Thank for all who participated our first masterclass, I think it was good, especially considering that this is my first time when I was working and talking on public:-)
I can’t say that it was an easy task for me: being born introvert and quite shy guy, I do not feel comfortable talking to more then 5 people at once. Doing a live broadcast, when I do not see immediate reaction on a people faces makes thing even more complicated for me. I was really afraid that I can’t open my mouth when time will come, but one shot of good scotch whiskey 10 minutes prior the broadcast fixed most of my emotional problems:-) And, once I started to talk, it was easier and easier to move forward.
We got about 20 attendants average, and, what most important, the number was increasing during the masterclass: a good sign indicating it was not boring:-) several people joined us after 6 PM: time zone calculation is not the easiest task, I know:-)
I was using various softboxes for most of our product photography, but about a half a year ago I discovered a perfect use of translucent diffuser panels in product photography. I am talking about usually small product with glossy reflective surface with inevitable reflection form the lights on it.
The main difference between softbox and diffuser panel is how the light is spread on the “working” surface: good softbox is suppose to produce even flat light on its front screen while diffuser may have very different pattern, depending on how we highlight it. What does it mean for me when I shoot some glossy, especially dark glossy object? The reflection from that light.
Reflection will be very different: softbox always gives sharp-edged square while diffuser panel can produce very uneven, gradient filling. Gradient is the key: it can be round, square or linear, whatever I need to show on the object.
Below is the example images I’ve got while shooting line of cosmetic brushes for Anisa International. Managed by Anisa Tewlar, company makes high-quality cosmetic brushes and accessories, I am really glad to work with them.
Top-down shot of the black glossy brush, done with two softboxes on each side of the brush:
I like to shoot products, working quietly in the studio, putting all my skills and creativity to get job done. There are three major types of product shots we are dealing with:
1. Sometimes ugly prototypes, where post-production and retouching may take ten times more efforts than photoshot itself. They are good challenge to work with, and it helps a lot:-)
2. Regular off the shell products, with shape and finish that can be very straight forward to shot or require hours of complicated setup built and very precise lighting to be done right.
3. Designers products, which are very unique and usually very interesting to work with.
In this article I’ll show our recent photoshot with a third, most enjoyable to work type of product.
I am talking about the photo-shot we had recently for Doug James (StudioDoug.com). He brought very interesting and unusual products of his studio to be photographed: LED tabletop lamps along with other cool stuff.
This is a second episode (the first one is here) from the “Water in product and advertisement photography” series. This time we used the same tank and mix of distilled and sparkling water.
The idea was simple: pouring objects into a water and shooting through the water tank, positioning camera strictly horizontal. Because we have used carbonated water, the tank must be 100% clean inside: every little piece of dirt on the glass will attract bubbles build-up.
The camera was perpendicular to the subject, meaning we did not need very deep DOF, aperture was set to F10. It was enough to have full object in a focus while blurring tank walls enough to hide occasional bubbles on it. For the same reason was used 180mm Macro lens: longer focus helped us separate the object from a tank walls.
Water in advertisement photography: the pepper and CO2 water.
I was doing a blu-ray backup for our HDD arrays and found several interesting photos, dated between 6 and 9 years ago. I would like to share few of them here.
Quite often I read comments like “what camera should I have to get photos like this, what lighting, etc”. My answer is always the same: stop thinking what you do not have, just get camera and start shooting. Look what can be done with almost no lighting ($30 strobe is what you call lighting?), the cameras was far from modern DSLR too.
I’ll be going from the oldest ones, trying to recall how I did each of them…
2002, film & light brush:
light brush technique photography
This is a composite shoot, captured on a film (Fuji Velvia?) with Canon Elan 7E camera: 2 exposures combined, two different colors on LED flashlight were used to highlight each object. Continue reading »
Working on our latest assignment, a catalog shoot for Refrigiwear, I decided to show how proper lighting can make a big difference by using one of the boots from the catalog as an example.
The object I’ve selected is a simple to photograph. Really simple.
Why?
Because it has well visible texture, and does not have highly reflective or transparent surfaces. Nothing similar to this, right?
However, having an easy to shoot object does not mean you should not worry about the lighting. It is so easy to do a crappy image just because it looks “nice” as is, with one light source, for example. Believe me, I am not against simple lighting schema, but more lights gives me more control over the look of the subject, just need to narrow them down.
