Final Images - Product Photography

Below are my final images for the Product Photography section of my college work:

Amarige

Amor Amor

Pretty in Pink

Addict

Activist

Obsession

Quality First

Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

J2o Storm

Let it pour

Corkscrew Climbers

Run Free

Selecting Final Images - Products

When I started this course I decided early on that I would cover product photography, as I felt that this would be one of the more marketable types of photography.

The style of the product photography is based on those taken by Chris Collins, Marin Wonnacott, and some of the others that I have looked at during this course, but in some cases I have added my own twist.

 

Amarige Shutter 1/6 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This looks to me a typical product shot of a ladies perfume, like the one’s that you would see in a magazine or catalogue. I liked how the light was reflected through the perfume onto the set. The image is in focus and the exposure was set for the liquid. This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Amor Amor Shutter 1/4 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 800 Metering Spot	I was very happy with this product shot, as I had included the box and tried to make it look like an advertisement that I had seen in a shop window. Because of the reflective silver surface on the box I could not risk using flash as this would have been reflected back and destroyed the image completely This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Pretty in Pink Shutter 1/3 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image, of one of Lou’s perfumes, did start out level, but after adjusting the levels and increasing the saturation, I tried tilting the image, on more of a diagonal.  This made the rather ordinary image look more catchy.  This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Addict Shutter 1/2 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image I like for its simplicity of the perfume bottle. This bottle I liked with the almost pear shaped appearance and the contrasting dark blue and gold colours. Like the Activist range, below, this bottle is opaque and therefore the only light is from the front of the bottle. But I wanted to capture this with existing light as opposed to flash, as I feel that although flash provides the necessary light to capture a subject, or scene, it can also destroy some of the elements of it.  The more gentle light here captured the contrasting textures of this bottle which might otherwise have been lost through the use of flash photography.
Activist Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 16 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This is one of the images from my first product photo shoot, in which I brought a number of items that I thought would be marketed via product photography. I liked the different shapes, and how together they matched, but also were very different. With the products being black, with white text this was also a challenge, both at the moment of capture, but later in the post production stage.
Obsession Shutter 1/2 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image of a man’s aftershave I chose because of the lines of the bottle and the different textures and tones. Like the ladies perfume, at the top of this selection I liked how the light was reflected through the aftershave onto the set. The image is in focus and the exposure was set for the liquid. This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Quality First Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I like because of the shape of the group of bottles and how the J2O bottle is arranged in front of the other unnamed bottles placing it in the centre and in the viewers eye.  Again this image is one that I sketched prior to the photo shoot, and like the image below, I had already decided on a name for this image. I was happy with the photograph from the photo shoot, but I wanted to add something to catch the viewers eye, so I looked at adding a background to the image.  Adding the background was the easy bit the making it show through the bottles was the fun bit, but I think it works well and gives the impression that the bottles were, in fact, photographed against the artificial background, which adds to the appeal of this image.
Head and Shoulders above the Rest Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I liked because of the shape and symmetry formed by the three bottles of J2O.  Prior to this product shoot I had planned how this shot might look, and the title for the shot, and I am very happy how the photograph came out. Although I was happy with the actual photograph, I wanted to add something in the post production stage to lift the finished work off the page.   I feel that the finished work is something that could easily be seen in a magazine promoting the J2O product line, especially at this time of year (summer) with the predicted weather.
J2o Storm Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image is based on another of Chris Collin’s work. I like it because how the bottle stands out against the artificial background, but at the same time they both look part of the same image. I particularly like the reflections on the bottle which you can only get with glass and the contrast between the shiny surface of the glass and the more matt finish of the labels on the bottle. This image nicely contrasts with the previous image of the sunny atmosphere of the Head and Shoulders above the Rest image, depicting the J2O bottle against a stormy sky.
Let it Pour Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I particularly like as there is a nice diagonal from the bottle, through the glass, down to the hand. The reflections on the glass and the bubbles in the liquid look effective as the liquid was poured. This image was inspired by an article in Digital Photo magazine, and although the original image, in the magazine, was against a black background, I feel that this interpretation of the idea worked better with the white background and lighting illuminating the liquid and showing the bubbles created in the glass as the liquid was poured better than in the magazine.
Corkscrew Climbers Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This photograph started off as a simple product shot of a bottle of ‘wine’. Having seen some of Chris Collins’ work I though that I would add something new to this product shot.  One think with this wine is a screw cap, which I thought is very handy for us, but might put the humble corkscrews out of a job, so with this in mind I worked on this image. I am very happy with this image as it was exposed for the liquid, and I matched up the artificial background to match this. This image has been selected for an exhibition at the Burton College.
Run Free Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	For this image I had a number of ideas, but after exploring some of them, I opted for this one based on the work of Martin Wonnacott.  One thing I like about the finished work is the surreal look of it where the trainer is shown as if running, but without it’s wearer ! Images like this catch people’s eye and hold their attention longer that some other adverts, and it is this that can make the difference. The background was taken near Catton and motion blur added to create the atmosphere of the action.

