Cocktail Styling 101: How Pros Make Drinks Photogenic (Lessons from Bun House Disco)

Hook: Turn your weekend cocktail snaps from "nice" to "double-tap worthy"

You love making interesting cocktails, but your photos never capture the color, texture or craft behind them. You’re juggling glassware choices, fogged-up condensation, and a garnish that looks great in hand but flat on camera. If you want reliably beautiful drink photography that performs on social media and in a restaurant menu — and you want to reproduce the vivid pandan green of Bun House Disco’s pandan negroni — this guide is for you.

The evolution of cocktail styling in 2026: what’s new and why it matters

As of 2026, cocktail styling and drink photography aren’t just about pretty pictures — they’re commerce tools. Short-form vertical video, AI color tools and computational photography now shape how bars and creators present drinks. Late 2025 saw a surge in bars using augmented reality (AR) menus and interactive visual assets, so photographers must deliver assets that work across flat images, rotating 3D views and 9:16 reels.

That means a different approach: images must be instantly readable on tiny screens, true-to-life for brand identity, and adaptable for vertical edits. The Bun House Disco pandan negroni — photographed by Rob Lawson and styled by Seb Davis — is the perfect case study: a cocktail that needs to read as verdant, fragrant and neon-nightclub lively across every channel.

Most important lessons first: the core rules of cocktail styling

1. Start with a clear concept. Is the mood bright and tropical, retro neon, or moody and smoky? Your choices for glassware, background and light should all support this single idea.
2. Control color before editing. Capture accurate color with white balance, a gray card and RAW files so the pandan green you see is the pandan green you post.
3. Simplify the frame. Drinks read better with one hero object and one supporting prop (garnish or bottle). Avoid busy clutter that competes with the cocktail.

Why pandan color is special

Pandan brings a chlorophyll-rich, slightly blue-leaning green that can easily shift toward yellow or teal depending on glass thickness, light temperature, and background. The trick is to give pandan its own visual space — backlight for translucency and a neutral reference to avoid color casts.

Glassware choices: how pros pick the right vessel

Glass choice is styling. It changes how color, texture and garnish read. Use glass as a design decision rather than convenience.

• Tumbler / Old-Fashioned: Great for spirit-forward drinks and garnishes that sit on ice. Thick glass can mute color, so place it against a lighter background or use rim lighting.
• Coupe / Nick & Nora: Elegant for clear or slightly colored cocktails. Thin lip highlights liquid edge and shows pandan hue with less distortion.
• Highball / Collins: Use for layered or tall presentations. Conscious of reflections; use polarizing filter or move lights for clean gradients.
• Shot / Cordial: For concentrated color punches — great for pandan shots or syrups. Macro lenses or smartphone close-ups make these pop.

Styling glassware: practical tips

• Polish glassware with a microfibre cloth and final-pass with distilled water to remove streaks.
• Use a blow-dryer on cool to remove last-minute condensation or intentional misting for controlled droplets.
• Place a neutral coaster or tray under the glass to control reflections and anchor the composition.

Garnish tips that make a drink sing (without stealing the show)

Garnishes are punctuation. They should echo the drink’s flavor, add contrast and create a photographable shape.

• Scale everything to the glass. A giant citrus wheel on a coupe looks awkward; a thin, twisted peel or small leaf cluster works better.
• Texture contrast: if the drink is smooth, pick a crisp or charred garnish (e.g., toasted pandan leaf edge, flamed citrus oil).
• Use tools: tweezers, fine scissors and kitchen tweezers let you position micro-herbs precisely.
• Layer garnishes: For pandan cocktails, fold a fresh pandan leaf into an elegant fan or flame the tip slightly to add char and aroma (shoot immediately after flaming).
• Keep it fresh: Garnishes wilt. Prep last-minute and have a small bowl of ice water for leaves to revive them between takes.

“At Bun House Disco, Seb Davis matches garnish scale to the neon energy of the drink — it’s bold but never messy.”

