advertising Photography Commercial campaign photography for brands and agencies across spirits, beer, wine, and food. Hero builds, supporting angles, and negative-space variants captured as a complete asset set from a single production. Shot design, usage rights, and delivery formats handled for the specific campaign scope. - Editorial and Cookbook Work Editorial and cookbook photography for publications, brands, and chefs. Narrative-led framing, prop sourcing, and food preparation coordinated for print and digital contexts. Work has been published in GQ, Serious Eats and The New York Times, and in cookbooks including The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual. - Hospitality and Menu Photography Full-service photography for hotels, restaurants, and bar programs. Menu cocktails, hero dishes, environmental frames, and F&B program coverage produced in a single coordinated engagement. Consistent lighting and framing across all categories so the brand has a unified visual system. - Motion, Cinemagraphs, and Loops Liquid motion, product animation, and cinemagraph loops produced alongside stills from the same production build for campaign, social, and site use. Shared rig and lighting mean stills and motion are visually matched, and the brand ships a complete content set from one day on set. ### Related Drinks Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Bottle PhotographerBottle photographer for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. Label-accurate packshots, glass control, and lineups for ads and ecommerce. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Beer PhotographerBeer photographer for breweries and beverage brands. Pour builds with controlled head, condensation, packaging, and lifestyle frames. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Cocktail Photography Q: What does a cocktail photographer do? A: A cocktail photographer plans, styles, lights, and shoots drinks so the liquid, ice, glass, and garnish read true on camera. Brent Herrig shoots cocktail menus, spirits campaigns, and editorial work from New York and London, with hero, supporting, and negative-space frames captured for every drink. Q: Which brands has Brent Herrig photographed for? A: Brent Herrig has shot campaigns for Ketel One, Chandon and Belvedere, photographed cocktails for Dead Rabbit and Scarpetta Miami, and photographed drinks at the WhistlePig tasting room. The gallery on this page also includes work for HH Bespoke Spirits and The Botanist. Q: What categories of beverage work do you shoot? A: Cocktails, spirits, beer, wine, bottles on white, bars and hospitality environments, plus tabletop motion work. Each is available as a dedicated production or bundled across a single build day. The drinks photography portfolio covers cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine on one page. Q: How many cocktails can you photograph in one day? A: Most production days cover 10 to 30 drinks, depending on how built each serve is. Every drink gets hero, supporting, and negative-space angles, and larger menus run across two or three days. Q: How quickly are cocktail photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: Can you shoot cocktail video and cinemagraphs on the same day as stills? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, then delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, or animated GIF sized per channel. The tabletop direction portfolio shows pours and loops shot this way. Q: How much does cocktail photography cost? A: Each quote is built from the brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Do you shoot campaigns globally? A: Yes. Brent is based in New York and London and shoots through a network of partner studios, bars and locations in both cities, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE. Most campaigns ship end to end from one of the two bases. Q: How do I start a cocktail photography project? A: Start with a short brief through the contact page. Every inquiry gets a personal reply with next steps and a few questions. The guide to hiring a drinks photographer covers what a usable brief includes. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeBrent Herrig CreativeFull creative portfolio including food, beverage, hospitality, portraits, advertising and motion. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionHybrid production and AI creative services for scaling visuals across platforms. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Bar and Hospitality Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/bars Page title: Bar and Hospitality Photographer NYC, London | Brent Herrig Summary: Bar and hospitality photographer for bars, restaurants, and hotels, NYC and London based. Cocktail menus, bar interiors, and lifestyle frames in one production. Bar photography for hotels, restaurants, and hospitality groups ### Bar Photography for Menus and Marketing. Brent Herrig is a bar and hospitality photographer based in New York and London, shooting cocktail menus, bar interiors, and hospitality lifestyle for bars, restaurants, hotels, and hospitality groups, working since 2007. Bar work includes cocktail menus for BlackTail and the Dead Rabbit in New York and Scarpetta in Miami. Shoots are planned around the operational rhythm of the bar team, and most bookings cover a full menu plus supporting detail and environmental work in a single production, so the property leaves with everything it needs. A production day covers 10 to 30 drinks, with hero, supporting, and negative-space angles per drink. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs can be captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, and selects come back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Bars and Hospitality Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Bar and Restaurant Photography Specialties What a bar, restaurant, or hotel shoot covers, from the full cocktail menu to the room and the social feed. Each card opens related work. - Cocktail Menu Photography Full menu coverage from hero cocktails to detail frames, produced in a single production day with the bar team. Consistent lighting and framing across every drink so the menu reads as one coherent set, with hero, supporting, and negative-space variants per build for print, digital, and social use. - Bar Environment and Lifestyle Frames Environmental frames that give context to the cocktail program without pulling focus from the drink. Bar surfaces, backbar, and room atmosphere captured to match the venue's positioning. Lifestyle and product frames shot together so the full campaign tells one story. - Hotel Food and Beverage Programs Hotel F&B photography coordinated across bar, restaurant, and room service from a single engagement. Product, environmental, and lifestyle coverage produced together so the brand has one consistent visual language across every touchpoint, from menu to social to press. - Restaurant Marketing and Social Social and marketing photography for restaurant groups that works across printed menus, Instagram, paid ads, and press without reshooting for each channel. Formats, crops, and aspect ratios are built into the production plan from the start so every platform has what it needs. ### Related Hospitality Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Beer PhotographerBeer photographer for breweries and beverage brands. Pour builds with controlled head, condensation, packaging, and lifestyle frames. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Bar Photography Q: What does a bar and hospitality photographer do? A: A bar and hospitality photographer shoots cocktail menus, bar interiors, and lifestyle frames for bars, restaurants, hotels, and hospitality groups. Brent Herrig is based in NYC and London and has photographed bar programs including BlackTail and the Dead Rabbit in New York. Q: Do you shoot full cocktail menus in a single day? A: Yes, for most menus. A production day covers 10 to 30 drinks, shot with the bar team, with hero, supporting, and negative-space angles for each drink. Larger menus run across two or three days. Q: Can you capture environmental frames of the bar and room? A: Yes. Environmental frames are usually bundled with the menu shoot, so the venue has interior, detail, and cocktail coverage from the same day. Q: Can one shoot cover a hotel bar, restaurant, and room service together? A: Yes. Hotel food and beverage work can be coordinated across the bar, restaurant, and room service in a single engagement, with product, environmental, and lifestyle coverage produced together. Q: Do you work with our bar team or bring your own bartenders? A: Both. Menu shoots are planned around the venue's own bar team, and the crew can add a drink stylist, a producer, NYC or London bar talent, and vetted hand models when the brief calls for it. Q: Can you shoot pours and video for social on the same day as stills? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, then delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, or animated GIF sized for each channel. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: How much does bar and restaurant photography cost? A: Cost depends on the brief and the usage, so each bar or restaurant shoot is quoted with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: How quickly are bar and restaurant photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: Where do you shoot bar and restaurant work? A: On location at bars, restaurants, and hotels, or in partner studios in New York and London, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioRooms, lobbies, spas, and full hotel F and B coverage beyond the bar. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionScale bar and cocktail content into format variations for social, paid, and seasonal campaigns. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Beer Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/beer Page title: Beer Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Beer photographer for breweries and beverage brands. Pour builds with controlled head, condensation, packaging, and lifestyle frames. NYC and London based. Commercial beer photography for breweries, agencies, and hospitality ### Beer photography that holds up in print and on shelf. Brent Herrig is a beer photographer based in New York and London, shooting pour builds, packaging, and lifestyle frames for breweries, beverage brands, and agencies. Clients include Lumen Beer Co. Every frame is produced with the same control and consistency applied to spirits and cocktail work, and each production captures hero, supporting, and tight detail crops so brand and agency teams can run the same asset across channels without reshooting. Head retention and condensation are built practically on set and timed per frame. Pours and loops are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, and selects come back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Beverage Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Beer Photography Specialties What a beer production covers, from the pour and the head to the pack shot. Each card opens related work. - Craft Beer Campaigns Campaign photography for craft and mainstream brands that puts the product in context without losing the technical precision the category demands. Lifestyle frames, bar placement, and pour builds produced as a coordinated set from a single production, so the campaign ships as one coherent visual package across every channel. - Packaging and Bottle Shots Bottle and can builds with label fidelity, consistent highlight placement, and platform-ready crops for ecommerce, trade materials, and retail point-of-sale. Multi-SKU lineups shot with a repeatable rig so the full range reads consistently. - Pour Builds With Controlled Head Head retention is solved on set, during production. We time pours to lock the head at the right height for each frame, capturing it fresh so the image reads as appetizing and alive. Pour rate, glass angle, and ambient temperature are all managed on set to produce a repeatable result. - Condensation and Texture Frames Condensation signals freshness and cold in a single visual cue. We control bead size, density, and drop behavior on set so the frame reads consistently across every angle of the build. Practical condensation built and timed per frame, no post-production compositing. ### Related Beverage Work - Drinks PhotographerDrinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Beer Photography Q: What does a beer photographer do? A: A beer photographer plans, lights, and shoots beer so the pour, head, condensation, and label read true on camera. Brent Herrig shoots pour builds, packaging, and lifestyle frames for breweries, beverage brands, and agencies from New York and London. Q: How do you handle pour builds and head retention? A: On set, with a fresh pour for every frame, timed so the head sits at the right height. Pour rate, glass angle, and temperature are controlled, and condensation is practical, with no stock overlays. Q: Can you shoot packaging and campaign on the same day? A: Yes. Most beer productions bundle hero packaging, pour builds, and lifestyle frames into a single day when planned in advance. Q: Do you photograph beer cans and bottles for ecommerce? A: Yes. Bottle and can builds are shot with label fidelity, consistent highlight placement, and platform-ready crops for ecommerce, trade, and retail point-of-sale, with multi-SKU lineups on a repeatable rig. See the beverage product photography on white. Q: Can you capture beer pours as video or cinemagraphs? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting on the same production day, so the motion matches the photography. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: How do you keep beer color and labels accurate? A: With color-managed capture and retouch, reference cards on set, and client monitor approval during the shoot. Brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, the physical product stays on set as reference, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: How quickly are beer photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: How much does beer photography cost? A: Cost depends on the brief, and each quote is built from it, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Can a beer shoot be extended with AI? A: Yes. The package and label always come from real photography of the actual product, lit and approved by the brand first. Whether anything else is generated is agreed per brief, in writing, before production. AI then extends the approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants for the media plan. The hybrid production guide explains how it works. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionFor scaling a single beer build into dozens of format variants with brand consistency. Learn More → - Generated frameBrent Herrig CreativeBeer Photography, What Actually MattersPour builds, condensation, head retention, and the production decisions that separate a good beer shot from a great one. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Bottle Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/bottles Page title: Bottle Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Bottle photographer for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. Label-accurate packshots, glass control, and lineups for ads and ecommerce. NYC and London based. Spirit, wine, and beverage bottle photography for advertising and packaging ### Bottle Photography for Packaging and Campaign. Brent Herrig is a bottle photographer based in New York and London, shooting label-accurate bottle work for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. The work runs from the Cincoro evergreen hero to HH Bespoke Spirits, Botanist, and Rivente cognac. Controlled lighting, brand-matched color, and highlight shaping are built for print and screen, with variants for paid media, packaging, and retail so the asset travels across every channel a brand needs. Every build is color-managed from capture through retouch, with the physical bottle on set as reference, brand PMS or hex values matched in grading, and QC frames signed off before final delivery. Selects come back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Spirits Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Bottle Photography Specialties What a bottle build covers, from a single label-accurate hero to a full SKU lineup on white. Each card opens related work. - Label-Accurate Hero Builds Every bottle build starts with brand color references: PMS values, hex codes, or a physical sample. Highlights are shaped to reveal label print without blowing out white areas, and grading is color-managed end to end so what ships matches what the brand approved. QC frames are delivered before final output as standard. - Reflective Glass Control Glass surfaces pick up environmental reflections that compete with the product. Controlled studio lighting and custom flags remove unwanted reflections while keeping the surface character that makes glass feel premium. The result is a clean, accurate frame built for print and screen. - Packaging Lineups and Groupings Multi-SKU lineups need consistent lighting ratios and perspective across every bottle so the family reads as one coherent range. A repeatable rig holds across the full lineup and produces frames that composite cleanly into retail, trade, and ecommerce materials without additional retouching. - Ecommerce-Ready White Backgrounds Clean white backgrounds built to retailer spec. Amazon, Target, and DTC platform requirements are handled at the production stage, with color management and crop values locked before delivery, so the asset goes live without additional art department work. ### Related Spirits Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Spirits Advertising PhotographerNYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. View Portfolio → - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Bottle Photography Q: What is bottle photography? A: Bottle photography is commercial product photography of spirits, wine, and beverage bottles for packaging, advertising, and ecommerce. The label, the glass, and the liquid color all have to read accurately, so lighting, reflections, and grading are controlled against brand reference. Q: Can you match existing packaging and brand guidelines? A: Yes. Brand guidelines, PMS or hex values, and prior campaign references are reviewed ahead of production so the frame matches the brand system. Q: How do you keep a bottle label accurate on camera? A: Label accuracy comes from a color-managed pipeline from capture through retouch. The physical bottle stays on set as reference, brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: How do you control reflections on glass bottles? A: Controlled studio lighting and custom flags remove the environmental reflections that compete with the product. The surface character that makes glass feel premium stays, so the bottle reads clean and accurate. Q: Can you photograph a full product lineup? A: Yes. Multi-SKU lineups are shot on a repeatable rig with consistent lighting ratios and perspective, so every bottle in the range matches and the frames composite cleanly into retail, trade, and ecommerce materials. Q: Do you cover ecommerce white backgrounds and campaign in one day? A: Often, yes. With planning, a single production can cover white-background ecommerce frames plus lifestyle or advertising frames for the same SKU. See the on-white product portfolio. Q: How quickly are bottle photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: How much does bottle photography cost? A: Each quote is built from the brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Can a bottle shot be extended with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, drink, setting, or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. AI then extends approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants for the media plan. The hybrid production guide covers how the two fit together. