Hello, friends!
It’s been a long time since I wrote about my daily activities, namely about subject photography. It just happened that way... And here there is a reason. I (Dmitry Evtifeev), together with my friend Andrei Orlov (also a big fan of edged weapons), spent a whole year thinking through our system of devices for product photography and finally implemented it!
I’ve been struggling with fixing my subjects for a long time and have come up with my own devices. Although my prototypes worked, appearance I was so-so and I didn’t think them through to perfection. But after meeting Andrey, I found a partner who was also passionate about the idea of doing everything well and accessible and believed in our ability to invent and implement it in metal.
Our system will be useful not only for those who photograph knives, but for all object photographers in general. there are also heavy tripods and laptop stands and much more that a professional would definitely want to have in order to make their work more efficient. We called our system OnE. Some products will be completely unique and no one has ever heard of them, even in the West. Some have been known for a long time, but improved. And some are simply much cheaper, while maintaining High Quality. An important point is that OnE will be compatible with existing devices from other brands (Manfrotto, Foba, Falcon Eyes, Kupo. Cullman, etc.) in terms of threads and connectors, i.e. you will have the freedom to complement one system with another.
Hello friends. My name is Andrey Orlov. I work as an engineer at a Russian manufacturing enterprise engaged in metal processing.
Photography has always been one of my favorite hobbies and in my professional activity Product photography skills have to be used quite often.
Like many photographers, I often had to deal with the need to securely hold objects for shooting and correct placement reflectors and lighting fixtures. Of course, I didn’t (and don’t) have professional equipment for product photography, but I had a great desire to make my work easier and save time and nerves when photographing our products. And most importantly, I had access to a technical base and a large fleet of various machines. However, despite the great production capabilities, the idea of self-production necessary tools for subject photography somehow it never occurred to me. Everything changed after the summer of 2016. I finally got into a subject photography course with my now good friend and great enthusiast of his business, Dmitry Evtifeev. It turned out that I am not the only one who feels a great need for good tools for shooting objects. Of course, by that time I had some ideas and initial samples of products that only now acquired a finished form. After consulting, we decided to combine my skills
engineering and big practical experience and knowledge of the peculiarities of shooting various subjects of Dmitry. The result is a new brand, OnE. Our task is to develop and produce interesting and unique tools for product photography.
To be honest, as a child I really loved various construction sets (especially the metal ones with bolts and nuts). Because it was possible to assemble any toy from it that was not in the store, the main thing was that you had enough imagination. :-) Using the same principle, I developed new system OnE tools so that everyone can assemble for themselves exactly the tool they need most. Of course, Dmitry and I will gradually bring you up to date and show you how to use our constructor. But most importantly, the main goal of our brand is to make shooting tools available not only to famous photographers, but also to those who have just taken their first step in product photography.
This is ours trademark. Under it, we are going to release a large number (already an assortment of about 20 pieces, many now already exist in alpha and beta versions and are being tested) useful and affordable products for subject (and not only) photographers.
I will talk about product photography using our devices as an example, so that you can see how to do product photography especially effectively.
In fact, I’m proud to be the first to talk about how to make the life of a product photographer more enjoyable :) It’s a pity Andrey is not here now, but then we’ll record a video together on how to use all our devices.
So, what is the most difficult thing in product photography and what takes quite a lot of time?
If I were speaking at a photography course, I would take a long pause here to listen to various naive and incorrect answers. But I write everything in text, which saves you time :)
Some might think that the most difficult thing is to set the light correctly. Someone will decide that the most difficult thing is retouching a photo. In some cases this is true, but in fact the most difficult thing is to correctly fix the subject and all the accessories that are needed during the shooting process.
Every photographer, whether he is a guru in product photography or just a beginner, faces the question of how to fix the subject and how to install lights, reflectors, diffusers and flags around it. Beginning product photographers and their more experienced colleagues experience a lot of inconvenience due to the fact that they do not have good equipment.
I’ll explain with examples why exactly what I said above is important.
Since I shoot a lot of knives and collectible edged weapons, the first example will be from this area.
Most photographers who shoot knives place them on bear skins, rocks, army ammunition, etc. I will not give examples here from the work of my colleagues; just open any magazine about knives. But here are the “early” photos of my friend Andrey. Notice how he messed with the props.
Overall, I like his photo. Especially if it was on the cover of a book about stalkers. How else to explain the stew, the machine gun, the gas mask and the suitcase with uranium? :)
Here on the protective fabric, in addition to a flashlight and a knife, there is a pistol and cartridges for a machine gun. Believe me, examples in magazines are much more revealing, I restrain myself not to publish them.
Why do photographers choose to place a knife on some often irrelevant objects? The answer is simple - then you don’t need to “cut” the knife from the background and you don’t need to clean the background from dust. Eyes run wild if the knife is lying on camouflage, cartridges, animal skins and other attributes of masculinity in a simple sense are scattered around.
But the product itself is lost against such a background. It is not at all a fact that the viewer will be interested in looking at your knife; perhaps, on the contrary, he will think about the number of bears and remember his service in the army. I hope someone will be puzzled about why the skins and cartridges are needed in the photo with knives and stop generating this vinaigrette.
Firms where many employees are not lazy and cut out a knife from the background to place it on another. Use photos of castles, forests, mountains and waterfalls. To separate the photo of the knife from its active background, drawn shadows are used, which does not look very elegant. However, they often also do this with knives against a uniform background. Shooting against the correct background is hampered by the inability to secure the product. They shoot with whatever they can, and then “cut it out” and place it on a Photoshop background with painted shadows. Many reputable workshops do this and take photographs of their products themselves.
The problem is that such pictures look artificial. Human brain a tricky thing and he easily notices the photoshopped shadows and spots of light that are located there; they cannot be there.
