Product Photography
I have decided to try my hand at product photography and have found that it can be both frustrating and fun. It is also something that can be done virtually anywhere, any time with very little equipment. I got into it almost by accident, really. I had done some self-portraits in the woods - some of which showed me hiking with my Tamrac camera backpack. I saw some ads on Instagram that were similar and thought, "Hey! Why not?" I then set out to try to get some work shooting products for social media. It turns out, Tamrac used one of my self-portraits in their Instagram feed, with my permission, of course! (You can see it here -
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhwxRV7FMxD/?taken-by=tamracphoto)
Swiss Army knife
The first image of the Swiss Army knife was shot, handheld, with the knife resting on the hood of my car. The car is white with metallic flakes and this was shot a little after noon on a cloudless day. There was a little bit of editing but it is pretty much out of the camera. I then took the knife over to a post and took the next image. This, too, was handheld and had minimal post-processing. I used white foamcore to bounce a little light into the shadow and remove some of the distracting reflections - if you look closely, you can see it on the blade. Most of the post-processing involved the background - I decided to darken and de-saturate the background so that it wasn't competing with the knife. I have used this technique a few times, as you will see in some of the other images in this post. I like the effect, what do you think?
Leatherman
This was my first "paid" job, I received the multi-tool (Juice
® CS4) directly from Leatherman in exchange for a negotiated number of images for them to use in their social media campaigns. I had a lot of fun with the Leatherman shoot and learned even more in the process. The original idea was to shoot it in a light tent, which I did, but I was looking out my backdoor and saw a tree limb had fallen. This is when I got the idea of shooting outside, too. I found this log, stripped of it's bark, laying just beyond my fence - I grabbed it and used it as the surface to lay the tool. I used some white foamcore to bounce a little light into the shadow and keep the camera from being reflected in the metal surfaces. I like this one but next time I think I need to get a little more light in the shadow - they might be just a little too dark. What do you think?
I set out to create "catalog" shots and maybe one image of the tool "in-use" but in the end didn't do the "in-use". I had just received a table-top studio outfit from a friend - a 20" cube tent, two lights, a tabletop tripod and some backgrounds - so I set that up in my kitchen and spent the afternoon. The second image was done in the tent with lights at 90° and a white foamcore between the camera and the tent. I used the black "seamless" background that came with the studio fully intending to have the black just disappear. As much as I tried, I couldn't get the background smooth and so I decided to use the irregular background almost like "leading lines" by having the light lead to the products. This may have been a happy accident that lead to a more powerful image. It also helped to show off the black leather case a little better.
Ledlenser
When I was arranging the deal with Leatherman I learned that they were somehow affiliated and I could also work with them under the same deal. I received this MH30 rechargeable headlamp. I had been wanting a headlamp for a long time and this one was perfect for me. The first image was shot in the light tent with the black cloth background but I kept the background to a minimum by getting in tight on the product. Working with the headlamp proved to be a bit more challenging than the multi-tool, in part because of the elastic headband. It was very difficult to get everything to stay where I wanted it and to position everything exactly as I envisioned.
The second shot was taken outside with the headlamp and case sitting on the hood of my car, just like I did for the first Swiss Army knife shot. I didn't use any light modifiers or reflectors for this shot - it was strictly available light. The car, itself, was acting like a large reflector.
In closing
I am going to leave you with one of the images that set me down the product photography trail, one of the self-portraits I shot wearing the Tamrac backpack. This is not the same image Tamrac used in their Instagram feed but it was shot during the same session. While writing this post I decided to do a follow-up showing my "in-use" images featuring the Tamrac backpack and some other products I have done along the way. I like the "in-use" shots but they present a special challenge all their own and I will get into that in the next post.
Until next time - be kind to Mother Earth and get outdoors! As always, I welcome your comments and feedback below.
If you are a company looking for a product photographer, I would love to talk to you about your photography needs. Send an email to valencia32studio@gmail.com.
All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to use any of the photos you may contact the photographer at valencia32photo@gmail.com
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