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionTurn a single bottle hero into dozens of contextual scenes with AI extensions. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioHotel, restaurant, and resort photography when the brief calls for more than the bottle. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Cocktail Book Photography URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/cocktail-books Page title: Cocktail Book Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Photographer of The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and Mixology & Mayhem. Recipe book, menu, and editorial cocktail photography for bars, brands, and publishers. Recipe book, menu, and editorial cocktail photography for bars and publishers ### Cocktail Book Photography, Built as One Cohesive Volume. Brent Herrig is the principal photographer behind The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015) and The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem (2018), both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Signature serves, parlor drinks, and editorial frames are produced to a single lighting and styling system, so a full book of recipes reads as one body of work. Hero and supporting angles are captured per serve for flexible layout across print and digital. Work spans published cocktail books, printed menus, and editorial features for bar programs, brands, and publishers. Every photograph in the gallery is shot on set and produced for commercial and print use. Published Work ### The Dead Rabbit Cocktail Books Brent Herrig was principal photographer on two books from the Dead Rabbit, the New York bar, both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Principal Photographer, 2015 #### The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual Secret Recipes and Barroom Tales from Two Belfast Boys Who Conquered the Cocktail World The bar's original recipes, built as variations on drinks from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries and arranged in 11 chapters along that timeline, alongside the story of the two Belfast founders behind the Dead Rabbit. Brent Herrig shot the book as principal photographer. Winner, 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book Authors Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry, and Ben Schaffer Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015 ISBN 9780544373204 View on Amazon Principal Photographer, 2018 #### The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem The Story of John Morrissey and the World's Best Cocktail Menu The Dead Rabbit menu told as a six-part graphic novel set in 1970s Hell's Kitchen, its hero channeling John Morrissey of the 1850s Dead Rabbits gang, plus 100 more craft cocktails. Brent Herrig shot the book as principal photographer. Authors Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry, and Jillian Vose Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018 ISBN 9781328451873 View on Amazon ### Trusted by Bars and Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Cocktail Book Photography Specialties How a book, a menu, or a bar program gets shot as one consistent body of work. Each card opens related work. - Recipe and Menu Books Full cocktail book production from spec list to final plate. Each serve is built, styled, and lit to a consistent system so a book of fifty drinks reads as one cohesive volume. Hero and supporting angles captured per recipe for layout flexibility across print and digital editions. - Signature Serve Photography House and signature serves shot to brand standard, with glassware, ice, garnish, and liquid color managed for accuracy. The same rig and lighting hold across the full menu so every drink belongs to the same family in print and on the page. - Editorial and Print Narrative-led framing for cocktail books, features, and printed menus. Composition, props, and negative space planned for headline, caption, and recipe placement, with files delivered to print resolution and crop safety from the start. - Bar Program Documentation End-to-end documentation of a bar program for publication or archive. Menus, signature serves, and the room captured in a single coordinated build so a venue has a complete, reusable visual record of the program at a point in time. ### Related Photography and Motion Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Spirits Advertising PhotographerNYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Cocktail Book Photography Q: Which cocktail books has Brent Herrig photographed? A: Brent Herrig was principal photographer on two Dead Rabbit books from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015), winner of the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book, and The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem (2018). Q: Can you shoot an entire cocktail book in one production? A: Yes. Most book productions cover the full recipe list across scheduled build days, with hero and supporting angles per serve so the layout has options without a reshoot. Q: How many cocktails can be photographed in a day for a book? A: Most production days cover 10 to 30 drinks, depending on how built each serve is, with hero and supporting angles captured per recipe. Q: How do you keep a whole cocktail book visually consistent? A: Every serve is built, styled, and lit to one system, and the same rig and lighting hold across the full recipe list, so a book of fifty drinks reads as one volume. Q: Do you deliver print-ready files? A: Yes. Files are delivered to print resolution with crop safety and color managed to reference, ready for the publisher or design team. Q: Do you photograph cocktail menus for bars as well as books? A: Yes. Menus and signature serves use the same system, and a full menu can be captured in one coordinated production day with hero and supporting angles per drink. See the bar and hospitality portfolio. Q: Can a book shoot also produce social and launch content? A: Yes. Negative-space crops and motion loops can come out of the same production, and AI-assisted extensions turn approved frames into social and promotional variants without a reshoot. Q: Where are you based for cocktail book shoots? A: Based in New York and London, with a network of partner studios, bars and locations in both cities, and production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE for location work in bars and restaurants. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeEditorial PortfolioFull editorial and cookbook work across food, drink, and hospitality. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend a book shoot into social and promotional variants without a reshoot. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Commercial Beverage and Coffee Photography URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/commercial-beverage Page title: Commercial Beverage and Coffee Photographer | Brent Herrig Summary: NYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. Brand beverage, coffee, and non-alcoholic drink photography and motion ### Commercial Beverage and Coffee, Captured as Stills and Motion. Brent Herrig is a commercial beverage photographer based in New York and London, shooting soft drinks, coffee, and mixed beverages for brands and agencies. Stills and motion are built from the same rig, so a single production covers packaging, social, and out-of-home, with vertical and horizontal frames captured to spec for every placement. Work on this page includes Pepsi fountain cups for cinema and stadium concessions, Pepsi Mango menu frames, and Nespresso coffee builds shot as stills and motion. Work spans brand beverage campaigns, coffee and hot drink builds, and pour-driven motion. Brand colors are matched in grading, selects come back within 48 hours, and every photograph in the gallery is shot on set and produced for commercial use. ### Trusted by Beverage Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Commercial Beverage Photography Specialties A beverage production can run from a single soft drink packshot to coffee motion and campaign frames. Each card opens related work. - Brand Beverage and Soft Drinks Product and serve photography for soft drinks, RTDs, and non-alcoholic brands. Cups, cans, and pours lit for condensation, color, and label fidelity, with formats planned for retail, menu, and digital placement from a single build. - Coffee and Hot Drinks Coffee, milk pours, and hot drink builds shot as stills and motion. Steam, crema, and pour timing directed on set so the appetite cues read on a small screen, with vertical and horizontal frames captured for social and out-of-home. - Beverage Motion and Pours Pour sequences, top-down builds, and storm effects produced alongside stills from the same rig. Loops and short social cuts delivered in vertical and horizontal so a single production covers the full media plan. - Campaign and Packaging Frames Hero and supporting frames built to packaging and campaign spec, with negative space for headline and logo placement. Files delivered to resolution and crop safety for print, transit, and digital placements. ### Related Drinks Work - Drinks PhotographerDrinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Beer PhotographerBeer photographer for breweries and beverage brands. Pour builds with controlled head, condensation, packaging, and lifestyle frames. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Beverage Photography Q: What is commercial beverage photography? A: Commercial beverage photography is product, serve, and motion photography of soft drinks, coffee, RTDs, and mixed drinks for packaging, menus, advertising, and social. Brent Herrig shoots it from New York and London, with stills and motion built from the same rig and lighting. Q: Do you shoot stills and motion in the same production? A: Yes. Stills and motion are captured from a shared rig and lighting setup on the same production day, so the brand ships a complete content set in vertical and horizontal from one day on set. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: Can you handle non-alcoholic and brand beverage work? A: Yes. Soft drinks, coffee, and RTD brands are a core part of the work, produced to the same standard as spirits and cocktail campaigns. Packshots for cans, cups, and bottles sit in the beverage product photography portfolio. Q: How do you photograph coffee and hot drinks? A: Coffee is shot as stills and motion, with steam, crema, and pour timing directed on set so the appetite cues read on a small screen. Milk pours, top-down builds, and hot drink serves are captured in vertical and horizontal frames for social and out-of-home. Q: Which motion formats do you deliver for beverage brands? A: Motion is delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel. Looping variants are cut for social feeds and site hero use. Q: How do you keep brand colors accurate on cans, cups, and packaging? A: Brand colors stay accurate through color-managed capture and retouch, with reference cards on set and client monitor approval during the shoot. Brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: How quickly are beverage photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: How much does commercial beverage photography cost? A: The cost depends on the brief, and each quote breaks out creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage as separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Where are you based for beverage shoots? A: Brent Herrig is based in New York and London and works through a network of partner studios, bars and locations, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE for location work. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionMultiply a beverage shoot into the full set of social and OOH variants. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeFull Creative PortfolioFood, beverage, and hospitality work beyond commercial beverage. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Drinks Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/drinks Page title: Drinks Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Drinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. Commercial beverage photography for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine ### Drinks Photography, Built for Commercial Use. Brent Herrig is a drinks photographer based in New York and London, shooting cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine for brands, agencies, and hospitality groups, working since 2007. Commercial work includes cocktail menus for The Dead Rabbit and BlackTail in New York. A production day covers 10 to 30 drinks, with hero, supporting, and negative-space crops captured per build so brand teams can run the same drink across display, social, print, and menu. Selects come back within 48 hours. Work spans spirits advertising, cocktail menu photography, beer and wine campaigns, and hospitality environments. Liquid motion and cinemagraphs are captured alongside stills from the same production, not bolted on as a separate engagement. ### Trusted by Drinks Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Drinks Photography Specialties What a drinks production day covers, from a single cocktail to a full menu and motion. Each card opens the full portfolio for that work. - Cocktails and Mixed Drinks Full cocktail builds from spec to final frame. Glassware selection, ice control, garnish placement, and liquid color managed for each recipe. Hero, supporting, and negative-space angles captured per build so the brand has complete asset coverage without revisiting the production. - Spirits and Neat Pours Neat and on-the-rocks pours for spirits brands, produced with the same precision as a full cocktail build. The glass, pour depth, and lighting are selected to make the spirit itself the subject, with color accuracy maintained against brand reference throughout grading. - Beer and Wine Campaigns Campaign-grade beer and wine photography integrated into broader brand or hospitality shoots. Consistent lighting ratios and hero formats that match the standards of dedicated category shoots, so the full campaign reads as a single unified body of work. - Hospitality Menu Photography Full cocktail menus captured in a single coordinated production day. Hero frames and supporting angles per drink, delivered with consistent lighting and crop so the menu reads as a unified set across print, digital, and social formats. - Liquid Motion and Loops Motion capture alongside stills from the same production build. Cinemagraphs, pour sequences, and continuous loops delivered as part of the same campaign package, not as a separate engagement. Shared rig and lighting keep stills and motion visually coherent. ### Related Beverage Work - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Bottle PhotographerBottle photographer for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. Label-accurate packshots, glass control, and lineups for ads and ecommerce. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Drink Photography Q: What does a drinks photographer do? A: A drinks photographer plans, styles, lights, and shoots beverages so the liquid, ice, glass, and label read true on camera. Brent Herrig shoots cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine for brands, agencies, and hospitality groups, with hero, supporting, and negative-space frames captured for every drink. Q: How many drinks can you photograph in one day? A: Most production days cover 10 to 30 drinks, depending on how built each serve is. Every drink gets a hero frame plus supporting and negative-space angles, and larger menus run across two or three days. Q: Do you shoot drinks on location or in a studio? A: Both. Controlled hero builds run in a partner studio in New York or London. Location shoots cover bars, restaurants, hotels, and brand spaces when the setting is part of the story. Q: How quickly are drink photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: Do you provide drink stylists, bartenders, and hand models? A: Yes. Crew is built around the brief and can include a drink stylist, NYC or London bar talent, and vetted hand models for pours and builds. Coordination is handled as part of production. Q: Can you shoot video and cinemagraphs on the same day as stills? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, so the motion matches the photography and ships in the same package. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: How much does drinks photography cost? A: Each quote is built from the brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: How do you keep color consistent across a full drinks menu? A: Color-managed capture and retouch, reference cards on set, and client monitor approval during the shoot, so the full lineup reads as one consistent set. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioFor full environmental hospitality coverage including rooms, lobbies, and F and B spaces. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionHybrid shoot plus AI extension for multiplying beverage assets across formats. