Photographing a band so it reads the first time
Light across the print, not into it. Everything else is holding still.
Gold foil is a mirror, and a flash is the worst thing you can point at a mirror. Almost every unreadable band photo is a lighting problem, and lighting is the one part you control completely.
Light
Put the light source to the side, so it rakes across the print rather than bouncing straight back. A window at ninety degrees is ideal; the ceiling light directly above you is the second worst option after the flash.
If the foil still glares, tilt the cigar a few degrees rather than moving the light. Small angle changes kill reflections that big ones do not.
Framing
- Fill the frame with the band. The cigar around it adds nothing.
- Shoot the front. The brand and line are the identifying pair; a photo of the side seam identifies nothing.
- Straight on. A curved band photographed from an angle loses half its text to perspective.
Do this: photograph before you light the cigar. A warm band curls, and a removed one ends up under a thumbprint — and that is the photo you will be trying to read a year later.
Focus and hands
Tap to focus on the text, not the cigar. Phone cameras default to the nearest object, which on a hand-held cigar is usually your thumb. If the band is small, back off slightly and let the crop do the work rather than pushing the lens to its minimum distance, where nothing is sharp.
Second bands and editions
If there is a second band near the foot, capture it too. It is often the only thing separating a limited edition from the standard line, and a photo of the main band alone will identify the wrong cigar with complete confidence.
The photo is the start of the entry
In Ligero a review starts with the band: the camera crops to the frame you aim with, the sommelier reads it, and the name, format, wrapper and origin arrive filled in. Reading a band is one of five free sommelier requests a week. Your own photo is never published — the picture on the cigar card is a clean drawn version of that brand band.
Read next
Reading a cigar band
Brand, line, factory marks and the words that are there purely to sell.
Tasting & notesWriting a tasting note you will still understand next year
Three sentences beat three paragraphs, if they are the right three.
Tasting & notesSmoking the same cigar twice: what to record the second time
The second note is where a journal stops being a diary and starts being data.