To a professional product photographer there are product shoots that are simple and straightforward and then there are product shots that items that can both test a professional photographers ability and patience.
To the average consumer, product photography often looks fairly straightforward and simple. As a Denver product photographer, those products that appear to be simple, can often be the most challenging to photograph.
Using a studio environment, products can be photographed to highlight the finest details, add color and reduce any glare from a glass or shiny surface. By repositioning lights and adjusting their output, highlights and shadows can be painted much like an artist’s palette.
To control and shape reflections and glare on a glass, metal or shiny surface, I have built a 5x5 tent of a white silky cloth. With the product inside and lighting on the top and sides, the camera angle can be adjusted to better remove any reflections from the product surface.
After the image capture the image post-production begins. Even though I prefer to achieve about 80% of the desired lighting and color in the camera the remaining 20% is the crucial in fine-tuning and creating a flawless image. Here I use Photoshop to adjust color, tone and intensity.
Take for example a recent product photography shoot I completed of an automobile dash against the Denver skyline. This is a virtually impossible image to capture at night. The finished image is actually the auto’s interior in a studio setting using a long exposure and 3 off-camera light combines with a night image of the Denver skyline from nearly the same angle and proportion. Then, I used Photoshop to blend and adjust the perspective of both images making it look like an actual driver’s view.
Another recent professional product photography shoot was, again a seemingly simple product photo, a series of a martini glasses. Here the difficulty was in lining up the glasses properly and straight as well as creating a high-intensity reflection free photograph of multiple glass surfaces. I started from the simplest lighting setup and built the composition step by step, analyzing the outcome with every change I made during the shoot.
An attention to the finest details and the ability to fine-tune a product shoot during the course of the shoot is the skill of a professional product photographer.
If you need to have products of ant size photographed for your business, Brian Walski and Colorado Visions Photography will ensure that your products are photographed with the utmost precision and attention to every detail. Call Colorado Visions at 303-346-2070 for all your product photography needs.