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Beverage Lifestyle Photography URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/lifestyle Page title: Beverage Lifestyle Photographer NYC, London | Brent Herrig Summary: Beverage lifestyle photography and motion for drinks brands. Cocktails, spirits, and coffee shot in real settings with people. Based in NYC and London. In-context cocktail, spirits, and coffee lifestyle photography and motion ### Beverage Lifestyle, Shot in Context. Brent Herrig is a beverage lifestyle photographer based in New York and London, shooting cocktails, spirits, and coffee in real settings with people and place around the drink. Drinks are photographed where they live, on the bar, in the hand, in the room, with the environment carrying the story while the product stays the subject. Stills and motion are produced from the same build for social, web, and campaign use. Lifestyle work here includes Koloa Rum, HH Bespoke Spirits, Chandon and Belvedere, and Nespresso. Work spans in-context cocktail and spirits lifestyle, coffee and hot drink moments, and location production across the US, UK, EU, and UAE. Every photograph in the gallery is shot on set and produced for commercial use, with selects back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Drinks Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Beverage Lifestyle Photography Specialties Lifestyle work puts the drink in a real setting, with people, motion, and location built into one production. Each card opens related work. - In-Context Drink Photography Drinks photographed in real settings, on the bar, in the hand, in the room, so the product reads as part of a moment rather than a studio cutout. Environment, light, and styling are balanced to keep the drink the subject while the setting carries the story. - People and Hospitality Moments Natural, unforced lifestyle frames with talent and hospitality context. Comfortable direction and candid timing produce images that feel real, suitable for brand, social, and editorial use across a campaign. - Lifestyle Motion and Loops Stop motion, pour sequences, and ambient loops shot in context alongside stills. Vertical and horizontal cuts are delivered for social and out-of-home, so the lifestyle story runs across the full media plan from one production. - Location and Travel Production Lifestyle production on location, from beach and resort to bar and home settings. Logistics, talent, and prop coordination are handled so a single travel build returns a complete set of usable lifestyle assets. ### Related Photography and Motion Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Spirits Advertising PhotographerNYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Lifestyle Drinks Photography Q: What is beverage lifestyle photography? A: Beverage lifestyle photography shows drinks in real settings, on the bar, in the hand, or in the room, with people and place around them. The drink stays the subject while the setting carries the story, for social, web, and campaign use. Q: Where do you shoot lifestyle drinks photography? A: Brent Herrig shoots lifestyle drinks photography from New York and London, using a network of partner studios, bars and locations, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE. Location work covers beach and resort settings, bars, and homes. Q: Do you provide talent and locations for lifestyle shoots? A: Yes, talent casting, location scouting, and prop coordination are handled as part of production. Talent, props, and locations are contracted for the usage scope defined in the brief. Crew is built around the brief and can include assistants, a digital tech, a drink stylist, and a producer. Q: Can lifestyle motion be shot alongside stills? A: Yes, stop motion, pours, and ambient loops are captured from the same setup and lighting as the stills, on the same production day. Clips are cut in vertical and horizontal, so one production covers social and out-of-home. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: What formats does lifestyle motion come in? A: Lifestyle motion is delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel, with looping variants for social and site hero use. Q: Can a lifestyle shoot be extended with AI? A: Yes, approved lifestyle frames can be extended with AI into new backgrounds, formats, and seasonal or market variants without a reshoot. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, drink, setting, or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. See how hybrid production works. Q: How quickly are lifestyle photos delivered? A: Lifestyle selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: How much does lifestyle drinks photography cost? A: Cost depends on the brief, and each quote lists creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage as separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run, in which territories, and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide explains each line. Q: How do I start a lifestyle shoot? A: Send a short brief through the contact page. Every inquiry gets a personal reply with next steps and a few questions. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioFull environmental hospitality coverage for rooms, bars, and resort settings. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend a lifestyle shoot into seasonal and market variants without a reshoot. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Liquid Motion and Cinemagraphs URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/liquid-motion Page title: Liquid Motion and Cinemagraph Photographer | Brent Herrig Summary: Liquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. Pour builds, splash, and cinemagraph loops for brand campaigns ### Liquid Motion, Built for Brands. Brent Herrig is a liquid motion and cinemagraph photographer based in New York and London, capturing pour builds, splash frames, and looping video for beverage brands. Work runs from Ketel One martini loops to Chandon pours and Lumen beer, and it pairs with the still campaign rather than replacing it. Motion is captured on the same production day with the same lighting rig, so the brand gets a fully integrated asset package from one build. Files deliver as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel, with looping variants for social and site hero use. Social formats at 9:16, 4:5, and 1:1 are planned into the shot list before the shoot day, alongside the horizontal hero frames. ### Trusted by Drinks Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Liquid Motion Specialties Four kinds of liquid capture, each planned into the same build as the stills. Each card opens related work. - Pour Builds and Splash Captures High-speed pour captures that freeze the liquid at the moment of maximum visual impact. Mid-pour, impact splash, or controlled drip, the timing and pour rate are managed on set to repeat the frame. Stills and motion captured from the same sequence so the campaign has both asset types at matching quality. - Cinemagraphs and Continuous Loops Cinemagraphs built from a single still frame with one element animated. A rising bubble column, a slow pour, a drifting garnish. Delivered as looping MP4, WebM, and animated GIF files for web and social. The still and animated versions are matched so either can be used as the hero frame. - Macro and High-Speed Liquid Frames Close-range capture of liquid detail at macro scale. Surface texture, condensation bead, carbonation, and drop impact recorded with precision lighting and fast shutter speeds. Used as supporting frames in campaigns and editorial, and as standalone social content. - Social-Ready Vertical Loops Looping motion assets built to social format specs. 9:16, 4:5, and 1:1 captured alongside horizontal hero frames from the same production build so the campaign ships complete. Format planning is built into the shot list before the day starts, not handled as a crop in post. ### Related Drinks Work - Drinks PhotographerDrinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Wine PhotographerWine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Liquid Motion and Cinemagraphs Q: What is liquid motion photography? A: Liquid motion photography captures pours, splashes, drips, and bubbles at high speed, as frozen stills or as short looping video. Timing and pour rate are managed on set so the frame can be repeated. Q: What is a cinemagraph? A: A cinemagraph is a still photograph with one element in motion, such as a rising bubble column, a slow pour, or a drifting garnish, delivered as a looping file. The still and animated versions are matched so either can run as the hero frame. Q: Can cinemagraphs be captured in the same session as stills? A: Yes. Motion and stills typically run on the same production day with shared lighting and set build, so the assets feel like a single campaign. Q: What formats do you deliver motion in? A: Motion delivers as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel. Looping variants are provided for social and site hero use. Q: Do you shoot vertical loops for social? A: Yes. Loops at 9:16, 4:5, and 1:1 are captured alongside the horizontal hero frames from the same build. Format planning goes into the shot list before the day starts rather than being handled as a crop in post. Q: Do you provide hand models and bar talent for pour shots? A: Yes. Crew is built around the brief and can include a drink stylist, a digital tech, NYC or London bar talent, and vetted hand models for pours. Coordination is handled as part of production. Q: How quickly are files delivered after a liquid motion shoot? A: Selects from a liquid motion shoot come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: Can a liquid capture be extended with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, drink, setting, or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. AI then extends approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants. The hybrid production guide walks through the process. Q: How much does liquid motion production cost? A: Liquid motion is quoted per brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the files run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend a single liquid capture into scene variants and seasonal edits. Learn More → - Generated frameBrent Herrig CreativeHybrid Production, ExplainedHow shoot plus AI extension works in practice, from first brief to final delivery across every format. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Beverage Product Photography on White URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/on-white Page title: Product Photography on White, NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Beverage product photography on white for spirits, wine, beer, and packaged drinks. Ecommerce, trade, and catalog packshots. NYC and London based. Packshot and ecommerce photography for beverage SKUs ### Packshot Photography Built for Retailers and Ecommerce. Brent Herrig is a beverage product photographer based in New York and London, shooting spirits, wine, beer, and packaged drinks on white for ecommerce, trade, and catalog use. Brands photographed on white include Ketel One, Belvedere, Koloa Rum, HH Bespoke Spirits, and Pepsi. Consistent lighting, crop, and color hold across a full SKU lineup, so brand teams can run a catalog without the visual drift that comes from multiple sessions. Packshots deliver with clipping paths and sized exports per retailer spec. Selects come back within 48 hours, and color is managed from capture through retouch, with the physical bottle on set and QC frames signed off before final delivery. ### Trusted by Spirits and Beverage Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### On-White Product Photography Specialties What a packshot production covers, from one hero bottle to a full range on white. Each card opens related work. - Single SKU Hero Packshots Clean, label-accurate hero frames on white for spirits, wine, beer, and packaged drinks. Highlight placement, crop, and color management are built to platform spec so the asset goes live without rework. Each packshot includes shadow treatment and background values locked to the client's existing standards. - Full-Lineup Consistent Framing Multi-SKU lineups shot with consistent lighting ratios, perspective, and crop across every product, so the range reads as one coordinated family in retail and trade materials. The rig is documented and held across the full lineup, so new SKUs can be added later to match the established set. - Ecommerce-Ready Deliverables Assets sized and cropped to Amazon, Target, and DTC retailer requirements at the production stage. Background values, shadow treatment, and file format are handled to spec before delivery, so the asset goes straight to upload without art department rework. - Trade and Catalog Photography High-volume trade and catalog shoots for distributors, importers, and brand teams who need consistent product imagery across a full portfolio of SKUs. Efficient rig design and production flow cover 15 to 40 products per day while holding label fidelity and highlight control. ### Related Bottle and Product Work - Bottle PhotographerBottle photographer for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. Label-accurate packshots, glass control, and lineups for ads and ecommerce. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Spirits Advertising PhotographerNYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Product Photography on White Q: What is product photography on white? A: Product photography on white is a clean packshot of a bottle, can, or glass on a white background, lit so the label, liquid color, and shape read accurately. It is the standard format for ecommerce listings, trade sheets, and catalogs. Q: Can you match existing packshot standards for a retailer? A: Yes. Amazon, Target, and DTC retailer specs are handled directly, with dimensions, crop, and background values matched to each platform's requirements. Q: How many SKUs can you cover in one day? A: An on-white production day covers 15 to 40 SKUs, depending on complexity, with a hero frame plus supporting angles per product. Q: Do you deliver clipping paths and retailer-sized exports? A: Yes. Packshots deliver with clipping paths and exports sized to each retailer's spec, so files go straight to upload. Q: How do you keep label color accurate on white? A: Through color-managed capture and retouch. Reference cards and the physical bottle stay on set, brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: Can new SKUs be shot later to match an existing range? A: Yes. The rig, lighting ratios, perspective, and crop are documented and held across the lineup, so SKUs shot later match the established set. Bottle lineups are in the bottle photography portfolio. Q: How quickly are packshots delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: Can a white packshot be extended into campaign scenes with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, drink, setting, or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. AI then extends approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants, so one packshot can feed several channels. The hybrid production guide covers how it works. Q: How much does product photography on white cost? A: Each quote is built from the brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend a white-background hero into scene variants for paid media without reshooting. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeFull Creative PortfolioFood, beverage, and hospitality work beyond the packshot, including campaign and editorial. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Spirits Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/spirits Page title: Spirits Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Spirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. Spirits photography for advertising, packaging, and hospitality ### Spirits Photography, Built for Campaign Scale. Brent Herrig is a spirits photographer based in New York and London. Bottle builds, neat pours, on-the-rocks, and signature cocktails for spirits brands including Ketel One, Cincoro, 818 Tequila, Koloa Rum, and HH Bespoke Spirits, produced under the controlled conditions that keep agency and packaging teams confident in the asset. Every production targets hero frames, supporting angles, and negative-space variants so the work lives across formats without revisits. Label fidelity and liquid color are matched to brand reference from capture through retouch, with the physical bottle on set and QC frames signed off before final delivery. ### Trusted by Spirits Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Spirits Photography Specialties What changes when the bottle is the subject, category by category. Each card opens related work. - Tequila and Mezcal Tequila and mezcal builds require precise label management and glass interaction. I work with both clear and aged expressions, controlling pour depth and background density so the liquid reads accurately against the bottle color and label print. Blanco through extra anejo, each tone is graded against brand reference before final delivery. - Whiskey, Bourbon, and Rye Neat pours and on-the-rocks builds for whisk(e)y require managing amber transparency, ice clarity, and condensation timing. Each frame captures the color depth and warmth that makes the category feel premium without losing the label details clients need for packaging and trade use. - Vodka, Gin, and Rum Clear spirits demand precise lighting control. The bottle becomes invisible without the right backlight and edge separation. I shape each frame with reflective management that keeps the liquid present and the label readable, building in the negative space that campaign and packaging use cases require. - Bottle and Label-Accurate Builds Label fidelity is non-negotiable for spirits clients. Brand PMS values are matched during grading, and QC frames are delivered before final output so the art buyer can sign off before we wrap. Every bottle build is documented with lighting diagrams so future productions match the established standard. - Spirit-Forward Cocktails and Pours Signature cocktails built around the lead spirit, not garnish-forward lifestyle frames. The spirit reads as the hero, with glassware, pour angle, and garnish selected to reinforce the brand identity. Hero, supporting, and negative-space variants captured per recipe so the campaign ships complete. ### Related Drinks Work - Spirits Advertising PhotographerNYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → - Cocktail Book PhotographyPhotographer of The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual and Mixology & Mayhem. Recipe book, menu, and editorial cocktail photography for bars, brands, and publishers. