Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How to Take Instagram-Worthy Cocktail Pictures

Jahla Seppanen
By

apartment bartender elliot clark
Image courtesy of Apartment Bartender
Elliot Clark went from pencil-pushing desk jockey working for corporate America to every dude’s favorite in-house bartender. After taking a random Bartending 101 class, Clark fell in love with the craft of mixing and photographing cocktails. Hence, Apartment Bartender was born.

Today, Clark has more than 43,000 followers on Instagram and has been the recipient of a handful of drink-related blogging awards. That’s because his approach from the get-go has been to simplify the craft of making premium cocktails in the comfort of your home.

Related Videos

“Men in general are super curious about apartment bartending, because every guy thinks it’s cool to mix up drinks,” Clark tells The Manual. “But it’s still intimidating. They assume it’s too much work or don’t know where to start, and I try to be that point-person. You don’t have to spend $500 to make one cocktail and have a bar in your home.”

Related

But if there is no photographic evidence of your cocktail, did you even make it? We got behind the camera with Clark to get his expert tips on taking, editing, and posting boozy photos on Instagram.

Turn On The Grid

Clark says, “Turn on the grid lines in settings to divide your screen into the rule of thirds. Typically speaking, the best angles to shoot are straight-on shots and top-down shots. Look at popular food and travel bloggers — most of their shots are top-down, then straight-on of the drink on the table. Those capture the cleanest lines and it’s easy on the eyes.”

Minimize Accessories

“Don’t do too much styling. A phone does not have the depth of field that a camera can create. Most people will take a photo of, say, their drink and their muffin in the background, and the muffin ruins it. Less is more.”

Experts Use VSCO Filters

“Don’t overdo it with the filters,” Clark says. Instead, he urged people to use filters wisely. “I personally use VSCO, even their series of free filters. Snapseed is also common, as well as A Color Story. But before messing around with filters, take a step back and ask what you’re trying to accomplish. What do you want the photo to look like? Try to find someone on Instagram who you really like and emulate that. In the beginning, that’s what I did. I was heavily influenced and look a lot from different feeds to create my own vibe.

Follow Feeds

As for discovering your photo technique and general mood Clark advises, “In the beginning, I went through different phases. I studied food photographers and bloggers mostly like TheFeedFeed and 1924us until they deleted their Instagram. It was woodsy and dark. Now, I look at photographers, like this guy in Chicago named JohnStoffer and a girl in Paris, Joann Pai (Slice of Pai). I really enjoy studying photographers and how they capture. It helps me look at what I’m doing in a bigger way and get more creatively inspired.”

Get Yer Rocks and Coups

Since most of us don’t have an arsenal of glassware, Clark says at a basic level you need: “A set of rocks glasses and coupe glasses. Coupes are perfect for everything from a martini to negroni, and even Champagne or whiskey sours. If a guy thinks a coupe glass is girly, which I don’t understand, then you can have the rocks glass.” When you’re ready to step up your game from there, check out our easy barware buying guide.

Mix Five

Last but not least, which five drinks should every man perfect in his home bar? “Old Fashioned, daiquiri, margarita, sazerac/Manhattan, and negroni,” Clark decrees. “Those are classics, and not only are they classic recipes, they’re templates. If you break down their recipes, a lot of their drinks are easy to spin-off or riff. For instance, a mezcal Old fashioned is exactly the same as a traditional Old Fashioned but using mezcal. On a date, if they don’t like whiskey, you can make a daiquiri. They’re all easy to make, not ingredient intensive, and a guy could spend $50-$60 to make those drinks multiple times for his friends.”

Want more tips? Clark’s free Guide on Drinkstagramming is a complete how-to. And if beer’s more your speed, here are six photography tips for taking better beer pics.

If you’re ready to get started now, here’s a cocktail you can try making at home:

Organic Pomegranate Hot Toddy

Method: Combine all ingredients into a small to medium saucepan, except for the dark rum. Heat on low until warm. Pour the dark rum into a mug, and top with the warmed up drink. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Feature image courtesy of Apartment Bartender.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
This roaster’s $150 cup of coffee sold out in a single day
Would you shell out for a $150 cup of coffee? Turns out, many people would for one of the top-rated roasts
Person roasting coffee beans in a wok

Splurging is a habit we can't seem to kick. Amid a less-the-perfect economy, we still love to eat expensive caviar, collect wildly high-priced spirits bottles, and order drinks with actual gold in them. Creatures of habit, I suppose.

The latest development within the topic? A coffee cup with an asking price of $150. Yes, a Portland coffee roaster offered a rare and limited-run cup of coffee. It goes down as perhaps the most expensive cup of coffee ever. The real question begs: Is it worth it?

Read more
Here’s what drinks pros have learned from Dry January
How do you extend Dry January all year long? We got some advice from the pros
A pair of mocktails.

A new year is upon us and for a lot of people, that means new healthy habits. It might mean a new diet, pre-bedtime sleep ritual, or cutting back on the booze. Often, the plusses of these lifestyle changes are so significant that you hope to continue them well beyond just January.

There are lots of sober curious people looking to take the merits of Dry January all the way through 2023. But it's not easy, especially with our favorite bars back open, friends always looking for an excuse to get out, and some really good cocktails in the mix. So we solicited some advice from drinks industry pros who've done the Dry January thing and learned from it. Here's some of that valuable wisdom, passed on to the new, 2023 version of you.

Read more
The 5 best low-calorie drinks to order at the bar
Low-calorie drinks: Put down the light beer. You're better than that.
Paloma

It's inevitable. With the new year now well underway, most of us will at least be flirting with the idea of getting back into shape after the sugar-filled holiday season. For better or worse, those cookies were delicious, Mom's gravy was silky smooth and decadent, and the mulled wine was flowing. There are plenty of good reasons to clean up our diets come January, whether the goal is to drop a few pounds, or just cleanse our bodies of all of those sugar plums. Some even opt for a Dry January, entirely abstaining from alcohol for the whole of what feels like the coldest, darkest month of the year. If that's your thing, more power to you! We salute you. But for those of us with slightly less willpower who still want to tidy up our systems, there are other, less extreme alternatives.

Simply opting for low-calorie alcoholic drinks is a perfectly reasonable compromise. Instead of a creamy, whipped indulgence with a candy cane rim, maybe just order a vodka soda. A diet gin and tonic sure feels crisp, light, and refreshing after consuming all of Uncle Marv's eggnog. The trick is knowing these healthier alternatives and being prepared when the bartender heads your way.

Read more