Author Archives: Doug Simon

Car Detailing Tool – Product Photography

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Car Detailing Tool Product Photography
This was a fun product shoot.  All the tiny and large attachments of this car detailing set needed to highlight how the tools and attachments are used. A show and tell project!

Car Paint Buffing Tool Product Photography
It’s helpful to have a gorgeous car’s paint job for the background.  Any product staging or styling demands planning and set-up is always lengthy.  There is no such thing as “an easy shoot”.  The results are worth it. Once the car was in place all dust had to be removed, and monitored as we moved equipment around. Tarps we hung on the walls to help minimize reflective lighting interfering with our lighting.

Detailing Camaro Product Photography
Angling the softbox for the right bounce is the fun part!
These were all shot with 1 softbox, using a Canon 24-70mm lens.
Camaro Detailing Attachment Product Photography

Health Food Bottles – Product on White

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Product on White Photography
Dark glass bottles shot on white background are a challenge. (The largest bottle above is plastic.) The goal is to manipulate a soft subtle reflection on the face of the glass.  Backlight was critical to bring out the depth of the bottle without blowing it out.  The backlight had to be focused and controlled. We shot 90 products in a range of sizes all light modifiers had to be adjusted for each size and shape.

We used no flash, multiple diffusers, continuous lighting, 100mm 2.8 Canon Macro lens and one softbox.

Staff Portraits in Tucson

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Executive Portrait

This lifestyle portrait session began with a rather grey room, but after a bit of dressing up, drive in a vehicle and add lighting-bingo; the stage was set.  Props add to a portrait-mining maps, or in the case of our next geologist a smile and a pick hammer!  These guys were a lot of fun. It’s always a pleasure to work with people who love their work.

We brought in 3 Arri Lights, 1-750 watt and 2-650 watt for stunning atmosphere.
Everything was shot on a tripod using a Canon 24-70mm mark 2 lens and Canon 5D Mark 3.  The staff photos turned out wonderfully!

Geologist Staff Portrait

Mine Tunnel Photography

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Old Mining Tunnel Photography

When you can’t see your hand in front of your face and no power outlet what are your best lighting options in a tunnel? It turns out Kubota builds a nice little diesel 4X4 cave crawler with powerful headlamps and a spotlight on top to handle all the photography lighting needs.  This mine has been inactive for a time and was being inspected. It was a great photo shoot as long as you’re properly attired with heavy boots and safety gear.  After 45 minutes of safety lecture we were ready to enter. Our first underground industrial photo shoot.

All the shots had to be staged due to the lack of professional lighting which meant the subjects had to hold still. The shutter speed was as low as 1/13 second and an ISO of 800 for most of the shots. We used a tripod for all shots. All shots are straight out of the camera.  It was a great shoot!Old Mine TunnelInspecting Copper Mine TunnelCopper Mine Tunnel

Product Photography on White with Multiple Angles

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Some products are just gorgeous due to their exterior surface. This diamond pattern is lovely! The reflective nature is the tough part about photographing this product. Our client is launching a new product line with two sizes of this unit. They also wanted to show the quality of craftsmanship, details and a product styled use image.

Product styling always sounds simple: Grab some items and stack them inside. The last thing you want for your product is distraction from the unit. In this case we discussed  colors of soda, lid options, choice of cans, what to put on the top rack, position of the labels and making sure everything was “balanced” to the eye–and keep these items from moving/rolling. Attention to detail pays off in a well laid out composition and the product “shines”.  In this case–it always shines!

Reflective products (glass, metal, jewelry, high gloss acrylic products) offer challenges. Once the lighting is in place-then you begin to block out reflections you don’t want – inclusive of the photographer in the product. Controlling the light to not blow out the high reflection, yet show off that very shiny surface we all love. The diamond metal pattern here controlled some of the typical hot spots. We were also able to make use of massive overhead natural lighting and several white reflectors to obtain an even product surface look.  Working all of the elements together takes a lot of time. We spend more time setting up a shot, than shooting, typically.  Shooting multiple angles meant repositioning everything (continuous lighting, white reflectors, c-stands, every clothes pin and re-taping) with each change of angle, and the second unit.