Lighting drinks: recreate that neon night glow

Lighting decides translucency, rim glow and the depth of the pandan green. Use a three-light approach for maximum control: backlight, key side light and fill or reflector.

Backlight for translucency

Place a softbox or diffused LED behind the drink, slightly lower than frame center. This makes pandan glow through the glass and highlights texture on ice. For tabletop setups, a vertical LED panel with diffusion works well.

Side key light for shape

Position a second light at 45 degrees to add dimension. Use a grid or small softbox to keep light controlled and avoid flood reflections on the glass face.

Fill and negative fill

Use a white reflector on the opposite side to lift shadows gently. To deepen contrast, use black foam core as negative fill — this sculpts the drink and makes the green look denser.

Color gels and gels for mood

Because pandan green needs fidelity, use gels sparingly. A subtle cool blue gel behind the glass can make green appear jewel-like without shifting the hue. Avoid heavy yellow gels that push pandan toward lime.

Camera and phone settings (practical, reproducible)

Whether you shoot with DSLR or smartphone, these starting points work on most modern gear in 2026.

DSLR / Mirrorless

• Lens: 35mm–50mm for full frame; 24–35mm for APS-C. Macro 90mm for close-ups.
• Aperture: f/4–f/5.6 for full-glass clarity; f/2.8–f/4 for shallow-focus garnish shots.
• Shutter: 1/125–1/250 sec for handheld; slower with tripod.
• ISO: 100–400 for clean files.
• White balance: set to Kelvin 5000–5500K for daylight; use a gray card to lock accurate color.
• File format: RAW required for color control.
• Accessory: circular polarizer to control reflections on glass.

Smartphone (2026 flagship tips)

• Use Pro mode, shoot RAW/ProRAW. Many phones now capture 12–14-bit RAW with accurate color profiles — see a night photographer’s toolkit for low-light capture tips that transfer to phone setups.
• Lock exposure and white balance; set Kelvin if available (5000–5400K baseline).
• Use a tripod or phone clamp for consistency, especially for vertical reels.
• Attach a small neutral-density (ND) or polarizing accessory if reflections are excessive.
• Use external LED panels for controlled light rather than the phone’s native flash.

How to capture pandan’s green hue accurately

Pandan’s color can be deceptively changeable. Use a workflow that preserves hue from capture to publish.

Capture steps

1. Infuse with care: fresh pandan-infused gin will be deepest immediately after infusion. Strain through muslin to avoid particulate that scatters light.
2. Place a gray or color checker in the first frame. This reference will let you correct white balance in post precisely.
3. Shoot multiple angles: backlit for translucency, 45-degree for body, top-down for garnish composition.
4. Bracket exposures: one correctly exposed, one +1/3 EV and one -1/3 EV. Greens can clip easily; preserve highlight data.

Post-production tips

• Start from the color checker or gray card to set white balance and exposure.
• Target the green channel in HSL: increase saturation modestly (+5 to +15) and lift luminance to make pandan pop without neon clipping.
• Use local masks to avoid affecting skin tones or wood props — you want the green to glow but other elements to remain natural.
• Beware of overcorrection: too much green saturation makes the drink look artificial; aim for vivid but believable.

Composition and storytelling: bar plating and scene-setting

Photography is storytelling. Bar plating gives context: tools, ingredients, and garnishes arranged to tell a sensory story that ends at the glass.

Bar plating checklist

• One hero object (the glass).
• One supporting ingredient (pandan leaf, small bowl of chartreuse, or rice gin bottle).
• One textural backdrop (woven mat, marble slab, or dark wood).
• Small accents (micro herbs, flamed citrus strip) placed with tweezers — not scattered randomly.

Composition rules

• Use rule of thirds but don’t be rigid — cocktails benefit from central placements when shot from 45 degrees.
• Leave breathing room for vertical crops and reels; the hero needs space to animate.
• Contrast matters: pair smooth drinks with rough props to highlight texture.