Orange Storm

Looking at another of Chris Collins work I tried to duplicate another piece of work, which I have called Orange Storm:

Here is Chris's work:

Here is my version:

Product Shoot 3

Aim of this Shoot

This time I wanted to concentrate on photographing ladies perfumes, which are one of the most popular products for advertising, using some of the cosmetics in the house. The inspiration for these photographs has been posers in shop windows and adverts in magazines.

Using the kitchen table, with natural light, and a white mount board for the set. This did mean folding the mount board to create a stage and a backdrop, thereby ruining the board for anything else. The things that I will do !

The Set Up

The diagram for this set up I used is shown below:

As you can see there is really very little working space available, whilst getting the lighting how I wanted it.

Below are photographs of the actual set up:

Choice of Equipment

For this shoot I chose to use my Fujifilm Finepix S7000 camera, because this has a better macro capability, especially when working in such a confined workspace. The S7000 has a built in lens which is the equivalent of a 28 – 210mm lens on a 35mm film camera, but offers both macro mode and super macro mode (the latter allowing focusing down to 25mm).

Because I was working from a fixed location, I used my older Miranda tripod, which is considerably heavier than the lighter Star 75 tripod that I took to Wales, but far more steady.

To avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter release I set the camera to a 2 second self timer, as this camera does not have a remote release capability.

Health and Safety

Working Environment

As I am working in a confined space, and it being a kitchen, it was very important to ensure that all knives and sharp objects had been put away, prior to the start of the shoot. Also, I had to make sure that the floor was dry, with no spillages which could lead to me slipping over.

Electricity

Because I was using existing light, there were no concerns over electric lighting, again the kitchen was clear and the electric appliances were unplugged and out of the way.

Cables

I made sure that there were no cables in the working environment to prevent any tripping style accidents.

Heat

As there was no flash lighting there were no concerns over the heat generated by these. The cooker had not been used for hours, so it was cold to the touch. As there was no direct sunlight there was no noticeable heat there. The water in the kettle was cold as well, although this was down the other end of the kitchen, well away from where I was working.

Chemicals

I had ensured that everything was put away, prior to the start of the shoot. The kitchen tops were clear.

Selecting the Images

Having looked at some advertisements, both in weekend newspaper magazines and in shop window promotions, I had an idea what I was looking to achieve from this photo shoot. Also, like the corkscrew climbers from the second product photo shoot, I wanted to take some of my photographs beyond their normal limits.

Both focus and exposure were very important when selecting the images, but also scope for taking the photographs further.

Below is a contact sheet of the images that were taken during this product photo shoot:

The results of the shoot

Here are some of the finished images:

Product Shoot Two

Aim of the shoot

This time I was working with Jim in the studio. Jim was also working on a product shoot, very similar principle to me, so Steve suggested that we worked together, also I might learn a few things from Jim.

