Take Better Beer Photos

Ruse’s small operation means co-owner and brewer Devin Benware always wears the brewery’s social media and photography hats. Though Ruse’s Instagram shots look professional, he says it doesn’t take much more than a DSLR camera and a hobbyist’s knowledge of photography.

“People notice when you go a little out of your way on social media, when you’re not just slapping your beer down,” he says. “I’ll go out of my way to post something for people to look at on their lunch break for hopefully more than 1 minute.”

And it’s not just screaming into a void: When Ruse posts about a beer on Instagram, it correlates to more customers asking for it by name in the taproom. Here are Benware’s tips for upping your beer-photo quality without breaking the bank.

» Invest in a 50mm lens. It creates a crisp focus on the beer, with a softer blur to the background that keeps the attention on what’s in the glass. Benware likens it to the iphone’s Portrait Mode, but for beer.

» Get near a window. Most of the credit for Ruse’s photos goes to the taproom’s huge windows, which do 95 percent of the work toward creating a great photo. If you want the best shot, get out of the brewery’s corners.

» DIY your backgrounds. Some of Ruse’s solid-colored Instagram shots are taken against colored or painted poster boards that Benware assembled into a lightbox-like square.

» Write on. Overlay a beer’s name, ingredients, or other details without fancy software by using text overlay in iphoto.

» Borrow, don’t steal. When Ruse wants to share or repost someone else’s great taproom photo, Benware says he always asks permission via Instagram or email first, then shouts out the photographer’s handle in the caption.