A recent last minute cancellation gave me the rare gift of free studio time to utilise. Not one for thumb-twiddling I managed to beg, borrow (but not steal) products to expand my growing product & advertising photography portfolio. Also as I’m going for my BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography) licentiateship qualification (LBIPP) in March I wanted to make sure I had current work to use in my submission. A bottle, a watch and a shoe make great studies as they each have their individual challenges, and as its personal I get to take the artistic direction wherever I like.
I love photographing luxury items like the Armand de Brigand Champagne (thanks Corina :)). With such strong visual identity already there, it makes it relatively simple to continue and expand on that, using the flecks of gold sparks and the liquid splashes (my favourite thing to do at the moment (see last blog post). Photographing such a reflective item can be very tricky as you can generally see the entire studio and photographer in the reflection. I wanted to remove all this and just highlight the bottle’s shape and embossed label. Using more precise lighting and black poly-boards (to remove unwanted elements in the reflection). The bottle and case shot was a great deal simpler, with water droplets diffusing the reflections and bringing out the stunning gold of the bottle. The case is a thing of beauty; but with black lacquer, on a black background a rim light was needed to highlight the crisp edge and lift it out of the composition.

Everyone needs a watch shot in their portfolio right? #photographercliche This shot is all about the post production, when every imperfection or mote of dust on the case or glass needs to go so you can see the texture of the face (I just love the detail in this shot). Its a masculine style so I thought a little brushed metal backdrop with a highlight just to lift the watch off the page/screen and to give it that slight industrial feel. I’m so pleased with how this shot turned out, one of those perfect times when you can translate a vague visual idea in your head and make it totally tangible.

The Lotto football boot was great to shoot. The punchy black, whites and greens need something modern and futuristic, I tried to shoot it like a car, a piece of precision engineering (which it practically is). The real challenge here is showing off enough of the product in one shot, the underside and profile of the boot as well as the brand, product name etc. A complex three light setup made sure it was lit from all sides, the postproduction allowed me to get little creative.

PROJECTS

Posts tagged with birmingham-still-life-photography

Personal Work - Commercial Product Photography (The bottle, the watch & the shoe)

Nailtiques Product Photography Print Feature