I was looking at shooting some 'wine', for which I have a few ideas, the 'wine' being poured into a glass, and perhaps an empty wine glass.

The first thing to do was look at the lighting that was required. Jim had worked out what he was looking for and Steve Davies helped set up the lighting accordingly.

The Set Up

After Jim had taken some of his photographs, I had the opportunity to take some using a bottle of rose wine (well, ok, summer fruits cordial - but it looked good ! and did not mean bringing alcohol onto the college premises !).

The set up involved using the product table again and one soft box on the left, lighting from behind the product table, with barn doors to control the lighting, and a light from under the table.

Below is the lighting diagram:

The flash was triggered by a wireless trigger.

After a few test shots I got the lighting just right. The exposure was set up for the liquid, not the labels on the bottle which would have resulted in the liquid being highly over exposed:

After I was happy with the image of the bottle, for which I have one or two ideas, one based on some of Chris Collins work.

Next I wanted to try something that I saw in a magazine, Digital Photo, which looked good. For this I would need a wine glass, which I had brought from home, and two people. I discussed this idea with Steve who advised that although the lighting was different, it would be something interesting to try.

Pippa joined me, Steve and Jim in the studio to give us a hand, sorry but pun intended !

I lined up to camera, Steve advised whilst Jim poured some of the ‘wine’ into a wine glass held by Pippa:

Although the lighting was different to that used in the magazine, we were all happy with the result. One thing that was nicer about my photograph, as opposed to the photograph in the magazine was the bubbles in the wine glass as the ‘wine’ was poured.

Choice of Equipment

To save time during the shoot it was decided that I should use Jim's Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR which was fitted with a 24 - 105 mm lens. This gave me the opportunity to use a more pro spec camera. This lens offered a wider aperture setting than my lenses and could isolate one item from a group by careful use of the depth of field. Although the camera uses compact flash, Jim downloaded these onto my memory stick at the college, although the CR2 (Canon RAW) files were very large, I was able to deal with them thanks to the UFRAW application.

Health and Safety

When working in a photographic studio you have to be careful of a number of things:

Environment

Fortunately, working in the college photographic studio which is kept clear of any obstructions, we had a clear and safe working environment, which is very important because, once the lights are out and we have only the modelling lights from the flash units to see by, any cables or props left lying around could cause an accident.

Electricity

Although the voltages for many lights may be lower, especially for portable lighting, you must always check that the cables are in good condition and have firm connections (to the equipment and to the mains power supply) and that nothing is overloading any sockets.

Any use of liquids, especially with some of my photographs, was controlled to prevent any liquid coming close to any electrical appliances.

Cables

The lighting is fitted to a series of tracks which are fixed to the ceiling, this reduces the number of cables that are near the ground, and any slack in the cables from these lights is taken up to prevent any tripping over accidents.

Heat

Because of the use of flash units, which generate a lot of heat, these were only handled before any photography started, using the light from the modelling light to ascertain the lighting. Also nothing inflammable was placed any where near any lighting equipment. It is important with so much lighting equipment that can be triggered wirelessly that any unused equipment is switched off, both for safety and causing unwanted lighting.

Steve, who changed any fittings, prior to the start of the shoot, was careful not to catch any lighting tubes, which are very fragile whilst changing the fittings.

Chemicals

Because we are all using digital cameras, most of the chemicals involved with photography, in particular the processing and development of the finished photographs, have been removed. I think the most dangerous fluid in the studio that day would have been the ‘wine’ which although not dangerous, would have caused some disappointment if tasted.

Selecting the images

I was very how this shoot turned out, and I think Jim was very happy with his product shoot.

This photo shoot gave me a number of images to work with, some of which I have already got ideas for their use.  The important issues when selecting images from this shoot were that these images were good exposure and accurate focusing.

The contact sheets for the images taken during this shoot are below:

 

Post Production 

With the photograph of the wine bottle, shown below, I just needed to create an adjustment layer for the label, as the exposure was set for the liquid, so that the label was clear.