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Spirits Photography Q: What is spirits photography? A: Spirits photography is commercial photography of bottles, pours, and spirit-led cocktails for advertising, packaging, ecommerce, and hospitality. The bottle and the liquid are the subject, so label fidelity and liquid color have to survive brand approval. Q: Which spirits categories do you photograph? A: Tequila, mezcal, whiskey, bourbon, rye, vodka, gin, rum, cognac, brandy, and liqueurs, with bottle, neat, rocks, and cocktail builds for each. Q: How do you handle brand color and label fidelity? A: A color-managed pipeline from capture through retouch. The physical bottle stays on set as reference, brand PMS or hex values are matched during grading, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: How do you photograph clear spirits like vodka and gin? A: A clear bottle disappears without backlight and edge separation, so each frame is built with controlled reflections that keep the liquid present and the label readable, plus the negative space campaign layouts need. Q: Can a spirits shoot be extended with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, drink, setting, or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. AI then extends approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants for the media plan. The TTB and AI guide covers where the lines sit. Q: Can you clear a shoot for global usage? A: Yes. Talent, props, and locations are contracted for the usage scope defined in the brief. Buyouts and extensions are quoted per engagement. Q: Do you shoot global spirits campaigns? A: Yes. Most campaigns run end to end from New York or London, through a network of partner studios, bars and locations, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE for location work. Q: How quickly are spirits photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionFor scaling a single spirits build into multi-format paid media variants. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeSpirits Photography for AdvertisingA production primer on what it takes to build spirits campaign assets that hold up across paid media, packaging, and out-of-home. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Spirits Advertising Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/spirits-advertising Page title: Spirits Advertising Photographer | Brent Herrig Summary: NYC and London based spirits advertising photographer. Campaign hero frames, cocktails, and motion for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media placements. Campaign photography for spirits, liqueurs, and RTD brands ### Spirits Advertising, Built for Scale. Brent Herrig is a spirits advertising photographer based in New York and London, and has worked as a photographer since 2007. His campaign photography for spirits, liqueurs, and RTD brands includes work for Chandon, Belvedere, Ketel One, Baileys, The Botanist, Koloa Rum, and Averna across print, out-of-home, social, and digital. Every campaign is scoped around deliverables: hero frames, supporting angles, and media-ready crops so the work runs across the full media plan from the same production. Usage is defined per engagement by use case, territory, and term, with talent, props, and locations contracted for that scope. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, and selects come back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Spirits Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Spirits Advertising Specialties A spirits campaign is planned so one production covers the full media plan. Each card opens related work. - Global Campaign Photography End-to-end campaign photography for spirits brands with global distribution. Shot design, usage rights, and delivery formats handled for markets across the US, UK, EU, and UAE. Production managed from NYC and London bases, with talent and prop clearance coordinated for the specific usage scope defined in the brief. - Out-of-Home and Print Advertising High-resolution hero frames built with the bleed, crop safety, and resolution requirements of billboard, transit, and print placements. Negative-space variants included as standard so the brand has frames ready for headline and logo placement without reshooting. Files delivered to spec for each placement type. - Social and Paid Media Variants Multiple format variants captured from a single production build. Horizontal, vertical, square, and close-crop angles planned into the shot list before the day starts. The campaign runs across display, social, and OOH from one shoot, and every format has a native frame rather than a cropped version of the hero. - Hero Plus Supporting Asset Builds Full campaign packages with hero, secondary, and tertiary frames captured per build. The rig stays live so supporting angles match the hero in lighting and color, and brands leave with complete asset coverage from one production. ### Related Spirits Work - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Bottle PhotographerBottle photographer for spirits, wine, and beverage brands. Label-accurate packshots, glass control, and lineups for ads and ecommerce. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Tabletop Director and PhotographerNYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Spirits Advertising Photography Q: What is spirits advertising photography? A: Spirits advertising photography is campaign photography of bottles, pours, and spirit-led cocktails built for print, out-of-home, social, and paid media. Each production is planned around the media plan, with hero, supporting, and negative-space frames captured per build. Q: Do you shoot global campaigns end to end? A: Yes. Campaigns are produced from New York and London, using a network of partner studios, bars and locations, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE when the brief calls for a location. Usage rights and talent buyouts are handled per engagement. Q: How do you handle campaign versions and market variants? A: Market variants are captured on set where possible, so lighting stays consistent across every version. Layout variants and market-specific versions are built into the retouching scope, so the campaign ships as one coordinated package. Q: What deliverables come out of a spirits advertising shoot? A: A full campaign package: hero frames, supporting angles, and negative-space variants for headline and logo placement, with horizontal, vertical, square, and close-crop formats planned into the shot list. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs can be captured from the same build and lighting on the same day. Q: How do you keep the bottle and label accurate in campaign images? A: Through color-managed capture and retouch with the physical bottle kept on set as reference. Brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, the client approves on a monitor during the shoot, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: How is usage licensed for spirits advertising images? A: Usage is defined per engagement by use case, territory, and term. Talent, props, and locations are contracted for that usage scope, and buyouts and extensions are quoted per engagement. Q: How much does spirits advertising photography cost? A: Cost is set by the brief, and each quote breaks out creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage as separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run, in which territories, and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide explains every line. Q: Can AI extend a spirits advertising shoot into more formats? A: Yes, once the brand has approved the photography. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, lit and approved first. Whether anything else is generated is agreed per brief, in writing, before production. AI then extends those approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants for the media plan. The guide to TTB compliance and AI in spirits advertising covers where the lines sit. Q: How quickly are spirits campaign images delivered? A: Campaign selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionFor multiplying a campaign shoot into the full set of paid media variants. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioFor bar, hotel, and resort context that often pairs with spirits campaigns. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Tabletop Director and Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/tabletop-director Page title: Tabletop Director NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: NYC and London based tabletop director for beverage and food campaigns. Pours, action sequences, and tabletop video directed on set, with stills from one build. Directing tabletop video and motion for beverage campaigns ### Direction for Tabletop, Motion, and Pour. Brent Herrig is a tabletop director and photographer based in New York and London, directing tabletop video, pours, and action sequences for beverage and food campaigns. The direction ships with the stills campaign rather than as a separate engagement, from directed Ketel One pours to Chandon champagne sequences. Shot design, lighting direction, and talent choreography are built so motion and stills read as one coherent brand moment across every channel they land in. Motion is captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting on the same production day, then delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel. Crew is built around the brief, from a drink stylist and digital tech to vetted hand models for pours. ### Trusted by Beverage Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Tabletop Direction Specialties One directed tabletop build produces the pours, loops, and stills for the same campaign. Each card opens related work. - Tabletop Video Direction Shot design, lighting direction, and camera coordination for tabletop video. Motion and stills are produced from the same rig and lighting setup, so the campaign assets read as one body of work. Direction covers angle, timing, talent choreography, and post references from the same brief. - Food and Beverage Motion Directed motion for food and drink campaigns. Pour sequences, action frames, product reveals, and lifestyle setups built to agency and brand specifications, either with a dedicated DP or as combined still-and-motion production handled in a single build. - Pour and Action Sequences Choreographed pour, drop, and splash sequences directed on set and captured frame by frame or in continuous motion. Stills and video variants come from the same sequence, so both asset types are production-matched and can run as a coordinated campaign set. - Integrated Stills and Motion Campaigns Campaigns where stills and motion are designed together from the brief stage rather than produced as two separate engagements. The lighting, prop set, and visual language are set once, and both asset types are captured from the same build. Fewer production days, more coherent output. ### Related Photography and Motion Work - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → - Drinks PhotographerDrinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Tabletop Directing Q: What does tabletop direction cover? A: Tabletop direction covers shot design, camera and lighting direction, talent choreography for hand models, and coordination with the agency, DP, and post team. It runs alongside still capture on the same set. Q: Do you direct for other tabletop DPs or shoot it yourself? A: Both. Brent Herrig directs alongside a separate DP when the campaign calls for it, or shoots the motion in house as part of the same still production. Q: Can stills and motion be shot on the same production day? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, so the motion matches the photography and ships in the same package. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: What formats is tabletop motion delivered in? A: Motion is delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF, sized per channel. Looping variants are provided for social and site hero use. Q: Do you provide hand models, stylists, and crew for tabletop shoots? A: Yes. Crew is built around the brief and can include assistants, a digital tech, a drink stylist, a producer, NYC or London bar talent, and vetted hand models for pours and builds. Coordination is handled as part of production. Q: How do you keep product and brand color accurate on a tabletop set? A: Through color-managed capture and retouch, reference cards on set, and client monitor approval during the shoot. The physical bottle stays on set as reference, brand PMS or hex values are matched in grading, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Q: Can a directed tabletop shoot be extended with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, lit and approved by the brand first. Whether anything else is generated is agreed per brief, in writing, before production. AI then extends the approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and variants for the media plan. The hybrid production guide walks through the process. Q: How much does tabletop direction cost? A: Tabletop direction is quoted per brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the work runs and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Where are tabletop productions based? A: Tabletop productions run in partner studios in New York and London, with production travel across the US, UK, EU, and UAE for location work. ### Beyond Beverage - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend directed motion into AI-generated variants that match the original capture. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeFull Creative PortfolioFood, hospitality, and editorial direction beyond beverage tabletop. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Wine Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/wine Page title: Wine Photographer NYC and London | Brent Herrig Summary: Wine photographer for bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle. Label-accurate bottle builds, plus winery and restaurant shoots. NYC and London based. Wine photography for producers, importers, and hospitality groups ### Wine Photography Across Bottle, Pour, and Place. Brent Herrig is a wine photographer based in New York and London, shooting bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard lifestyle for wine producers, importers, and hospitality groups. Campaign, trade, and hospitality work is built around label accuracy and light that reads the wine correctly, with the same commercial controls applied to spirits and cocktail work. Sparkling wine work includes Chandon. Label color is matched to the physical bottle, which stays on set as reference, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. Location work covers wineries, tasting rooms, and restaurants. Wine shoots have taken Brent Herrig to Napa Valley, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, England’s sparkling wine country and Piedmont in Italy. Selects come back within 48 hours. ### Trusted by Wine and Spirits Brands Cocktail, spirits, and hospitality brands I have shot for since 2007. Specialties ### Wine Photography Specialties What a wine production covers, from a label-accurate bottle build to a full vineyard visit. Each card opens related work. - Bottle and Label Photography Wine bottle builds with label accuracy, glass control, and highlight shaping for print, trade, and ecommerce. Color managed from capture through delivery so the label matches the physical product. Foil, emboss, and textured label details handled with directional lighting that reveals structure without flare. - Pour Builds and Glassware Wine pours in bowl and stem glasses with controlled pour depth, swirl capture, and ambient reflections managed to read the varietal's color and transparency accurately. Red, white, rose, and sparkling each require different glass handling and background density to hold the liquid color at final output. - Vineyard and Winery Lifestyle On-location winery work covering the vineyard and tasting room in a single coordinated visit. Lifestyle and environmental frames produced alongside product builds for a complete brand story. Wine shoots have covered Napa Valley, the Willamette Valley, England's sparkling wine country and Piedmont. - Restaurant and Hospitality Wine Service Wine service photography for hotel and restaurant groups. Pour, tableside presentation, and menu detail frames that work for print menus, wine lists, and brand marketing. Coordinated alongside menu and environmental photography so the full F&B story is told in one production. ### Related Beverage Work - Drinks PhotographerDrinks photographer for cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine. Hero frames, supporting angles, and motion from one production day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Spirits PhotographerSpirits photographer for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. Label-accurate bottle builds, pours, and cocktails for advertising. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Liquid MotionLiquid motion and cinemagraph photography for beverage brands. Pours, splashes, and loops captured alongside stills on the same day. NYC and London based. View Portfolio → - Commercial Beverage and Coffee PhotographyNYC and London commercial beverage and coffee photographer. Soft drinks, coffee, and brand beverages as stills and motion for packaging, menus, and social. View Portfolio → ### Frequently Asked About Wine Photography Q: What does a wine photographer do? A: A wine photographer lights and shoots bottles, labels, pours, and vineyard or restaurant scenes so the label and the wine's color read true on camera. Brent Herrig shoots wine for producers, importers, and hospitality groups from New York and London. Q: Can you handle label-accurate bottle photography? A: Yes. Color and label fidelity are locked with calibrated monitors on set and color-managed retouching downstream. The physical bottle stays on set as reference, and QC frames are signed off before final delivery. See the product photography on white portfolio. Q: How do you photograph red, white, rose, and sparkling wine? A: Each style gets its own glass handling and background density so the liquid color holds at final output. Pour depth, swirl, and reflections are controlled per wine, and color is matched to reference in grading. Q: Do you travel to wineries for location work? A: Yes. Brent Herrig has shot wine stories in Napa Valley, the Willamette Valley in Oregon, the sparkling wine regions of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, and Piedmont in Italy. Most campaigns combine a vineyard day with bottle work in a partner studio. Q: Can you photograph wine service for restaurants and hotels? A: Yes. Pour, tableside presentation, and wine list frames are shot for hotel and restaurant groups, coordinated with menu and environmental photography in one production. See the bar and restaurant portfolio. Q: Can you shoot wine pours and video on the same day as stills? A: Yes. Pours, loops, and cinemagraphs are captured alongside the stills from the same build and lighting, then delivered as MP4, MOV, WebM, and animated GIF sized per channel. See the liquid motion portfolio. Q: How quickly are wine photos delivered? A: Selects come back within 48 hours. Final retouched timing depends on volume and is agreed in the brief. Q: How much does wine photography cost? A: Each quote is built from the brief, with creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage on separate lines. Usage, meaning where the images run and for how long, moves the price most. The cocktail photography pricing guide breaks down every line. Q: Can a wine shoot be extended with AI? A: Yes. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, lit and approved by the brand first. Whether anything else is generated is agreed per brief, in writing, before production. AI then extends approved frames into backgrounds, formats, and seasonal variants, which keeps label review straightforward. The hybrid production guide explains the workflow. ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeHospitality PortfolioWinery and resort environmental photography for the full property story. Learn More → - Generated frameServiceHybrid AI ProductionExtend label and lifestyle frames into seasonal variants and paid media formats without a reshoot. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Writing on Beverage Photography. URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights Page title: Insights | Cocktail Photographer Brent Herrig Summary: Articles and guides on cocktail, spirits, and beverage photography. Lighting, production workflow, and campaign planning for brands and agencies. Insights Articles and guides on lighting, production workflow, campaign planning, and the intersection of photography and AI creative. Written for art buyers, producers, and brand teams who need visuals that scale. ### Featured Articles on Beverage Photography Recent writing from Brent Herrig on lighting, production, and AI in drinks advertising. - TTB - AI Creative - Spirits Advertising #### TTB Compliance and AI in Spirits Advertising, What Brand Teams Need to Know TTB published tips on AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising on March 2, 2026. Here is how TTB rules, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI-generated drinks ads, what still needs real photography, and how to build a hybrid workflow the label team can review. Brent Herrig Mar 18, 2026 - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. Brent Herrig Mar 4, 2026 Generated frame - Lighting - Cocktail Photography - Technique #### Cocktail Photography Lighting, A Working Guide How the light on a cocktail actually gets built, from the first meter reading to the final highlight on the rim. A working photographer's guide, not a gear list. Brent Herrig Feb 14, 2026 ### Article Archive Earlier writing on drinks photography, production, and campaign planning. Feb 2, 2026 #### Beer Photography, What Actually Matters Head, condensation, color, and clarity. The four things a beer photograph has to get right, and the production tricks that make them possible without propping the beer. Jan 20, 2026 #### How to Hire a Drinks Photographer A straightforward guide for producers and brand teams. What to look for in a portfolio, what a usable brief includes, what costs are fixed versus variable, and the questions that filter out the wrong fit fast. Jan 9, 2026 #### Spirits Photography for Advertising, A Production Primer Spirits advertising has a specific visual grammar. Bottle-first, liquid color accuracy, rim highlight control, and glassware that matches the brand code. A primer on what goes into one of these shoots. Jan 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. Dec 18, 2025 #### AI Versus Traditional Beverage Photography, The Honest Comparison Where generative AI is strong, where it is weak, and where the two belong together. An honest comparison for brand teams deciding how to split the budget. #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## AI Versus Traditional Beverage Photography, The Honest Comparison URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/ai-vs-traditional-beverage-photography Page title: AI vs Traditional Beverage Photography | Brent Herrig Summary: An honest comparison of AI-generated versus traditional beverage photography. Where AI is strong, where it is weak, and where each belongs in a brand's plan. article December 18, 2025 Brent Herrig Where generative AI is strong, where it is weak, and where the two belong together. An honest comparison for brand teams deciding how to split the budget. Generative AI has moved fast enough that the honest question is no longer whether it works for beverage imagery. It clearly does, for some things. The useful question is where it is strong, where it still fails, and how a brand should split a budget between generated work and a real shoot. This is that comparison, written from the production side rather than the hype side. ### Where AI Is Genuinely Strong Now Give the credit where it is earned. For a specific set of jobs, generated imagery is already good enough to ship and fast enough to change the math. - Backgrounds and environments. Extending a set, swapping a season, or placing a hero product into a new scene is where the tools shine. The bottle comes from real photography, and the world around it is generated. - Variation at volume. Once a look is locked, dozens of aspect ratios, colorways, and regional variants can come from one production instead of a reshoot for each. - Concepting and previs. Before a shoot, AI is a fast way to test compositions and pitch a direction to a brand team without booking a studio. - Non-hero support assets. Texture plates, abstract liquid, atmospheric fills, the supporting frames that never carry a campaign on their own. For these, the speed is real and the quality gap has mostly closed. ### Where AI Still Fails The failures are specific, and they cluster exactly where beverage advertising lives. - A hero product generated from a prompt. Label geometry, legal text, embossing, and the precise way light moves through glass and liquid. Bottles generated from a text prompt drift. Text warps. A brand team catches it in the first review. On long-running campaigns, the bottle can be rendered by a model trained on photography of the actual bottle, so the pack holds across every frame. - Liquid behavior. Real pour, real splash, real condensation, real carbonation. AI approximates the look but gets the physics subtly wrong, and beverage audiences read liquid for a living. - Human performance. Hands on a shaker, a genuine toast, a bartender mid-pour. Extended or generated talent tends toward the uncanny the moment it moves. - Color accuracy under scrutiny. A spirit has a specific color that the brand protects. Getting that exactly right, and keeping it consistent, is still a job for a controlled camera and a physical reference. None of these are edge cases in this category. They are the center of it. ### Why the Failures Matter More for Beverage Brands In a lot of industries the weak spots above are survivable. In beverage they are the whole product. The hero bottle is the asset the brand is paying to protect. Liquid is the appetite cue that sells the drink. Color is a trademark in everything but name. When AI gets those subtly wrong, it does not read as a cheaper photo, it reads as an off-brand one, and off-brand is the single thing a beverage marketing team cannot ship. ### How Hybrid Production Uses Each for What It Is Good At The answer is to assign each tool the work it does well. That is what hybrid production means in practice. Shoot the bottle and label for real, from the actual product, and check them against the approved label. Agree in writing in the brief, before production, whether the glass, the drink, the setting and the talent are photographed or generated. Every generated element is checked against the real serve before approval. Capture the photographed elements clean, with extra negative space and clean plates, so the frame is built to extend. Then hand the generated tools the jobs they are strong at: backgrounds, seasonal variants, aspect ratios, and the long tail of supporting assets a media plan burns through. Done this way, the real capture anchors the bottle, the label, and whatever else the brief assigns to the shoot, and the generated work supplies the volume the brand cannot afford to shoot. One is the source of truth. The other is the multiplier. ### A Simple Way to Split the Budget A rough framework that holds up across most beverage briefs: - Spend real production money on anything the brand would reject if it were slightly wrong. The bottle, the label, the color, and any liquid or talent the brief assigns to the shoot. - Spend generated-work money on anything defined by volume and variation. Ratios, regions, seasons, test variants, backgrounds. - Keep a human in the approval chain for both. Taste and brand judgment do not automate. - Budget the capture plan, not just the shoot. The value of the real day is how well it feeds the generated work downstream, so plan the two together. Brands that draw the line here get the quality where it counts and the volume where it does not, without paying full production rates for a hundred aspect ratios. ### AI Is a Moving Target, and That Is the Point Everything above is a snapshot of a fast-moving tool. The list of jobs AI does well has grown every few months, and it will keep growing. That is exactly why a brand should not hard-code a policy of AI or no AI. The right posture is to reassess the split each campaign, keep the bottle and label tied to real photography of the actual product while the tools mature, and expand what you generate as the quality earns it. A production partner who works in both worlds will tell you honestly when a job has crossed from shoot-it to generate-it, rather than defending whichever one they happen to sell. ### The Short Version AI is not replacing beverage photography, and it is not a gimmick either. It is very good at scale, variation, and environments, and still unreliable at bottles and labels generated from a prompt, real liquid, moving talent, and protected color. The brands getting the most out of it are not choosing between AI and a shoot. They are shooting what has to be real and generating what has to be plentiful. For how that shoot-plus-extension model actually runs, see Hybrid Production, Explained, or get in touch to talk through the split for a specific campaign. ### Tags - AI Creative - Strategy - Production ### Related Reading Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow article March 18, 2026 #### TTB Compliance and AI in Spirits Advertising, What Brand Teams Need to Know TTB published tips on AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising on March 2, 2026. Here is how TTB rules, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI-generated drinks ads, what still needs real photography, and how to build a hybrid workflow the label team can review. - TTB - AI Creative - Spirits Advertising article January 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. - Pricing - Production - Usage ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeAI Studio at Brent Herrig CreativeThe AI service lines, from creative direction to hybrid production, so you can see where generated work fits next to a real shoot. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeCocktail Photographer NYCThe traditional side of this comparison in finished work: cocktail frames shot on location for New York bars and spirits brands. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Beer Photography, What Actually Matters URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/beer-photography-tips Page title: Beer Photography, What Actually Matters | Brent Herrig Summary: Beer photography guide for brand and advertising work. Head, condensation, color, and clarity, and how to produce each one without propping the beer. article February 2, 2026 Brent Herrig Head, condensation, color, and clarity. The four things a beer photograph has to get right, and the production tricks that make them possible without propping the beer. Beer is one of the harder drinks to photograph well, and the reason is that a glass of beer is alive. The head falls. The bubbles rise and thin. The condensation runs and pools. By the time a scene is lit and the camera is ready, a real pour has already changed. A lot of stock beer imagery hides this by faking it, dish soap for foam, glycerin for the sweat on the glass, a color pushed in post until it stops looking like beer. That route is faster on set and it reads as fake on the shelf. The work that holds up does the opposite. It shoots real beer and controls the four variables that decide whether a frame looks premium or looks like a library image. Here is how each one gets handled on a production day. ### The Head Is a Timing Problem, Not a Prop Problem Foam is the first thing the eye reads and the first thing to fall apart. A real head starts collapsing within seconds, so the answer is not a thicker prop, it is a faster process. The glass is prepped and spotless, because grease and dust kill retention. The pour rate and glass angle are set before the camera rolls, so the head lands at the same height every take. Temperature is managed, because a warm pour foams differently than a cold one. Then you work quickly and you pour fresh for each frame. A production that plans for this has backup glassware staged, the shot composed in advance, and focus locked so the only variable left is the pour. Done that way, the head reads as a beer that was just set down in front of you, which is exactly the feeling the frame is selling. ### Condensation Signals Cold, When It Is Controlled Condensation is shorthand for cold and fresh, and it is worth building deliberately rather than hoping for it. Natural condensation forms when a chilled glass meets a warmer set, and it is beautiful when timing allows it. When it does not, applied condensation gives you control over bead size, density, and where the drops sit in the frame. The point is control, not compositing. Bead size and coverage get dialed in on set so the glass reads consistently across every angle of the build. Nothing is painted in afterward. A stock sweat overlay dropped over the glass in post always looks like what it is, and art buyers who work with beer brands spot it instantly. ### Color Has to Match the Style, Not a Preset Beer color is a brand asset. A pilsner has a specific straw. A stout is not just dark, it has warmth in the head and depth in the body. Getting that right starts with white balance set to neutral, not to a warm preset that makes every beer look like an amber ale. Lighting does the rest. Backlight brings out the translucency in a lager and shows the carbonation moving through the liquid. A stout needs more care in the highlights so the head stays creamy and the body stays rich rather than flat black. When there is a can or bottle in frame, label color and the liquid color both have to be accurate, because the brand team is comparing the frame against a physical reference. ### Clarity and Haze Are Brand Decisions Haze used to be a flaw. For a whole category of IPA it is now the product. A hazy beer should look intentionally soft and juicy, not murky or underlit. A crisp lager should look clean and bright with visible clarity through the glass. This is a conversation to have before the shoot, not a call to make in the edit. The brewer knows how the beer is supposed to present. Matching the frame to that intent, and prepping the product so it shows up that way in glass, is part of the production, not a filter added later. ### What This Means for a Shoot Day None of this is exotic, but all of it has to be planned. A beer day that goes well usually has a few things in common. - Fresh pours for every hero frame, with backup glassware staged and ready - A controlled environment so condensation and head behave predictably - Neutral color management and a physical brand reference on set - The brewer or brand contact reachable, so style questions get answered in the moment - A shot order that captures the freshest frames first, before the beer tires ### The Short Version Beer photography is a production problem more than a retouching problem. Head, condensation, color, and clarity are all decided on set, with real beer, under control, and none of them survive being faked. Get the process right and the frame reads as a cold beer you want right now. That is the whole job. If you have a beer campaign coming up, see the beer portfolio for finished work, or get in touch to talk through the shoot. ### Tags - Beer Photography - Technique - Production ### Related Reading article February 14, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Lighting, A Working Guide How the light on a cocktail actually gets built, from the first meter reading to the final highlight on the rim. A working photographer's guide, not a gear list. - Lighting - Cocktail Photography - Technique article January 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. - Pricing - Production - Usage article January 20, 2026 #### How to Hire a Drinks Photographer A straightforward guide for producers and brand teams. What to look for in a portfolio, what a usable brief includes, what costs are fixed versus variable, and the questions that filter out the wrong fit fast. - Hiring - Production - Producers ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeWhat Is Drinks PhotographyUseful if beer sits inside a wider drinks range: how light through glass and liquid gets controlled across beer, spirits, wine and cocktails. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeFood and Beverage Motion at brentherrig.comThe motion page pairs tabletop pours like this Chandon and Belvedere cinemagraph with a commercial beer reel showing the pour and condensation. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Cocktail Photography Lighting, A Working Guide URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/cocktail-photography-lighting-guide Page title: Cocktail Photography Lighting Guide | Brent Herrig Summary: A working guide to lighting cocktails for brands and agencies. Rim highlights, liquid clarity, ice handling, and the choices that make a drink look expensive. article February 14, 2026 Brent Herrig How the light on a cocktail actually gets built, from the first meter reading to the final highlight on the rim. A working photographer's guide, not a gear list. Lighting a cocktail is not a gear problem. You can build a premium drink frame with one light and a few flags, and you can make a drink look cheap with ten thousand dollars of kit pointed the wrong way. What separates the two is a handful of decisions about where the light lives and what it does to glass, liquid, ice, and garnish. This is how those decisions get made on set, in the order they matter. ### Start With the Light Source, Not the Fixture Glass and liquid do not want a small, hard source. They want a large, controlled one. A cocktail lit with a big soft source, shaped down with flags, gives you long clean gradients on the glass and a bright edge you can place with intent. The specific light barely matters. A window, a big softbox, or a bounced source all get you there. What matters is size relative to the drink, which for a single cocktail means the source should read large and close. Once the source is set, most of the work is subtraction. Flags and negative fill carve the light off the parts of the glass that should go dark, which is what gives a drink shape. A cocktail lit evenly from everywhere looks flat and lifeless. A cocktail lit from a controlled direction, with the shadow side allowed to fall off, looks like something you want to pick up. ### Where the Key Light Should Live for Glass For most drinks the key wants to be high and behind, roughly at the back edge of the glass, feathered forward. That position does two things at once. It rakes across the top of the liquid so the surface reads, and it lights the back of the glass so the drink glows through rather than reflecting off the front. Front lighting is the most common mistake. A key placed near the camera fills the glass with a flat reflection of the source and kills the sense of liquid inside. Move that same light up and back, and the glass goes from a mirror to a lens. ### Rim Lights Are the Difference Between Flat and Premium If one signal separates advertising-grade drink photography from everything else, it is the controlled highlight running down the edge of the glass. That rim is what gives glassware its shape and its expensive look. It is almost always a separate, shaped source, not a byproduct of the key. The craft is in control. A rim that is too hot blows out and looks like a mistake. A rim that is too weak does nothing. The right rim is a clean, continuous line that traces the form of the glass and stops where you want it to. Getting there means a hard-edged source, carefully flagged, adjusted inch by inch until the line sits exactly on the glass edge and nowhere else. ### Liquid Clarity Versus Opacity Changes Everything A clear drink and a creamy drink are lit as if they were different subjects. A clear cocktail, a gin martini or a highball, lives on backlight. Light coming through the liquid makes it glow, reveals color, and shows the bubbles and clarity that sell freshness. The camera reads through the drink, so the story is behind it. An opaque drink, a flip, a colada, anything with dairy or a dense puree, does the opposite. Backlight dies in it. These drinks live on top light and a strong rim, because the story is the surface and the edge, not what is behind. Trying to light a creamy drink like a clear one leaves you with a muddy, dark frame. Recognizing which one you have before you set the key saves an hour. ### Ice That Reads as Ice, Not a Plastic Prop Ice is where a lot of drink photography quietly falls apart. Real ice melts under lights and goes cloudy, so productions reach for acrylic fakes, and lit carelessly those fakes look exactly like what they are. The fix is treating ice as a light-bending object, not a solid. Ice wants edges and internal refraction, which come from a bright source placed to catch and pass through it, plus a dark surround for the edges to define against. Brent Herrig uses real ice, not acrylic cubes: the light is set first, then the cocktail goes into a cold glass, which leaves about five minutes per hero drink. A badly lit cube, real or not, reads as plastic. ### Garnish Without Blowing Out the Drink Garnish is the last thing added and the first thing to ruin an exposure. A citrus twist, a mint sprig, or a sugar rim sits proud of the glass and catches far more light than the liquid, so it clips to white while the drink is still correctly exposed. The answer is usually a small flag that pulls light off the garnish specifically, bringing it back into the same range as the drink. Sometimes it is a tiny bounce to lift a shadowed garnish instead. Either way it is a local adjustment made after the drink is lit, not a change to the whole setup. Garnish is a finishing move. ### The Short Version Good cocktail lighting is a sequence of small, deliberate decisions. Large soft source, then subtract. Key high and behind so the glass glows through. A clean, shaped rim for the premium edge. Backlight for clear drinks, top light for creamy ones. Ice lit for refraction. Garnish tamed at the end. None of it requires a big kit. All of it requires knowing what each choice does before you make it. To see these choices in finished frames, browse the drinks portfolio, or get in touch to talk through the lighting for a specific shoot. ### Tags - Lighting - Cocktail Photography - Technique ### Related Reading article January 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. - Pricing - Production - Usage article February 2, 2026 #### Beer Photography, What Actually Matters Head, condensation, color, and clarity. The four things a beer photograph has to get right, and the production tricks that make them possible without propping the beer. - Beer Photography - Technique - Production Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeLighting Patterns for Luxury Hospitality PhotographyWhen the shoot moves from studio to a working bar: let the room's own fixtures lead and keep warm and cool sources apart. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeCocktail Photographer NYCFinished cocktail frames shot on location for New York bars and spirits brands, to compare against the lighting choices in this guide. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/cocktail-photography-pricing Page title: Cocktail Photography Pricing Explained | Brent Herrig Summary: A producer's guide to cocktail photography pricing. Day rate, production, crew, post, and usage, and why identical briefs get quotes that differ threefold. article January 3, 2026 Brent Herrig A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. Send the same cocktail photography brief to five photographers and the quotes can come back a factor of three apart. That spread is not a mistake and it is not a scam. It is what happens when a brief leaves the biggest variables undefined and each photographer fills them in differently. Understanding how a quote is built lets you compare numbers that look wildly different and see which one is real. Here is what goes into the price. ### The Five Line Items Every Quote Should Break Out A quote you can trust separates these five, rather than rolling them into one number. - Creative fee, or day rate. The photographer’s fee for the shoot day and the experience behind it. This is the line people fixate on and it is often the smallest. - Production. Studio or location, lighting and grip, specialized equipment, props, surfaces, glassware, and the drinks themselves. On a build-heavy cocktail shoot this frequently exceeds the creative fee. - Crew. Assistants, a digital tech, a drink stylist, a producer. A serious drink shoot is not a one-person job, and the stylist in particular is what makes the drink look like the drink. - Post. Selects, retouching, color, and delivery in the formats the brand needs. Priced by the number of finished frames, not the number captured. - Usage, or licensing. What the brand is allowed to do with the images, where, and for how long. This is the line that moves the total the most and the one briefs most often leave blank. When a quote hides four of these inside one number, you cannot tell whether it is cheap because it is efficient or cheap because it is missing something. ### Fixed Versus Variable, and What Actually Moves Some of these costs barely move. The creative fee is roughly the creative fee. Studio day rates sit in a known range. Post is fairly predictable per finished frame. The variable costs are where quotes diverge. Number of setups, amount of build and prop work, stylist time, talent, and above all usage. A brief that says “ten hero cocktails” can mean ten simple glasses on a clean surface or ten fully built scenes with garnish, ice work, and environment. Those are different shoots at different prices, and a good photographer will ask which one you mean before quoting. If nobody asks, that is a signal. ### Usage Is the Part Most Briefs Underestimate Usage is the right to use the images. A frame licensed for organic social for one year is a fraction of the cost of the same frame licensed for global paid media, out of home, and packaging for three years. Same shoot, same file, very different value to the brand, and therefore very different price. Producers new to this sometimes read a high usage line as padding. It is the opposite. It is the photographer pricing the actual commercial value of what the brand is going to do with the work. The cleanest way to get comparable quotes is to define usage precisely in the brief: which channels, which territories, how long. Vague usage is the single biggest reason two honest quotes look three times apart. ### Why the Same Brief Comes Back at Wildly Different Numbers Put the pieces together and the spread makes sense. One photographer assumed simple builds and modest usage. Another assumed full scenes, a stylist, and broad licensing. A third quoted a bare day rate and left production and usage to be discovered later, which is how a low number becomes a high invoice. The lowest quote is not automatically the best value, and the highest is not automatically the most thorough. The most useful quote is the one that breaks out the five line items so you can see the assumptions and adjust them. A number you can interrogate beats a smaller number you cannot. ### What Is Often Missing From a Quote, and Should Be Discussed A few costs live at the edges of a quote and cause most of the surprises. Pre-production, the planning, shot-listing, and prop sourcing before the day, is real work and sometimes gets folded silently into the day rate. Expenses like travel, shipping, and talent per diems are frequently listed as estimates rather than fixed, so ask which they are. And a reshoot or revision policy is worth settling before the shoot, not after a round of notes. None of these have to inflate the total. They just have to be named, so the number you approve is the number you pay. ### How Hybrid Production Changes the Math Hybrid production changes the shape of the quote. Instead of paying to shoot every aspect ratio and variation, you pay for one well-planned capture day and a smaller downstream line for AI extension into the formats and variants a media plan needs. For a single hero image with narrow usage, this adds little. For a campaign that has to feed many channels over a long window, it can lower the total while raising the asset count, because you are not rebuilding and reshooting for every format. When usage is broad and reuse is high, that is where the pricing math genuinely shifts. ### The Short Version A cocktail photography quote is five line items: creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage. The spread between quotes almost always lives in production scope and usage, not in the day rate everyone stares at. Ask for the breakout, define usage precisely, and the confusing numbers resolve into a clear comparison. To see the kind of work these budgets produce, browse the drinks portfolio. When you are ready to scope a project, the project inquiry form is structured around the same line items, so the first quote comes back close to real. ### Tags - Pricing - Production - Usage ### Related Reading article January 20, 2026 #### How to Hire a Drinks Photographer A straightforward guide for producers and brand teams. What to look for in a portfolio, what a usable brief includes, what costs are fixed versus variable, and the questions that filter out the wrong fit fast. - Hiring - Production - Producers Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow article January 9, 2026 #### Spirits Photography for Advertising, A Production Primer Spirits advertising has a specific visual grammar. Bottle-first, liquid color accuracy, rim highlight control, and glassware that matches the brand code. A primer on what goes into one of these shoots. - Spirits Advertising - Bottles - Production ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeHow to Brief a Food PhotographerQuotes only compare when briefs match: the deliverables, usage, timeline and honest budget a photographer needs before quoting. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeHow Image Licensing WorksThe usage line from this article in full: how a license is set by media, territory, term and exclusivity, apart from the production fee. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## How to Hire a Drinks Photographer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/how-to-hire-a-drinks-photographer Page title: How to Hire a Drinks Photographer | Brent Herrig Summary: A producer's guide to hiring a drinks photographer. Portfolio signals, brief essentials, cost structure, and the filtering questions that save a week. article January 20, 2026 Brent Herrig A straightforward guide for producers and brand teams. What to look for in a portfolio, what a usable brief includes, what costs are fixed versus variable, and the questions that filter out the wrong fit fast. Hiring a drinks photographer looks simple until you have three portfolios open and no clear way to choose. They all have nice pictures. The difference that matters is not who shoots the prettiest single frame, it is who reliably delivers a usable campaign on a real timeline and budget. Here is how producers and brand teams filter for that, fast. ### What Portfolio Signals Actually Predict Fit A portfolio is not a highlight reel to admire. It is evidence. Read it for the things that predict whether this photographer can do your specific job. - Consistency across a set, not one hero. Anyone can land one good frame. Look for a body of drinks that hold the same quality across angles, styles, and lighting. Campaigns are sets. - The specific category you need. Beer, spirits, cocktails, and coffee are related but not the same. Someone who nails moody craft cocktails may not have shot a bright product-on-white lineup, and the reverse. - Real product and brand work. Personal projects show taste. Brand work shows they can take direction, hit label and color accuracy, and clear an approval chain. - Motion, if you need it. If the plan includes cinemagraphs, loops, or social video, the portfolio should prove they can direct motion, not just stills. ### The Three Parts of a Brief to Write Before Outreach The quality of the quotes you get back is set by the quality of the brief you send. Three things belong in it before you contact anyone. - Deliverables. How many hero frames, how many supporting frames, which aspect ratios, still or motion. Be specific. “Some cocktail shots” produces uncomparable quotes. - Usage. Channels, territories, and duration. This drives price more than anything else, so leaving it out guarantees quotes you cannot compare. - Timeline. Shoot window and delivery date. This tells the photographer whether the job is even possible and lets them staff it properly. A brief with these three defined gets you quotes that line up against each other. A brief without them gets you five guesses. ### Fixed Cost Versus Variable, and How to Read a Quote A trustworthy quote breaks out the creative fee, production, crew, post, and usage as separate lines. The creative fee is fairly fixed. Production and crew scale with how built the shoot is. Usage scales with how much commercial value the brand is extracting. Post scales with finished frame count. When you see one flat number with no breakout, ask for the itemized version. Not to negotiate every line, but because the breakout tells you what the photographer assumed. Most disputes later come from an assumption that was never written down. ### Ask About Usage and Licensing First, Not Last Usage is the question producers most often save for the end, and it is the one that should come first. Before you fall for a portfolio, confirm the photographer prices and licenses for the kind of usage your brand needs. A photographer whose work is beautiful but who has never licensed for global paid media may under-scope it and leave the brand exposed later. Getting usage on the table early also keeps the budget conversation honest. It is far easier to align on scope when everyone knows from the first call whether this is a one-year social license or a three-year everything license. ### Stills Specialist Versus Stills Plus Motion Director Decide this before you shortlist. If you only need stills, a stills specialist is the right and often more economical call. If the plan includes motion, hiring someone who directs both from a single setup is what unlocks hybrid efficiency, because the same build feeds stills and video on the same day. Hiring a pure stills photographer and bolting motion on later usually means two productions instead of one, which costs more and rarely matches. Match the hire to the actual deliverable list you wrote in the brief. ### Red Flags That Save a Week of Vetting A few signals that a fit is wrong before you spend more time on it. - No itemized quote and no interest in providing one. Transparency now predicts transparency later. - No questions about usage. A photographer who does not ask how the images will be used is not pricing the real job. - A portfolio that is all single heroes and no sets. Suggests they have not carried a full campaign. - Vague on timeline or crew. A serious drinks shoot needs a stylist and assistants, and someone who waves that off may be underestimating the work. ### Use the First Call to Test Fit A fifteen-minute intro call tells you more than another hour of portfolio scrolling. Listen for the questions the photographer asks you. A strong one will want to know your deliverables, your usage, your timeline, and your approval chain before they talk about themselves. That instinct to scope the job first is the same instinct that keeps a shoot on budget. If the call is all reel and no questions, you have learned something. If they are already helping you tighten the brief, you have probably found your photographer. ### The Short Version Hire for reliability across a set, not for one pretty frame. Write deliverables, usage, and timeline before you reach out. Insist on an itemized quote, put usage on the table first, and match the hire to whether you need stills or stills plus motion. Do that and the right photographer surfaces quickly. For a sense of range, see the drinks, bars, and spirits portfolios. When you are ready, the project inquiry form asks for usage and timeline up front, which is exactly how a real quote gets built. ### Tags - Hiring - Production - Producers ### Related Reading article January 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. - Pricing - Production - Usage article February 14, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Lighting, A Working Guide How the light on a cocktail actually gets built, from the first meter reading to the final highlight on the rim. A working photographer's guide, not a gear list. - Lighting - Cocktail Photography - Technique Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeFull Production Portfolio at brentherrig.comCheck the portfolio signals this guide describes against real work: cocktails, food, advertising, hospitality and motion in one place. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeMeet Brent HerrigRead who you would be hiring before the first call this guide recommends: Brent's background, his craft-first approach and how he works with agencies. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Hybrid Production, Explained URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/hybrid-production-explained Page title: Hybrid Production, Explained | Brent Herrig Summary: Hybrid production is a real shoot plus AI extension for scale. A plain breakdown of what it covers, when it saves money, and how to plan one for beverage ads. article March 4, 2026 Brent Herrig Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. Generated frame. Hybrid production is a phrase you will hear more often over the next two years. It covers a pretty simple idea. The bottle and label always come from real photography of the actual product, checked against the approved label. Whether the glass, the drink, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief before production. Then you use AI to extend that source material into every size, aspect ratio, variation, and platform your brand needs to feed. The shoot is the source of truth. The AI work is how that source material reaches every format. This is what that actually looks like in practice. ### The Problem Hybrid Production Solves Most beverage brands now have to feed at least six channels in parallel. - Paid social across Meta, TikTok, and Reddit - Organic social and creator partnerships - Retail and trade assets - Out of home and programmatic display - Ecommerce and brand.com - Email and owned channels Every channel wants a different aspect ratio, a different crop, a different story beat, and a different deliverable format. Traditional production answers this by shooting more. More setups, more talent, more days, more locations. The budget balloons. The timeline stretches. Quality drifts as the crew gets tired on day four. Hybrid production answers it differently. Shoot once with the right capture plan, then generate everything downstream. ### What a Hybrid Production Actually Delivers A single hybrid day can realistically produce: - One to three hero campaign frames, fully lit and art directed - Ten to thirty supporting stills across angles and compositions - Motion clips for cinemagraphs, social loops, and aspect ratio trims - Clean plates and negative space variants for AI extension - A clearly organized selects folder tagged for downstream use Downstream AI work then turns those selects into: - Platform-specific aspect ratios, 9:16, 4:5, 1:1, 16:9 - Seasonal, regional, and occasion variations - Background swaps, environment expansion, and scene extension - Short-form motion from still frames - Retail-ready product-on-white versions from lifestyle captures - A/B test variants for paid media at the pace paid media actually needs The math is where this matters. One hybrid day gives you one to three heroes, ten to thirty supporting stills, and the source material for the formats and variants a media plan needs, without a reshoot for each. On the Devil’s Grin Texas Gin project, 1 shoot day plus 8 AI production days produced 32 still assets, 4 finished CTV pieces and 18 motion clips. ### When Hybrid Production Saves Money Hybrid production is most cost effective when any of the following is true: - The campaign runs across multiple platforms with distinct aspect ratio and story needs. - The brand tests creative constantly and needs variation velocity. - The brand refreshes seasonally or regionally and cannot reshoot every six weeks. - The product or cast is hard to schedule and you only get one good day with them. - The usage spans a year or more and the brand wants ongoing asset generation from a single source library. In those cases, hybrid production can cut the number of shoot days a campaign needs. Whether it saves money depends on the brief, and the saving is worked out per project. ### When Hybrid Production Does Not Save Money It is not a silver bullet. Skip the hybrid approach when: - The campaign is a single hero unit with one aspect ratio and no variation needs. A straightforward shoot is faster. - Every asset requires full talent performance. AI extension of moving talent is unstable and tends to look uncanny. Shoot it. - Compliance review is unusually strict for the product category. The hybrid playbook works for spirits and beverage. It is slower in pharmaceutical and financial services where every frame needs individual sign-off. - The brand has no reuse horizon. If the work has a two week campaign window and is never revisited, the efficiency gain is small. A good production partner tells you which bucket you are in before quoting the work. ### How to Plan a Hybrid Shoot Three things to do before the shoot day that make or break the downstream efficiency: 1. Build a variation matrix first. Before calling the DP or booking studio time, list every aspect ratio, channel, and variation the brand expects to ship. Map each variation to a shot. This becomes the capture plan, not a shot list in the traditional sense. 2. Shoot for extension, not just composition. That means capturing extra negative space around every hero frame, clean plates without product, multiple exposures where useful, and a handful of background-only frames for AI reference. The crew needs a briefing that they are feeding a system, not just a single asset. 3. Define the approval chain upfront. Who signs off on the hero. Who signs off on variations. Who signs off on AI extensions. This conversation is awkward during the edit. It is easy before the shoot. ### What Stays Human The parts of a hybrid production that still need a person: - Creative direction. The brand story, the emotional beat, the art direction. - Casting and talent direction. Real people read as real. - Hero product photography. The bottle and label come from real photography and are checked against the approved label for accuracy and color. - Approval judgment. What is on-brand versus off-brand. AI is very good at consistency, scale, and variation. Humans are still better at taste and judgment. The production is designed around that split. ### The Short Version Hybrid production is not about replacing photographers with models. It is about changing what one shoot day produces. Real capture, then extension. Human judgment, then scaled output. Done right, it turns one campaign budget into the content system a modern beverage brand actually needs. If you want to plan one, get in touch. ### Tags - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow - Content Scaling ### Related Reading article March 18, 2026 #### TTB Compliance and AI in Spirits Advertising, What Brand Teams Need to Know TTB published tips on AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising on March 2, 2026. Here is how TTB rules, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI-generated drinks ads, what still needs real photography, and how to build a hybrid workflow the label team can review. - TTB - AI Creative - Spirits Advertising article December 18, 2025 #### AI Versus Traditional Beverage Photography, The Honest Comparison Where generative AI is strong, where it is weak, and where the two belong together. An honest comparison for brand teams deciding how to split the budget. - AI Creative - Strategy - Production article January 3, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Pricing, How a Quote Actually Gets Built A plain language read on how a cocktail photography quote gets built. Day rate, production costs, crew, post, and usage, and why the same brief can come back with quotes that differ by a factor of three. - Pricing - Production - Usage ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeAI Creative Services at Brent Herrig CreativeWhere hybrid production sits among the other AI services, including creative direction and the automations that resize and version finished assets. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeHybrid Production at brentherrig.comThe hybrid loop step by step: explore directions before the shoot, capture with reuse planned, then extend assets across platforms without a reshoot. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Spirits Photography for Advertising, A Production Primer URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/spirits-photography-for-advertising Page title: Spirits Photography for Advertising | Brent Herrig Summary: A production primer on spirits photography for advertising. Bottle hero, liquid color, rim highlight control, and the brand signals that get a frame approved. article January 9, 2026 Brent Herrig Spirits advertising has a specific visual grammar. Bottle-first, liquid color accuracy, rim highlight control, and glassware that matches the brand code. A primer on what goes into one of these shoots. Spirits advertising has a visual grammar stricter than most beverage work. The bottle is a trademark. The liquid is a protected color. The category has decades of codes that a brand team reads instinctively and enforces on first review. Shoot outside that grammar and even a beautiful frame gets rejected. Shoot inside it, with control, and the frame gets approved and works. Here is what goes into one of these shoots. ### Bottle-first Composition, and When to Break It In spirits, the bottle usually leads. It is the most recognizable asset the brand owns, and the frame is often built to make the bottle the hero and everything else, glass, garnish, environment, supporting. Label legibility, correct proportions, and a clean silhouette come first. The rule is worth breaking deliberately, not accidentally. A serve-led frame that puts the finished drink forward can work for cocktail-culture brands and on-premise campaigns. But that is a choice made with the brand, keyed to strategy, not a default you fall into because the bottle was hard to light. Know which frame you are making before you build it. ### Liquid Color Accuracy, and Why Label Teams Care Spirits color is close to a trademark. A particular whiskey has a specific amber. A tequila has a specific gold or clarity. The brand has a physical reference and will hold the frame up against it. Getting that color right on camera, and keeping it consistent across every frame in the set, is one of the least glamorous and most important parts of the job. It starts with neutral white balance and honest lighting, not a warm grade that flatters every spirit into the same amber. It is protected with a physical bottle on set as reference and, on serious jobs, a color-managed workflow from capture through delivery. When the color drifts, the label team notices immediately, and the frame goes back. ### Rim Highlight Control Is the Biggest Quality Signal If one thing separates category-grade spirits work from everything below it, it is control of the highlight on the bottle and glass. That bright, shaped edge is what gives glass its form and its premium read. It is deliberately built with hard, flagged sources and adjusted until the line sits exactly where it should and nowhere else. An uncontrolled highlight is the fastest tell of amateur spirits work. It blows out, it doubles, it lands in the wrong place, and the bottle looks cheap. A controlled rim is quiet and precise, and it is most of what people mean when they call a spirits frame expensive. ### Glassware, Ice, and Pour Choreography The supporting elements have to match the bottle’s level of control. Glassware is chosen for the brand and kept flawless, because every fingerprint and water spot shows and costs retouching time. Ice is real, lit for refraction so it reads as ice, not plastic, and staged so it does not cloud during the shot. Pours and splashes, when the frame calls for them, are choreographed and captured fresh, timed to the frame rather than hoped for. On a still shoot, a pour is often many attempts to land one clean shape. None of this is improvised on the day. It is planned, staged, and repeated under control, which is what lets the frame look effortless. ### Brand Code Signals That Get a Frame Approved on First Review Every spirits brand carries a set of codes, and hitting them is what gets a frame through review without a round of notes. - Correct color, verified against reference. Non-negotiable. - Label legibility and accurate proportions. No warping, no crop that cuts required text. - The right level of premium. Lighting and surfaces that match the brand’s tier, not one notch above or below. - Compliance-safe staging. No implied over-serving, no context the category or the brand’s legal team will reject. - Consistency across the set. The whole campaign has to read as one shoot, not a folder of similar frames. A production that knows the category builds these in from the first setup, rather than discovering them in the edit when it is expensive to fix. ### Where These Frames Have to Work A spirits frame is rarely made for one placement. The same hero has to hold up as a full-bleed out of home board, crop cleanly to a vertical for social, sit next to legally required text on packaging, and survive the compression of a programmatic ad. Shooting with that in mind changes decisions on the day: extra negative space around the bottle for later crops, a composition that does not fall apart when the frame goes vertical, and enough resolution and cleanliness that the file holds at billboard size. A frame that only works at one size and one ratio is a frame the brand has to reshoot the moment the media plan expands. Building for reuse from the first setup is part of what the production is buying. ### The Short Version Spirits advertising rewards control over flourish. Lead with the bottle unless strategy says otherwise. Get the liquid color exactly right and keep it consistent. Treat the rim highlight as the single biggest quality signal it is. Hold glassware, ice, and pours to the same standard. And build the brand codes in from the start so the frame clears review the first time. That discipline is the difference between a frame that looks like an ad and a frame that gets to be one. For live examples, see the spirits advertising and bottles portfolios, or get in touch to talk through a specific campaign. ### Tags - Spirits Advertising - Bottles - Production ### Related Reading article March 18, 2026 #### TTB Compliance and AI in Spirits Advertising, What Brand Teams Need to Know TTB published tips on AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising on March 2, 2026. Here is how TTB rules, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI-generated drinks ads, what still needs real photography, and how to build a hybrid workflow the label team can review. - TTB - AI Creative - Spirits Advertising Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow article February 14, 2026 #### Cocktail Photography Lighting, A Working Guide How the light on a cocktail actually gets built, from the first meter reading to the final highlight on the rim. A working photographer's guide, not a gear list. - Lighting - Cocktail Photography - Technique ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeAdvertising Photography at brentherrig.comCampaign frames built to read at thumbnail size and still scale to print and billboards, the same test spirits frames have to pass. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeCinemagraphs at brentherrig.comCinemagraphs for Ketel One, Belvedere and Chandon, captured on the same set and day as the stills, so one spirits shoot also feeds social. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## TTB Compliance and AI in Spirits Advertising, What Brand Teams Need to Know URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/ttb-compliance-ai-spirits-advertising Page title: TTB Compliance for AI Spirits Advertising | Brent Herrig Summary: How TTB rules, industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York law apply to AI-generated spirits ads, and what still needs real photography. article March 18, 2026 Brent Herrig TTB published tips on AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising on March 2, 2026. Here is how TTB rules, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI-generated drinks ads, what still needs real photography, and how to build a hybrid workflow the label team can review. AI-generated imagery is now part of how spirits brands plan campaigns. The question brand teams ask is how to use it without tripping over Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau rules. On March 2, 2026, the TTB published its own tips for AI-generated imagery in alcohol advertising. They apply the existing advertising rules to AI visuals. They do not create a separate rulebook for them. This piece covers what the TTB regulates, which rules people often credit to the TTB but come from industry codes and other markets, what still needs real photography, and how to structure a hybrid production so the label review team stays comfortable. ### What the TTB Actually Cares About The TTB regulates labeling and advertising of distilled spirits under 27 CFR Part 5. Its tips for AI-generated imagery in alcohol beverage advertising, published March 2, 2026, say AI visuals must follow the same prohibited practices and carry the same mandatory information as any other ad. For AI imagery, the rules that matter most sit in 27 CFR 5.235: - Misleading impressions, 5.235(a)(1). No statement that “directly, or by ambiguity, omission, or inference” tends to create a misleading impression. TTB’s tip for AI is that generated images should not misrepresent the appearance, color, or characteristics of the product. - Approved label reproduction, 5.235(b)(2). Any label depicted on a container in an advertisement shall be a reproduction of an approved label. TTB’s tips repeat this for AI-generated bottles. - Health statements, 5.235(d). No health-related statement that is untrue or misleading. Implied claims can come from symbols, vignettes, or other forms of communication, and TTB’s tips name AI “lifestyle” scenes. - Origin, 5.235(e). An ad must not represent that spirits were manufactured in or imported from a place other than their actual origin. The regulation text does not mention generative AI, and the rules apply to the finished ad. TTB’s own tips, written for industry members, do not address AI disclosure, copyright, or who is responsible when a third-party agency’s AI creates noncompliant content. TTB also offers a voluntary advertising pre-clearance service at no cost through its Market Compliance Office. If an AI-extended background shows a street scene that implies the product is distilled in Kentucky when it is not, that is an origin problem whether a photographer shot the plate or a model generated it. Applying 5.235(e) to a generated background is my reading. TTB does not say so explicitly. One correction to a common assumption. Section 5.235 has no provision on the apparent age of people or on