Here I am going to show you how each additional light source will change the look of the boot and explain why I need it.
Let’s start from this well textured boot and only one light in front-top of it (White Lightning BD in my case), see the lighting setup:
Last week I had this nice assignment: on-location shoot for Vieler International LP (www.vieler.com). The company was established in 1913, now 3rd generation 100% family-owned business, specializing in architectural hardware out of stainless steel and aluminum: high quality door and window hardware, shop fitting systems and much more. When I’ve checked the company website (after a brief conversation with the Andre Vieler, the owner of the business), I was surprised by the beauty and style of the products they manufacture. The current product look:
The challenge was to match the company colors and style of the images withing quoted 3 hours of work in the warehouse, having the shooting date in 4 days from the first contact with the customer. After I’ve received a company’s brochure, I started to look for a right-color background paper: best color match was absolutely necessary for the project. I was lucky to found right color (that was ultramarine) 107” paper roll for a background in Showcase Atlanta.
Packed with half of the studio ( full list of equipment), I drove just inside the warehouse through a loading dock (saved us about 10 minutes). Aluminum frame with the glass inside was mounted on a wooden board about 6 feet wide, painted black. After a little consideration I’ve decided to use a big chunk of the background paper to cover the board, so we disassembled the frame, covered board with the paper and screwed frame back to it. Andre Vieler, the owner, was helping us, working like an undercover boss
I was done with setup withing 30 minutes: 2 large softboxes on front and side ( main and fill light), small narrow box on behind, two 20 degree spot honeycomb for a background and laptop connected to a camera, ready for a remote capture. Four strobes was connected to a remote controller, camera was mounted on a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod and 405 geared head.
I do not use (never did) a flash meter (why?), but this time I measured light once at the middle of a frame: f13. That was only the time I needed a meter, the rest exposure evaluation was done on a laptop’s screen.
Also, Andre and 2 other guys were looking at setup preparation and now was looking at laptop’s screen, ready to see the first image, so I wanted to impress them: even the first test image came exactly as I wanted. As usual, I’ve got correct ratio between all light sources without using this “necessary if you a pro” tool :
Industrial photographer Atlanta, GA for Vieler International by Alex Kolsokov
I continue to use my tilt-shift adapter for DSLR, and now I explore the limits of the system. Below is the watch, at a very narrow angle, shoot by using Rodenstock Rodagon APO 80mm F4 lens at aperture setto F16.
Watch photography using tilt-shift DSLR
The lighting schema is simple: two narrow soft boxes on top, each highlighted top and the bottom part of the watch. There should not be direct reflection form a watch’s glass, as it immediately become dull and low contrast. Continue reading »
When one of our client’s ask me to shoot several bracelets, it looked like an easy task, at first. But when we started to talk about technical requirements, the photo session become more challenging than I was thinking…
First, he wants a spot-like gradient background, from deep purple to a complete black.
Second, bracelets must be shoot in frontal position, not a simple from-top shoot. Saying that they also mentioned that full bracelet must have as maximum details as possible.
So, how to get the first task done? Hang bracelet on a tiny fishing lines and project a a spot on a dark background? Master background digitally, after the shoot? I am not a big fun of such massive digital post processing, especially when I shoot for a catalog, hundred of pieces. Same dislike of a complicated to repeat setups because of product’s quantity.
What I did is this: 2 light sources ( Paul. C Buff monolights) , one mirror and one white paper background on rails. Plus, unfortunately, one photoshop task for a post production, you’ll see later what I mean.
The setup, was simple: Jewelry was placed on a mirror positioned so it was reflecting a white paper backdrop when looked from a camera’s angle. However, backdrop was black, as no other light source was pointed on a backdrop. Narrow rectangular softbox was placed directly on top of the jewelry, so no lights was escaping on a backdrop behind.
Now only spot (honeycomb attachment was used) needs to be pointed to appropriate place on a backdrop to create a nice gradient.
The same but in drawing:
Everyone knows how tricky may be a shooting reflective object, especially if the object is spherical shaped or cylinder, like a kettle. Recently we had a photo session for a new Walmart kitchenware, and I want to share some tips and trick I was using to get it done.
August 12th, 2010 | 