I also had to clone out a small reflection of one of the studio lights.

With the pouring of the wine into a wine glass, held by Pippa, I used masking and lightened Pippa’s hand which was too dark.

One good thing was that nobody tried to sample the ‘wine’ !

Thanks again to Steve, Jim and Pippa for their help.

Little People

Having been looking at the work of Chris Collins, and his team, I thought that I would give it a go.

I have taken some images of a wine bottle so all I needed was some corkscrew people to animate and use to bring some life to the bottle.

So, first step was to take some photographs of our corkscrew, in different positions:

1/60 sec at f4.5 with 100 ISO

Next, I looked at one of Chris’s creations

This image is one that really drew my attention to Chris’s work, so I will base my image on this idea, but with a slight twist.

Using PhotoPlus X3, from Serif, I removed the background and carefully deconstructed the corkscrew, creating a separate layer for each part of my character.

And this is my nearly finished result:

Finally, here is the finished work, and thanks Eric for your feedback:

I have added some background and also a shadow, as per Peter Clark’s lesson at the Burton Photographic Society.

Product Shoot One

Aim of the Shoot

For this first product shoot in the studio, I wanted to try a few ideas I sketched whilst on my dinner break.

The first ideas featured fruit juice drinks, including J2O.

First, it was discussing with Steve Davies the ideas that I had and what I was looking to produce, Steve gave me some suggestions and helped with the positioning of the lights. After carrying out a quick risk assessment for health and safety, we started the photography.

The Set Ups

After some test shots and tweaking the aperture (both the ISO and shutter speed were limited), I got the results that I was looking for.

Using the set up above, with two light boxes backlighting the product table, one light under lighting the product and a snoot to the left of the camera.

A studio overhead diagram is below:

The camera itself was mounted on a camera stand, which was far more flexible than the traditional tripod, and far more stable.

The first idea, which I called Quality First featured four bottles, with a J2O bottle, which I used as the target product.

The next idea for the juice drinks, used a little improvisation:

But, at the end of the day, if the photograph looks good

(and they cannot see how it was done) the end justifies the means.

 

Here is the end result, which I entitled 'Above the rest':

For this photograph I had to position and rotate the J2O bottle so that the label showed the brand as best I could, whilst keeping the two front bottles together, which not only produced the effect that I wanted, but also hid the rolls of tape used to raise the J2O bottle.  One trick I used during the setting up of this image was to use the focus frame, in the viewfinder, to line up the bottles.

The next idea I worked on still involved the fruit juice, but used a different approach.

This image I entitled 'Quality not Quantity' was used to promote the target product in an environment where it was clearly in the minority to the other products, but demonstrating that it is not the quantity but the quality that counts. 

Toiletries

The next product I looked at was some toiletries, that I had been given as a gift.

Toiletries and perfumes are a very popular product to be photographed, because of there appeal to people, sometimes being promoted by celebrities, often shown with backlighting illuminating the bottle and its contents.

A studio overhead diagram is below:

In this case the bottles are black and opaque, so back lighting would not work with these.  An added problem with these items is that the camera might expose for the black packaging and not the white labelling, so some post production work in Photoshop will be necessary.

Canon A720 IS

The next item was a compact camera.

Cameras are a very popular consumer item and here product photography is a vital advertising tool, often the cameras are shown in a dim lit or even dark environment.  I therefore thought that I would give it a try first shooting in a light environment, especially as the camera has a silver finish and compare this to a photograph taken in a dark environment.

I did not want to take too many photographs as I was unsure how these would turn out, and my priority was the fruit juice bottles and the toiletries.

A studio overhead diagram is below:

Below is one of the photographs that I took in the light setting:

The angle of the photograph captured both the front of the camera and the top.  This is a popular angle when photographing a camera as people like to see as much detail, particularly in a single image.

Choice of Equipment

 

For these photographs I used the DSLR with a 18 – 55 mm lens, as this would give me a range of focal lengths to play with.  The lens had a macro setting which would be essential for these photographs. I will also be using the battery grip enables me to take the portrait orientated photographs, whilst still having access to the important controls.

