Nice, Joe... what strobe did you finally land on? Feels like you could have used a bit shorter flash duration. I really dig the mood in the second one, but it kind of bugs me that the straw is soft.
Damn it, Chris, now the straw bothers me.
But anyway, yes the flash duration is an issue. These were both shot with the Profoto Acute 1200s using Felicia's IQ 260 at ISO 100, f/8. I think the main light was set to A+B, both channels at 1/4 power and the dial turned down 1/2 a stop. I also shot these at 1/500s, which clipped part of the flash (since pocket wizards have a slight delay), and produced this odd center brightness from the leaf shutter blades closing, but an LCC fixed that. So, this is pretty much as fast of a flash I can get out of the acutes.
I do plan on renting the Pro 8s and a twin head for a weekend to do more serious stuff. (Sorry Brent, I know the Scoros are ideal, but the cost of rent all the light modifiers too is just too much for a personal project.)
For the Root Beer Float, DoF is an issue with a shot this close. I did not want the straw to be a strong aspect of the image and it's better to have the carbonation in focus, plus it is a stainless steel straw and probably would have made some kind of weird reflection.
By the way, the float was made with Not Your Father's Root Bear, and makes one damn good float! You need to have a strong stomach though, that stuff is sweet and syrupy and I could only get halfway before giving up.
