While reflective products take a lot of time to set-up the result is worth it. These very small hand tools have a beautiful brushed and reflective finish. Multiple soft boxes with controllable Aperture lights combined with light modifiers to bounce and direct the light retained the beauty of the finish minus the hotspots. Canon’s EF100mm f/2.8 Macro IS USM lens captures the detail and allows aperture to control the bokeh in the foreground and background.
This catalog of watch bands was shot on a white background using light modifiers, soft boxes and shot with Canon’s EF100mm Macro IS USM Lens. The above layout is created from multiple shots. Below is one layout the client requested to group like products.
Individual shots of watch bands.
A simple layout styling.
This industrial photography project took two onsite sessions, and large acrylic products were also shot onsite using a white background, multiple soft boxes and light modifiers and shot with the Canon 24-70mm lens. The small precision hand tools were shot inhouse on white. The bokeh “hero shots” for the small tools were shot inhouse using a Canon EF100mm Macro IS USM Lens.
Reflective surfaces like acrylic and stainless steel require a lot of prep and set-up. Products must be thoroughly clean of fingers, dust and dirt.
The brushed stainless-steel finish had a beautiful warmth.
One cabinet’s interior (below) is stainless steel. The angle was the focal point for the customer, controlling the light made this shot beautiful.
The Hero Shots (ie bokeh) time for set-up is with both lighting due to the reflective surfaces and arranging the products for balance and visually attraction.
Once again, the brushed stainless steel required additional lighting. Due to the number of tools creating the depth of the bokeh needed extra time.
These micro tools are less than 3 inches each.
Food product photography is fascinating. Take a pile of grains, seeds or powder and find the best arrangement of the pile. How to sprinkle just the right amount of spread, where to stop the bulk of product and control powder spillage is critical. Stacking the chunky ingredients begins with balancing the chunks, then rearranging to create the visual look of the interesting sides and of course the crumbs. It takes a fair amount of time to get some test shots for the client to choose from. There is a beauty in ingredients!
Equipment Used:
Canon 5d Mark III
Canon Macro Lens EF100mm f/2.8
Multiple Softboxes
Multiple Gradients
paper funnels, small brushes
The annual Gemstone Show was back with its regular month schedule for February 2022!
Our client wanted a layout with raw turquoise stones, the caliper and a polished stone, but with some sort of staging. We suggested using a stock background as a great affordable choice to create a wow factor for website photography. The original stock image provided the texture and grit; and photo editing layered on eye catching dimension. We shot a catalog of turquoise gemstones, but the lighting for the unprocessed turquoise and caliper required lighting adjustment and filtering.
Equipment Used:
Canon 5d Mark III
Canon Macro Lens EF100mm f/2.8
Multiple Softboxes
Multiple Gradients
Product on white photography is at its best when jewelry is the object. The gorgeous reflective surfaces create light magic on their own. Adding photographic lighting which is then manipulated to capture the most interesting reflection is the fun part. Every nuance of the camera changes the drama. That also makes it one of the most challenging product photography sessions. So many choices!
…and waiting until the necklace stops swinging!
Canon 5D Mark III
Canon Macro Lens EF100mm f/2.8
Softbox with gradient
Rotolight
Back lit
Product logos are an investment and well thought out. As your business grows your logo becomes your brand (think old western movies). When expanding your advertising into merchandise your photography needs change a little. For our health supplement client the next step was t-shirts, hoodies, totes and facial masks.
While the lighting tools are the same the configuration of the light sources and modifiers changes substantially. We still used one softbox for continuous lighting, scrims to direct light and foam core for bounce. Shot using a Canon 24-70mm lens and a Canon 5d Mark 3 camera.
Jewelry photography requires a lot of time for trial and adjustment. Gemstones are often translucent so the lighting is critical to capture the many shades and the way the human eye will perceive it when worn. Manipulating the backlighting is key coupled with light modifiers to direct the light.
No flash was used. The difficulty in photographing jewelry is the highly reflective surfaces. With more stones and beveled cuts the number of reflections multiply. We used one softbox for continuous lighting, scrims to create gradients and foam core for bounce. Shooting an entire product line with few “like-products” requires a new setup for each piece.
Shot using a Canon f2.8 100mm Macro lens and a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera.
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!
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.
Angling the softbox for the right bounce is the fun part!
These were all shot with 1 softbox, using a Canon 24-70mm lens.
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.