 

I also used the camera stand as this would reduce time adjusting the focusing and any metering changes.

I used the infra red trigger for the flash units which gave me more portability and prevented any tripping over type accidents.

 

Health and Safety

When working in a photographic studio you have to be careful of a number of things:

Environment

Fortunately, working in the college photographic studio which is kept clear of any obstructions, we had a clear and safe working environment, which is very important because, once the lights are out and we have only the modelling lights from the flash units to see by, any cables or props left lying around could cause an accident.

Electricity

Although the voltages for many lights may be lower, especially for portable lighting, you must always check that the cables are in good condition and have firm connections (to the equipment and to the mains power supply) and that nothing is overloading any sockets.

Any use of liquids, especially with some of my photographs, was controlled to prevent any liquid coming close to any electrical appliances.

Cables

The lighting is fitted to a series of tracks which are fixed to the ceiling, this reduces the number of cables that are near the ground, and any slack in the cables from these lights is taken up to prevent any tripping over accidents.

Heat

Because of the use of flash units, which generate a lot of heat, these were only handled before any photography started, using the light from the modelling light to ascertain the lighting. Also nothing inflammable was placed any where near any lighting equipment. It is important with so much lighting equipment that can be triggered wirelessly that any unused equipment is switched off, both for safety and causing unwanted lighting.

Flash Photography

Flash photography, in particular the use of strobe lighting can affect someone who has photosensitive epilepsy, where by an epileptic fit can be triggered by flashing lights.  This is why announcements are made prior to showing on television, for example an interview, where there is rapid flashes from photographers flash guns.  Although no one I know suffers from this, it is an important consideration to think about as some people are unaware that they are sensitive to light in this way until something happens. 

Chemicals

Because we are all using digital cameras, most of the chemicals involved with photography, in particular the processing and development of the finished photographs, have been removed.

Contact

Although this might seem an unusual heading, it is still a very important consideration.  Whilst working in the photographic studio at the Burton College, we are aware that the rest of the group is nearby and in the event of an accident there are people who could assist (some members of security staff at the college are trained first aiders), and if required call for an ambulance.  If we were working alone in a studio or with a single other person, it would be essential to ensure that in the event of an accident someone could raise the alarm and call for help.  In the event of an accident, especially a serious one, the casualty must not be left alone.

This is an important factor when working on location, especially where there is little or no mobile signal, which could prevent a distress call getting through.

 

Selecting Images

I had decided on some of the uses of many of the photographs that I had taken, so when selecting the images it was a case of looking for images that were well exposed, in focus and that I could use for the ideas that I had been looking at.

Below is a contact sheet of all the photographs that I took during this photo shoot.

  

Post Production

J2O

All the J2O images have had minor issues corrected using Adobe Photoshop, because although you set the lighting up for the product there are so many considerations to take into account, which in some cases would counteract each other.  For example I was happy with the lighting of the bottles and the liquids, but the labels on the J2O bottle were not as vibrant as I wanted, so it was a case of selecting the separate labels on the bottle, and copying them to separate layers:

I then adjusted the levels on the individual labels, on separate layers, so the labels were vibrant and clear, without altering the bottles or the other label.

Toiletries

The first part of the workflow was carrying out adjustments in the Camera Raw, tool for importing and carrying out some adjustments using the raw image from cameras using a raw image format.

Once any adjustments are performed an xmp file is saved with the raw image, which retains the settings used when making adjustments to the image.

Once the adjustments have been made the image is opened in Photoshop.

The first priority was cropping the image, there is little point working on the whole image when you are only intending to use a portion of the image.

The next priority was working on the lettering on the packaging (which was a very long job !!).

 

Then I copied the selections to a separate layer, because there was so much text to work on I used three separate layers, I then adjusted the levels on these layers so that the text was clear.

This is the result of a number of hours work - before and after: