Staff Portraits in Tucson

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

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

How Do I Stage My Product?

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

Business Photographer in Tucson Arizona

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

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

Executive Portrait Photographer in Tucson, AZ

Corporate Executive Portrait

This executive portrait session involved a bit of time to choose the ideal setting for the bokeh. This turned out beautifully for a fresh inviting background for this financial institution. We shot staff portraits, group meeting shots, lots of casual lifestyle work station shots and executive lifestyle (AKA environmental) shots in their office setting. This full day shoot was accomplished with organization and time allowance for moving lighting equipment and set up time-it was a flawless shooting schedule with all the objectives achieved. Using a Westcott Rapid Box, Paul Buff Einstein and Canon 70-200 mm lens yielded stunning quality shots with the depth this lens is known for.

Executive Lifestyle Portrait

Product Photography in Tucson Arizona

Product Photography, Outdoor Umbrella

This product photography session was shot outside the manufacturing plant using the brilliant sunlight to work as our soft box. Blocking the light and positioning the full umbrella shot took a great amount of time during which the sun was shifting, but well worth the time. In post we extracted the product for a pure white background product shot. We used Canon’s 24-70mm lens for the top image. The second image (below) was shot with  Canon’s 70-200mm lens for a beautiful capture of the tighter shot. We used two 5′ x 5′ Matthews Silks 1.6 stops. One was used to block the sun and one placed behind the product.  This is an out of the camera image with no photo editing.

Phone Charging Station Product Photography

Business Photographer in Tucson Arizona

Business Photographer in Tucson, AZ
Douglas Simon Photography has relocated to Tucson, Arizona. We’re serving the Tucson and Phoenix area throughout Pima, Maricopa and Cochise counties.

We’ll be continuing to serve our California clients.

Many of our product photography clients are shipping their product lines to us and the rest of the process is the same using email/phone and digital transfer of images. We look forward to continuing our relationship with everyone. Of course, we can handle all your photo editing and composite photography needs.

If you have a need for onsite photography don’t hesitate to call or email with details as we will be returning to Southern California for photo and video sessions.

Please note our NEW phone: 520-367-4402

Our email address hasn’t changed.

We thank you all for your business over the years,
Doug & Brenda
Ph 520.367.4402
PO Box 23181
Tucson, AZ 85724-3181

Product on Black Acrylic

Product on Black Acrylic Staged

This innovative speaker design offers stunning sound.  The product photography needed to reflect the mood.

The photographer used two Arri 650T fresnel lights with 300 watt bulbs and two Matthews 48″ x 48″ artificial silk scrims, 1.6 stops.  Also used a Rotolight NEO matching the Arri tungsten temperature for the top of the speaker.
Canon 5D MarkIII
Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens

We used a sheet of black acrylic to create a classic look.  There is nothing in the background, but shooting at a 9.0 aperture kept the product in sharp focus while turning the background completely black. This shot is straight out of the camera, no Photoshop adjustments or editing.

Speaker on Black

Simple Product Staging on Black Acrylic

The designer requested a size perspective so we added wine glasses for a simple staged product image.

Jewelry Lifestyle Photography

Lifestyle jewelry photos are a great asset to show off your jewelry collection and add “eye candy” to your website.  Showing your jewelry worn breathes warmth and personal connection to your gemstone jewelry – rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces.  This session was shot at the jeweler’s store within a two hour window.
Lifestyle Jewelry Photography
These lifestyle images were shot using a Paul C Buff Beauty Dish with a 20% grid using an Einstein studio flash, hand held reflector and a Canon 24-70 mm lens.
Gemstone Necklace
We also shot environmental jewelry product pieces in a couple of settings. Creating a stunning bokeh background to set off the sparkling gemstones.
Environmental Jewelry Product Photos
A tight crop (below) brings the ring forward.
Jewelry Product Photography
This diamond ring (below) was set into a succulent. We manipulated the image with photo editing to keep the focus on the ring. These product images were shot using a Rotolight and a 100mm 2.8 Canon lens.

Environmental Product Photography