Visitors to this page also liked: See "Recommended Reading" on the right column. We honor reciprocal links.
Hi Pentaxian friends.
I never did product photography before. I don't have my own studio with a professional lighting system, so that makes it pretty difficult. So not to disappoint anyone, I tried to do some for a client using natural lighting. I set my equipment up in one room in the house that has a great bay window. I laid the product flat, (in this case a new guitar model from Mollenhauer Guitars), and set my tripod up so that I could shoot vertically or almost vertically. I had the guitar propped up about 15 degrees on one side. I draped a black cloth behind me and the camera so that the reflection in the guitar shinny surface would not pick up objects in my room. I shot using a remote so I too would not be reflected in the guitar. The camera being black blended with the black surface behind it.
I was still not satisfied with the results, so I post-processed the image by cutting the surrounding background area. I made a gradient background using PhotoShop and pasted the guitar in. I added a mirror effect at the bottom to emulate the guitar being suspended in mid-air. Then I pasted sections of the guitar in separate boxes bounded by a thin red line to bring the attention to important details. Of course, on the client's website, the details will be blown full size when clicked on.
I would appreciate comments from the photographers that do product photography. I need all the help I can get. I'm not about to spend thousands of dollars just yet. I want to work my way up. I want to start small and add equipment as I go along, to make the work more professional and easier.
Hi Pentaxian friends.
I never did product photography before. I don't have my own studio with a professional lighting system, so that makes it pretty difficult. So not to disappoint anyone, I tried to do some for a client using natural lighting. I set my equipment up in one room in the house that has a great bay window. I laid the product flat, (in this case a new guitar model from Mollenhauer Guitars), and set my tripod up so that I could shoot vertically or almost vertically. I had the guitar propped up about 15 degrees on one side. I draped a black cloth behind me and the camera so that the reflection in the guitar shinny surface would not pick up objects in my room. I shot using a remote so I too would not be reflected in the guitar. The camera being black blended with the black surface behind it.
I was still not satisfied with the results, so I post-processed the image by cutting the surrounding background area. I made a gradient background using PhotoShop and pasted the guitar in. I added a mirror effect at the bottom to emulate the guitar being suspended in mid-air. Then I pasted sections of the guitar in separate boxes bounded by a thin red line to bring the attention to important details. Of course, on the client's website, the details will be blown full size when clicked on.
I would appreciate comments from the photographers that do product photography. I need all the help I can get. I'm not about to spend thousands of dollars just yet. I want to work my way up. I want to start small and add equipment as I go along, to make the work more professional and easier.
Four different results
The one I picked above
03/21/09 - Update: I received some comments and emails, and revised the aspect ratio, positions and some of the details on the guitars above. Hopefully it's better.Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for comments and help.
Yvon Bourque
9 comments:
i'm not a product photographer either, but that looks really nice. good work!
I also never did any product photograpy but as a guitar player I never miss an occasion to talk about music gear :] In this case, I think you did some decent job on the shot, but I don't like that "iPod'ish" style applied. Still, it's a good idea to use available light for this one and do some shots showing fine craftmanship and wood-metal connections.
Like the shots Yvon. The gradient one is also the one I would have picked. However The frame color around the the close ups shots I would change. I find it does not flow right for me. I would try a silver/ metallic border or a border color that compliments the guitar a little better. Maybe try some color samples from the body of the guitar there are some nice light to dark browns. Anyways nice work keep it up.
Adam
Neil and Adam,
Great idea. Using the colors already in the guitar body would make sense. The client wants to build a catalog of all of his guitars. They come in many colors. Do you think I should always match the primary color of each guitar or just use a sample of the gradient background. The background will always be black to white.
I couldn't tell that it was your first time. The style is not my cup of tea, but in this case, it just works. :)
Yvon
I find when I'm designing layouts for different things that I try to always us complimentary colors unless I'm trying to draw attention to a specific area. In this case you will find it will depend on how the layout of the final product will be. What I mean is will each guitar be displayed individually? or will they be displayed as a group. If it is individually then I would try to use a color that compliments(like using one from the body) the guitar. If they are to be displayed in a group then you will find that by going with one color style of frame will create a uniformed look for the products as a whole. If it was me I would have a separate look for each guitar that way it really creates a sense of individuality for each guitar even if they are displayed as a group. I hope this helps :)
Adam
Yep, works quite well. My only question would be this though: does it need a tad more headspace? Seems a little closely cropped at the top.
That's all!
Yvon,
Very nice for a first effort, to be sure. I agree with the suggestions/comments offered by Adam and by Aris.
Also, thanks for keeping your K10D book available in e-book form. Bought a copy last week; wished I could have been in a position to buy the paper version when you were printing them up, but the e-version will do.
All my relations, Christine
Actually I'm not a product photographer.but great idea. Using color in the guitar body would make sense. That looks really good. nice work keep it up.
Post a Comment