Seven pro tricks you can use right now

1. Micro-kick lighting: Add a tiny LED positioned as a rim light to define the glass edge. It can be the difference between a flat photo and one that reads in thumbnails — DIY LED lighting kits are small, affordable, and perfect for this.
2. Selective mist: Use a fine atomizer to mist the garnish, not the glass, for a freshly-made look without obscuring the drink.
3. Freeze motion: For pouring shots, use continuous burst at 1/500–1/1000 sec and a high shutter to capture suspended droplets.
4. Color reference frame: Always save one reference frame with a gray card and the full set of props; this simplifies batch edits and maintains brand color consistency.
5. Minimal ice styling: Use clear large cubes for clarity. Make ice in silicone molds with boiled, cooled water to reduce air bubbles.
6. Symmetry with asymmetry: Place garnish off-center and a supporting prop subtly opposite for dynamic balance.
7. Prepare screwed-down shots for social: Capture a 9:16 vertical crop during the shoot to avoid losing the composition when repurposing for reels and stories — short-form workflows like those in short-form live setups translate well to cocktail reels.

Case study: styling Bun House Disco’s pandan negroni

What Bun House Disco did well — and what you can copy — was to treat pandan as both ingredient and visual centerpiece. The pandan-infused rice gin is intentionally dark green, so stylists chose a glass with a thin lip to reduce color distortion. A bright backlight made the gin glow; a small char on the pandan leaf added texture and suggested aroma. The photo reads equally well in square and vertical crops — a deliberate choice given the bar’s social-first strategy in 2025–26.

Troubleshooting: common mistakes and fixes

• Green looks muddy: Fix by increasing green luminance and decreasing yellow saturation in HSL. Re-shoot if lighting was too warm.
• Glass reflections: Use a polarizer or move lights. Small grids and flags solve hot spots quickly.
• Garnish shadows obscure drink: Add a subtle fill or reflect a small white card under the garnish.
• Color inconsistent across assets: Always use a color-check frame and a single color workflow in Lightroom or Capture One for batch edits.

Final checklist: shoot-day essentials

• Glassware cleaned and polished
• Fresh pandan and spare leaves
• Gray card / color checker
• Tripod and polarizer (or phone clamp and ND/polarizing accessory)
• Two small LED panels and a diffusion source — if you’re on a budget, DIY lighting kits work well.
• Tweezers, microfibre cloth, atomizer, and a bowl of ice water
• Shot list: hero, 45°, top-down, garnish macro, pouring motion, bar plating

2026 trends to watch (and how to prepare)

• AR menu assets: Bars will need 3D-friendly renders and consistent color assets. Capture images from multiple perspectives and keep RAW masters — see the micro pop-up studio playbook for workflow ideas that scale to AR.
• AI-driven color matching: New apps (2025–26) can suggest target HSL across an entire feed. Keep color references to use these tools effectively — and watch what major AI and platform bets mean for brand work in 2026 (why Apple’s Gemini bet matters).
• Vertical-first content: Prioritize a 9:16 crop in your composition planning so hero imagery adapts effortlessly to reels and stories.

Actionable takeaway: a 10-minute pandan shoot workflow

1. Prep glassware and garnish (2 minutes).
2. Set lights: backlight + side key + reflector (2 minutes) — a compact two-light setup or small LED panels from a DIY kit gets you there fast.
3. Place gray card, compose, and white balance (1 minute).
4. Shoot hero angles: backlit, 45°, top (3 minutes).
5. Capture garnish close-up and bar-plating shot (2 minutes).

Wrap-up and call-to-action

Great drink photography happens when styling, lighting and technical control work as one. Treat pandan as both color and flavor, pick glassware that flatters translucency, and use a disciplined capture workflow. Reproduce Bun House Disco’s neon-verve by prioritizing backlight and a neutral color reference — then let subtle post-processing enhance, not invent, the color.

Try the pandan negroni, run through the 10-minute workflow, and share your results. Tag us and Bun House Disco, or download our free cocktail-styling checklist to level up your bar plating and social assets.

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