appeals to minors. Those rules come from the voluntary industry codes and, in the UK, from the CAP Code. The table below sorts out which rule comes from where. ### Where a Live Shoot Is Still Required Even in a hybrid workflow, the bottle and label have to come from real photography. Two reasons: - Label accuracy. The finished ad has to match the actual label, including approved class and type designations, government warning placement, and percentage of alcohol by volume where shown. Generated bottles can misrender label text, and a depicted label that is not a reproduction of the approved label is a direct problem under 5.235(b)(2). - Color and clarity. Spirit color is a trust signal. Whiskey, tequila, agave-based spirits, and aged rums each have a recognizable hue range. Generated liquid tends to drift, and drift in a hero bottle reads as off-brand or misleading, which is the “appearance, color, or characteristics” point in TTB’s tips. Glass, ice, and pour can be photographed or generated, as the brief sets out. Liquid physics in generated images is still inconsistent, so every generated element is checked against the real serve before approval. The working rule on my projects: every AI frame starts from real photography of the actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography, and the pack and label are checked against the approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, the drink, the setting or the people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief. ### Where AI Extensions Carry Less Label Risk AI carries less label risk in the parts of the image that make no claim about the product, its origin, or its effects. That includes: - Backgrounds and environments that do not imply an origin or ingredient claim the label cannot back up. - Atmospheric elements like smoke, steam, vapor trails, or abstract light. - Scene expansion, crowd extension, and aspect ratio reformatting for platform-specific deliverables. Any generated person still gets the age check below and, for New York audiences, the disclosure check in the table below. - Variation generation on approved hero frames for social, retail, and paid placements. Two guardrails that keep this comfortable on the compliance side: - Check every person in a frame for apparent age, photographed or generated. The voluntary DISCUS Code asks that models and actors be a minimum of 25, substantiated by proper identification, and reasonably appear to be 21 or older, and it says ads should primarily appeal to people 21 or older. UK CAP Code rule 18.16 says people shown drinking or playing a significant role must neither be nor seem to be under 25. A generated person has no ID, and the UK regulator has already judged one on how it looked and behaved. On September 16, 2026, the ASA ruled against Dribble Media Ltd, trading as Midnite, over a paid TikTok gambling ad in which an AI-generated character seemed to be under 25, although the affiliate that made the ad said no real person was used to create him. That ruling applied the CAP Code’s under-25 rules for gambling ads, not the alcohol rules. Rule 18.16 uses the same apparent-age test, so I apply the ruling to generated people in drinks ads by analogy. Generated faces are easy to mis-age. Either photograph the people or check each generated face against that test. - No implied ingredient or process claims. Do not generate a cooperage scene for a spirit not aged in wood. Do not generate a distillation still for a product that is not distilled on site. Do not generate a vineyard background for a spirit that is not made from grapes. ### A Hybrid Production Workflow That Survives Label Review Most spirits brands treat label review as a hard gate. To make that gate fast instead of painful, the production plan is built in this order: - Label team signs off on the concept before the shoot. Script, rough comp, and any generated reference frames go into the pre-approval packet. This catches origin or claim issues at the cheapest possible stage. The brief records, in writing, which elements are photographed and which are generated. - Photography captures the actual bottle and label, plus whichever of the glass, drink, setting, or people the brief assigns to the shoot. Multiple angles, negative space, and clean plates for AI extension. - AI extension work is built from approved photography and approved references. Backgrounds, variations, aspect ratios for platform deliverables, and motion loops where relevant. - Final review packet includes the approved photography, the generated extensions, and a side-by-side comparison that shows exactly what was added. A clear side-by-side of what was photographed versus what was extended gives the label team and counsel facts to work from. It removes no legal duty, and every campaign still needs its own review. ### Rules by Market: US, UK, EU and New York The same drinks ad can fall under four different sets of rules, depending on where it runs. This table covers what the linked sources report. Rules and guidance change, so check the linked source before launch. Market | Rule | Source | What it means for a drinks ad US (federal) | 27 CFR 5.235 and TTB’s March 2, 2026 AI tips: no misleading impression, depicted labels reproduce approved labels, no untrue or misleading health statements, no false origin. The voluntary DISCUS Code (last updated May 2023, no AI text) sets 25 as the minimum age for models and actors. | TTB AI tips, 27 CFR 5.235, DISCUS Code | Show the real, approved label and no false product, health or origin impression. Age rules for people come from the industry code, not TTB. UK | CAP Code rule 18.16: people shown drinking or playing a significant role must neither be nor seem to be under 25. In a June 11, 2026 article, the ASA and CAP say the rules apply regardless of how the content was created, and the advertiser is responsible for AI output. | CAP Code section 18, ASA and CAP on AI, ASA Midnite ruling | Appearance counts. In the 2012 Sourz ruling (Maxxium UK Ltd, 12 December 2012, cited in the ASA’s guidance on featuring under 25s), the ASA upheld a complaint even though the advertiser supplied photo ID, because two prominent models were likely to be seen as under 25. The ASA applied the same apparent-age test to an AI-generated character in a September 2026 gambling ruling. EU | AI Act Article 50. Under 50(4), deployers of a deep fake must disclose that the content has been artificially generated or manipulated. For an evidently artistic or creative work, the duty is limited to disclosing it in an appropriate manner that does not hamper display. Article 50 applies from August 2, 2026. A Paul Weiss client memo (August 4, 2026) reports that the Digital Omnibus defers the Article 50(2) machine-readable marking duty for generative systems already on the market to December 2, 2026. | Article 50 text, Paul Weiss memo | Realistic people or scenes that could pass as real may need a disclosure. Per the Paul Weiss memo, entirely imaginary content falls outside the deep fake test. New York | Synthetic performer law (S.8420-A/A.8887-B), effective June 9, 2026: ads must conspicuously disclose a synthetic performer, meaning a digitally created asset made with generative AI or a software algorithm that is intended to look like a human performer and is not recognizable as an identifiable real person. The duty applies where the advertiser has actual knowledge. Penalties are $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for each later one. | Cooley summary, Hunton summary | A generated person in an ad shown to New York audiences needs a visible disclosure. The two summaries do not address backgrounds or products, so confirm that point with counsel. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. ### Disclosure and Platform Expectations Beyond the TTB, a few other rule sources worth knowing: - Platform policies set their own rules and change often. TikTok’s alcohol ad policy (last updated September 2025) prohibits featuring people below the age of 25. The policy, as read in October 2026, has no AI-specific rule. Check Meta, TikTok, and YouTube on the day you publish. - State rules vary. Check the rules of each state where the ad will run. - Retail partners can have their own advertising requirements that go beyond federal rules. Check with any retailer before the asset runs there. None of this is reason to avoid AI in spirits advertising. It is reason to plan like a grown-up production. ### The Short Version AI is not a compliance problem. AI used carelessly is a compliance problem. The recipe that works right now: start every frame from real photography of the actual bottle, approve the concept upfront, agree in the brief which elements are photographed and which are generated, build generated work from approved photography and approved references, and deliver a reviewable packet that shows what was photographed and what was generated. If you are planning a spirits campaign and want a production partner for this workflow, get in touch. ### Tags - TTB - AI Creative - Spirits Advertising - Compliance ### Related Reading Generated frame article March 4, 2026 #### Hybrid Production, Explained Hybrid production means a real shoot as the source of truth, then AI extensions to multiply that footage across every channel a brand needs to feed. Here is what it actually covers, when it saves money, and when it does not. - Hybrid Production - AI Creative - Workflow article December 18, 2025 #### AI Versus Traditional Beverage Photography, The Honest Comparison Where generative AI is strong, where it is weak, and where the two belong together. An honest comparison for brand teams deciding how to split the budget. - AI Creative - Strategy - Production article January 9, 2026 #### Spirits Photography for Advertising, A Production Primer Spirits advertising has a specific visual grammar. Bottle-first, liquid color accuracy, rim highlight control, and glassware that matches the brand code. A primer on what goes into one of these shoots. - Spirits Advertising - Bottles - Production ### Beyond Beverage - Brent Herrig CreativeLabel and Product Accuracy in Drinks PhotographyHow a bottle shot keeps the label straight, the fill level right and the color matched, the part a brand team checks first. Learn More → - Brent Herrig CreativeAdvertising Photography at brentherrig.comCampaign photography of real bottles and products, the kind of photographed product asset this article says every AI frame has to start from. Learn More → #### Ready to Start? Short brief, fast response. NYC and London based, available worldwide. Book a Call Project Inquiry --- ## Book a Call or Start a Drinks Project URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/contact Page title: Contact | Cocktail Photographer Brent Herrig Summary: Project inquiry and booking for cocktail, beverage, and spirits photography. Send the brief, shot count, and timing. NYC and London based, shooting worldwide. Contact Send a short brief: the drink or brand, where the work will run, and roughly when you want to start. I read every inquiry myself and reply with next steps and a few questions. ### Project Inquiry Form Form not loading? ### Bases and Direct Contact No fixed studio. 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Section 4 sets out exactly what each one collects. - Advertising: Meta (Facebook) and Google Ads for campaign attribution and retargeting. ### 4. Analytics and Session Recording Two analytics tools run on this site. Both are used to understand how visitors move through the work, and neither is used to identify you personally or to build an advertising profile of you. - Google Analytics 4: collects page views, referring source, device and browser type, approximate location derived from IP address, and four interaction events: clicks to the contact page, clicks on our email address, depth through the portfolio pages, and FAQ opens. IP addresses are truncated by Google and are not stored by us. Analytics storage defaults to denied under Google Consent Mode v2, so a visitor who has expressed no preference is counted with cookieless pings that store no identifier. - Microsoft Clarity: records anonymized session replays and heatmaps, covering clicks, scrolls, mouse movement, page URLs, and device type. Clarity masks text typed into form fields by default, so what you enter into the inquiry form is not visible in a replay. If your stored preference declines analytics, recording is switched off for your session. To opt out, install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, review your options in the Microsoft Privacy Statement, or block third-party scripts in your browser, which stops both tools from loading. Our Cookie Policy lists the specific identifiers each tool sets. ### 5. Cookies and Consent Our website utilizes cookies for essential functions, analytics, and marketing. We support modern consent standards including Google Consent Mode v2, Microsoft UET Consent, and the IAB TCF 2.2 Framework. For a detailed breakdown of specific cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy. ### 6. International Data Transfers As a business operating in the US and UK, your information may be transferred across international borders. We ensure all transfers comply with standard contractual clauses (SCCs) and equivalent adequacy frameworks to protect your data integrity. ### 7. Your Global Rights Depending on your location, you have specific rights regarding your personal data: - GDPR (EU/UK): Right to access, rectify, or erase your data, and the right to portability. - CCPA/CPRA (US): Right to know what data we collect and the right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal info. - LGPD (Brazil): Right to confirmation of processing and data anonymization. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@brentherrig.com. ### 8. Security We use industry-standard encryption and security protocols to protect your data. While no system is absolute, we take proactive measures to mitigate risks and protect our creative partners. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please email us at info@brentherrig.com. #### Related Policies This policy is part of a coherent legal system designed to protect our audience and our business. We encourage you to review our related disclosures. Cookie Policy Affiliate Disclosure Terms --- ## Terms URL: https://cocktailphotographer.com/legal/terms Page title: Terms | Cocktail Photographer Summary: Terms of use for cocktailphotographer.com: site usage rules, intellectual property, third-party links, affiliate disclosures, and limitation of liability. Last updated: January 2026 ### 1. Agreement to Terms By accessing and using cocktailphotographer.com, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, you should discontinue use of the website immediately. These terms govern your interaction with the Brent Herrig Creative digital environment. ### 2. Use of Website You agree to use this website only for lawful purposes. You are prohibited from using the site in any manner that could damage, disable, or impair our systems or interfere with any other party's use of the site. Automated scraping or data extraction that harms site performance or violates intellectual property rights is strictly prohibited. ### 3. Intellectual Property All content on this website, including but not limited to photography, motion assets, text, logos, and design elements, is the property of Brent Herrig Creative unless otherwise stated. These assets are protected by intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, or use our commercial assets without prior written permission or a valid license agreement. Without our prior written permission, you may not: - copy, download, reproduce, republish, or distribute any imagery or content, - use any imagery or content for commercial purposes, - scrape, harvest, or collect content by automated means, - use any content to train, fine-tune, or develop machine learning or AI models, - create derivative works from any content, or remove any copyright or ownership notice. Licensing and usage rights for specific images are arranged in writing. For licensing questions, contact info@brentherrig.com. ### 4. Information Only The content provided on cocktailphotographer.com is for general informational purposes. While we strive for accuracy, we make no guarantees regarding the completeness or reliability of the information provided. Brent Herrig Creative is not liable for any actions taken based on the content of this website. ### 5. Third-Party Links Our website may contain links to external sites operated by third parties. Brent Herrig Creative is not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of these external platforms. Inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the external site or its operators. ### 6. Affiliate Links Some of our content includes affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. You are under no obligation to use these links or make any purchase. For more detail on how we handle these relationships, please see our Affiliate Disclosure. ### 7. Limitation of Liability To the extent permitted by law, Brent Herrig Creative shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, or incidental damages resulting from your use of this website. We provide the site on an as is basis and do not provide warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. ### 8. Governing Law and Disputes These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, United States, without regard to its conflict of law rules. If a dispute arises, we ask that you first contact us at info@brentherrig.com so we can try to resolve it informally within 30 days. Any dispute not resolved informally will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in New York. ### 9. Changes to Terms We may update these terms periodically to reflect changes in our services or legal requirements. The last updated date at the top of this page indicates when the most recent changes were made. Continued use of the site after updates constitutes acceptance of the new terms. ### 10. Contact If you have any questions regarding these terms, please contact us at info@brentherrig.com. #### Related Policies Our legal framework is built on transparency and editorial independence. We do not use manipulative practices, and our recommendations remain independent of our commercial partnerships. We encourage you to review our other policies. Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Affiliate Disclosure --- ## Related - [brentherrig.com](https://brentherrig.com): Full creative portfolio (food, beverage, hospitality, portraits, advertising and motion). - [AI lifestyle creative](https://brentherrig.com/ai-lifestyle-creative): Brent's AI lifestyle creative page, built on work for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, with the 30-second spot, campaign frames and how the product-trained model works.