When you’re selling online any product photography should include an all-the-parts shot, manuals included.  Let prospective clients know what’s in the box.  We’ve also been asked to edit the photos adding the dimensions for clients.  Make it easy for people to buy your product!

Continuous Lighting
Natural Lighting
White Reflectors
Canon 24-70mm 2.8 Lens
Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro Lens

How Do I Stage My Product?

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Cabin Decor

You have a great product and you’ve got your product on white shots, but you need that one great shot-often referred to as a “hero” shot for your Amazon product page. Even with minimal equipment you can maximize your composition to stage your product.

This rustic cabin decor lamp with painted shade and metal art; and small wood carvings against a tongue and groove wood wall serves as the canvas to creating more dramatic photography.  This is your stage and these are the basic elements to arrange as you look for the shot you’re after.  This isn’t about being quick-it takes time and a lot of shots.  Beyond arranging what you see through the lens you’ll change up the shutter speed and focal length for a wide range of variables to find that end shot.

Cabin Decorating Theme
Turns out less is more.Rustic Cabin Hallway
Adding a floral stem to the very foreground adds shadow and depth. The focus is clearly on the cabin lamp with the floral having the bokeh. This is using a very slow shutter speed and wide open aperture (2.8).

Bokeh
Here the focus is reversed-bringing the floral into focus maintaining the same slow shutter speed and aperture. This might work for a backdrop image for marketing text while you still display your product.

Cabin Rustic Decor
The experimenting continues, same lens settings, but rearranging the floral, playing with the light.  This, too, can be a nice backdrop drawing the eye to the foreground where you might add your marketing message for a website slider.

Rustic Cabin Decor on Tongue and Groove paneling

Then often you come full circle to include parts of several variations of your composition. This used the same settings, pulled in the wood carvings and feathered the floral to a wider angle for a beautifully balanced and bokehed rustic cabin decor photograph.  This gives a lovely staging while highlighting the lamp and giving a vision of how it will look and feeling it creates once brought into the buyer’s home.

Canon Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Slow Exposure 0.3 seconds
Rotolight to spot

Amazon Product Photographer

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Amazon Product Size Reference

Product photography on Amazon has required the product’s background to be pure white with a hex number of 255, 255, 255.  This is still standard, but Amazon has broadened product images to include lifestyle photos and staging shots.  These allow the seller to show their product in a setting it will be used (staging image) or a person interacting with the product (lifestyle image).
Camaro Product Staging
Our client needed his very small hidden camera in a staging setting, where from a distance it is unlikely to be easily seen and in multiple settings to show its diversity. In addition to stating the measurements in his product details he wanted a visual reference to show the size of his camera. For this purpose, he chose a silver dollar (top image).
Product Staging with Inset

The product and interior staging shots photos were shot using a Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens with continuous fluorescent lighting. The exterior auto staged photo was shot with natural light, angling the car for optimum use of sunlight.

Business Photographer in Tucson Arizona

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Onsite Staff Photography

Business photographers shoot a wide variety during an onsite session. This day shoot included executive portraits and headshots in the morning session. By afternoon we were taking group staff portraits, lifestyle shots for marketing and executives in their offices for more relaxed shots. For front lighting we bounced two Paul Buff Einstein studio flashes and shot with a Canon 24-70mm 2.8 lens.  The existing backlight gave a soft polish.

Executive Lifestyle Portrait Photographer

Product Photographer in Tucson Arizona

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We shot a full line of industrial lighting products at the manufacturing plant.  From overhead lighting you see in commercial retail stores and manufacturing plants to stylized industrial quality hanging pendant lights and solid metal exterior parking lot lights this was an extensive catalog.  Some of the lighting products measured nearly 9 feet in length.

Shooting against a backdrop we used existing light which was a mix of tungsten and fluorescent light. We used a 5′ x 5′ scrim to soften the overhead skylight.  By trial and error we shot with automatic exposure, viewed each product for accuracy and adjusted as needed to match our eye. Once we began photo editing we had a great reference which gave us a perfect color match.  This was the most efficient way to shoot the products within an 8 hour day.  Crucial to time management in a product shoot like this is having an employee of the client on hand to move product.

Industrial Hanging Pendant Lights