Products in front of the camera
Intention and Purpose of this project
Product photography is used in marketing to promote all kinds of product, either in isolation or together with other items creating a theme into which the product is either placed to reflect the theme or to stand out against the theme. It is my intention to look at this area of photography and to demonstrate this with my own product photography.
This will give me more of an understanding of this genre of photography, and hopefully allow me to apply this knowledge, and previous knowledge, in producing some good product photography for the course, and possibly afterwards.
Reasons for choice and Influences on my choice
Product photography is used everywhere, from newspapers, magazines, billboards, television and the internet, to promote products to the general public, and is therefore an important area of photography, and one that is always changing and looking for ideas. Because of its applications, this is one area of photography that I feel I must investigate and practice, to hopefully take advantage of my knowledge from this course, and previous courses, and apply it in a working environment.
Product photography promotes products, through their shape and form, and can even make an un-interesting item look completely different. I have looked at several product photographers including Carlos Alejandro, Chris Collins, Martin Wonnacott, Richard Izui and Spencer Jones and some of the techniques that they have used in their work.
Equipment and Media
Because product photography would be working at a very close range it is very important to make sure the lens can be focused at this range, but also provide a good range of apertures. Both the 18 – 200 mm and the 75 – 300 mm lenses have macro capability, although not true macro lenses these were more than enough.
Although I use the battery grip, which provides a second battery, because we use the camera stand this is not really necessary, but provides the option to use the camera away from the camera stand, but also provides a back up power supply.
Two pieces of equipment that I will use are the product table, with its semi-translucent surface and back and the camera stand, neither of which I have ever used before.
The lighting was provided by the Burton College photographic studio with their wide range of different lighting facilities. We had the advice of Steve Davies, the course tutor, who helped with setting up the studio to what we wanted.
With this being the 21st century I will be using the internet for presenting the images as it can showcase your work to a much wider audience than a portfolio ever could. The internet is being used more and more by photographers to present their work to potential clients.
With this subject covering product photography and advertising, I am hoping to include printed images with catch lines appropriate for the image.
Techniques
This is the complete opposite of the work that I have done before on my last courses, this would therefore involve different techniques and equipment.
For this I will be working at close quarters to the subject in a fully controllable environment, so it will almost border on macro photography, which will call for close focusing, shallow depth of field to concentrate the view on the product, not peripheral surroundings. The college has a product table and a camera stand, two things that I am not used to having available, so I will try to make use of these as much as possible. One advantage of the camera stand is that both the camera and the product can be arranged and then when I make changes to the camera settings, the distances between the camera and product, and the angle at which the camera is in relation to the product will not be affected.
Lighting Quality
For product lighting, the lights will be used to bring the subject to the forefront, using snoots if necessary, but also there may be a need for balanced even lighting, where the subject of the photography (in this case the product) may be used in a different scenario, inc CGI, where the remainder of the image will have to match the lighting of the subject matter.
The college has a very well equipped photographic studio, with a wide range of lighting equipment and attachments to control the light generated by the flash head.
Health and Safety
Because I will be working in a smaller area of the studio, around the product table, it is important to ensure that the working area is clear, to prevent accidents caused by tripping over, or knocking things over, and that lighting is not too close to anything which may catch fire, or that someone can be burnt.
I have gone into more detail on health and safety during each photo shoot.
