Photographer took pictures of people after one, two and three glasses of wine to show true effects

A photographer captured the change in his friends' appearances after they had three glasses of wine.

It's fair to say that by the end of a night on the sauce you might appear a bit different than you did at the start.

As the evening moves on and you have progressively more drinks, whether it's beer, wine, cocktails, or whatever else, things start to get a little fuzzy.

Of course, if you do drink alcohol then drinking it in moderation is very important.

Brazilian photographer Marcos Alberti wanted to capture how people change after they've had a drink, including their physical appearance but also their expressions, and how they interact with the camera.

Drawing on a particular saying, he took four separate photos of each of his friends - one sober, one after one glass of wine, one after two, and one after three glasses.

"There is a saying about wine that I really like and it’s something like this: 'The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love, and the third glass is about mayhem'," he said. "I really wanted to see it for myself if that affirmation was in fact true."

The results show a big change in each of his friends, and in different ways too.

Alberti photographed his friends after drinking wine to document how their expressions and mood changed (Marcos Alberti)

According to Alberti's website, the series initially 'started as a joke' but ended up becoming a roaring success.

He began by taking a picture of his friends when they arrived at his studio 'to capture the stress and the fatigue' on their faces.

The photographer explained his mates had endured 'a full day at work' and had to make their way through 'rush hour traffic' to get there, so some of them weren't exactly on top of the world when they arrived.

But after their first glass of wine, they already looked a lot happier.

After each glass, Alberti took pictures of his pals to capture how their facial expressions continued to change after they consumed more alcohol.

His muses became a lot more relaxed after each glass (Marcos Alberti)

"At the end of every glass of wine a snapshot, nothing fancy, a face and a wall, three times," Alberti said. "By the end of the third glass, several smiles emerged and many stories were told."

Alberti's muses appeared to be a lot more relaxed after having a few tipples.

Although most of the subjects seem to look quite serious and composed in the first image, they loosen up a little bit more with each glass of wine.

By the final shot, they each sport huge grins and look like they're having fun in front of the camera.

The photographer said 'several smiles emerged' by the time they had their third and final tipple (Marcos Alberti)

In some sets of images, the participants are pulling funny faces, laughing and winking, while others have their eyes closed.

Alberti said that he shot the series, titled 'The Wine Project', over the course of six nights.

He explained that he invited people 'from all walks of life' to participate and purposely brought together some of his mates who hadn't already been introduced - and by the end of his experiment, they all became great chums.

“They came stressed by traffic and work,” he told Mamamia.

“When they arrived, I made a first photo right away, I didn’t gave them time to interact with the environment, so I could capture the real stress. Then I gave them the first glass.

The shoot took place over six nights (Marcos Alberti)

"I tried to invite friends from different circles, so a lot of them [wouldn't] know each other.

"It was very funny to see how they interact before and after wine. They all became friends."

Alberti added: “I started this project because if you search for alcohol on the internet, you only can find bad stuff about it.

"I wanted to show the good side of it - of course, between friends who are drinking responsibly in a good environment. It's like portraits during happy hour.”

You can find the full collection of images here.

What happens when you drink alcohol?

According to NI Direct, when you consume alcohol, it travels via your bloodstream to your heart, brain, kidneys, and liver. On average, your liver takes an hour to break down one unit of alcohol, with several factors, including your age, weight, and how much food you've eaten, having a considerable impact.

Northwestern University says it takes alcohol five minutes to reach your brain and starts to affect you within 10 minutes.

Alcohol can affect people differently depending on their body size, how quickly they're drinking, and whether they've eaten.

At lower levels, alcohol can make some people feel more relaxed and sociable, while higher amounts can affect your judgement, coordination and reaction times.

Alcohol does some interesting things to your body (Getty stock images)

If you have a blood alcohol level of 0.08 per cent, then it would take five and a half hours for your body to process it and leave your system fully.

When alcohol enters your bloodstream, it widens your blood vessels, which can result in physical reactions such as blushing, a temporary feeling of warmth, heat loss, and a decrease in temperature.

And as the concentration increases, the more you consume alcohol, you'll begin to slur your words, lose coordination, and have blurred vision.

If you drink on an empty stomach, then it passes straight into your bloodstream, whereas eating some food beforehand slows down the process.

The UK’s Chief Medical Officers recommend that adults who drink regularly should have no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread over three or more days, rather than saving them up for one session.