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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fresh Out of the Oven
so to speak

Two months ago I posted about a visit to Suntory's Yamazaki whisky distillery a ways south of Kyoto. After that tour was done, we (Paul Barr and I) hopped into a taxi for the 10 minute ride to hit the tour at Suntory's beer brewery, in Nagaokakyo city, an area where I happened to have lived in the mid 90s.

Unlike the old distillery, which is full of sweet aroma and deep, rich photogenic character at every turn, the beer brewery is a bastion of modern sterile industrial design, featuring all the warmth and character of the inside of a hospital's stainless-steel sink.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Brewing-Vat Icebergs
they extend far below floor level

Since there was nothing really appealing to my normal photographic interests, I thought I'd see what I could do with the “industrial look”. The big pipes running into these things, seen from a distance in the center of the shot above, offered a lot of detail...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rigid

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flow

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A closer-up version of the photo above is the first pic in “A Dual Photo Ying-and-Yang-ish “What am I?” Quiz” from the other day.

Update: this photo makes an excellent login-screen photo. I'm using it for the login screen on my NAS, and I'm tickled with the apparent appropriateness of it each time I encounter it.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tapered

I was much more in my element in the drinking room after the tour, where you get two big glasses of beer (or juice or tea).

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
My Glass #1

I made ample use of my camera, not because I wanted to possess an advertisement-worthy picture of a beer glass, but because I wanted to see whether I could produce an advertisement-worthy picture of a beer glass. Just dabbling to see what I can do is the same reason I took pictures of the transit of Venus, the recent annular eclipse, or the staged whisky shots seen in the distillery-visit post. (I look at “Trying My Hand at Product Photography” from five years ago, where I did something similar, and cringe.)

Anyway, these shots are more for my own fun, along the lines of “half the fun is getting there”. Most have had a fair amount of post processing in Lightroom.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oops
the beer-glass equivalent of a tree sticking out from someone's head

I felt that the background rows of cans had potential for something interesting, but I just couldn't find it.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zzzzzzzz......

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tasty

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Master of the Tap

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pull

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Me in Action
(if your definition of the word “action” is generous)
photo by Paul Barr

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Human Element

I probably appreciated the human element more than the beer, and the more beer I appreciated, the more I appreciated everything. 🙂

After everyone had their drinks in hand, there was a presentation on the proper pouring technique for this particular brew (which, if I would have paid attention fully, I would be able to recount, but I merely recall that the procedure was somehow different for this brew than for most beers.)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Presentation of the Glass

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Initial Pour
to produce the head?

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
This Point Seems Important
if only I had been paying attention

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pride in Her Work
a perfect glass

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos

The second photo on the ying-and-yang quiz is an extreme close-up of the lip of a full glass, with not much in focus except part of the rim and some of the bubbles on the head of beer.

Continued here...