Still, I didn’t raise my hand to bring such photos. My colleagues will be offended and will not understand that my goal is to improve the situation in the industry, and not to scold them at all.
Taking a photo against a uniform background seems like a good idea; nothing distracts from the product itself. But the fact is that knives can be very different sizes and shapes, and not every knife can be laid out beautifully. It’s good if it has a beautiful sheath that will help make a beautiful composition, but what if the sheath is not needed in the frame? How much time does it take to clear this pseudo-homogeneous background?
Want to troll those who shoot against a supposedly uniform background? Use the method indicated (where the spots are shown on the background with the ball).
It is extremely difficult to clear a uniform background 100% of dust and irregularities. There will always be a speck somewhere due to dust, scratches or folds/bruises, depending on what is taken as a uniform background.
It would seem like a clean background, but...
It is advisable to photograph the knife so that attention is on the knife. It is also advisable to shoot it against a clean background, without any spots that can be visible on some monitors of different quality and which will sooner or later be pointed out to you (I know very unpleasant cases with famous photographers and I sympathize. Any photographer can find spots, reflectors and other unnecessary details in individual photos, if you look hard enough). It would be worse if they printed the catalog like that.
It would seem that what could be simpler than shooting on white?
But, as it turned out, this causes difficulties for 90% of product photographers, because they are misled by various free lessons on product photography, which suggest cutting out an object from the background. Guys, remember - cutting is long and tedious. If possible, you need to do your work without cutouts and Photoshop. The less Photoshop, the more time for shooting and relaxation :)
The problem that arises for a photographer who places a knife on the table that he will shoot is that the table is usually white, but the subject is not. It’s even worse if it’s a “classic” object table with a curved back wall.
The picture shows the most expensive and most best table this type of table Foba.
It serves mainly one thing - creating a gradient on the background behind a simple object placed on it.
The background is very good (I personally like the gradient), but it is not suitable, for example, for flat objects that we want to shoot from the front or at 45 degrees.
You can’t just take a photo of an object on white with it. For the simple reason that for this the object itself must be whiter (I say in simple words) than the table. Listen to the words: “whiter than white table...». Difficult task, Yes?
But if you think carefully, the problem is solved simply by asking the question correctly. Any of the objects being photographed, be it a table or a knife, can be of any illumination, depending on how much light we shine on them. Our only problem is that the object (let’s take a knife as an example) lies on the table and therefore the table is the first to go into overexposure / overexposed.
Ok, cap, how can you separate these two objects if the knife is on the table? He can't hang in the air, can he? Or maybe?
Maybe, of course. And in many advanced photography courses you will be encouraged to shoot knives by hanging them on a fishing line.
But anyone who has ever tried to hang a knife on such a stretch will remember it with bitterness. Because the knife will move and sway in all sorts of ways, and it’s not always convenient to tie it with fishing line to smooth surfaces.
I present the type of object table that I came to with experience and which I designed with my friend, Andrei Orlov.
The table is based on an 8 mm tempered glass tabletop. The fact that the glass is tempered and thick gives the product greater hardness and safety. I had a case when the filmed metal object“pecked” a table made of ordinary glass and it folded like a guillotine.
You are free to choose ordinary glass or hardened because red-hot is much more expensive. For metal and other hard objects, I recommend a hardened one.
White background, whether it is a white paper background or a plastic one is placed under the table. Lighting for the subject lying on the table and the background lying under the table of different intensities.
Shot at an angle of 45 degrees. Car brake pads were just lying on a glass table.
This makes it easy to ensure that your subject is on a uniform, clean white background.
Answering the obvious questions, I will say that no scratches on the glass will be visible. On white you can only paint with a dark color and therefore only opaque spots can be visible. For this reason, it is enough to wipe the table a little before shooting, but minor scratches, which are inevitable, don't worry.
Tip: If you're shooting at approximately 45 degrees to your subject, the white background under the table should be lit slightly in front of the subject, rather than vertically below it.
But what if you want to remove your knife (for example, a knife) in a plane perpendicular to the lens axis? If it lies on the surface, then, being rounded, the knife rotates a little, first in one direction, then in the other. You can add something, but this something will often be visible and will have to be retouched. Even if you fixed it evenly in this position, for example, with jewelry wax, you can only photograph it on white. If you take a photo of it against a black background, all the dust on the background it's lying on will be visible. You will have to “cut” it from the background. Plus the background will give a reflex to the knife itself.
What do you think gurus do when they photograph knives? I have no idea :) They don't like to share secrets. “Two light sources”, “three light sources”... I’ll tell you further why this is exactly zero information about how the picture was taken.
That is why Andrey and I developed a completely unique product and called it MagFix(Magfix).
The name reflects the essence of the product - the fixation is based on magnets.
The base is made of steel, as is the central rod. Myself MagFix Made from aircraft grade aluminum.
Illustration of how a knife is fixed on MagFix. As you can see, only the shaft on the knife is visible. It should be positioned so that it extends out from behind a uniform area of the knife where there are no parts. Smooth sharpening edge - a good choice in this case.
As a result, the knife hangs in the air and can be photographed from any side. If there is no light on the background, it will be completely black. If you shine brighter than on the knife itself, then it will be white. If the lighting is some kind of intermediate, it will be gray.
I use a white background for white because... it is easier to overexpose it. And black for black because... it forgives small mistakes when a little light still reaches the background. Although in general it is possible to make black from white and vice versa.
If you put a foil color filter on a flash that shines on the background, the dark background will become colored. And... He will be perfect! No dust! And he will not give a reflex to the knife if the knife is far enough away from him or is shielded by black flags. Any options with a black background on which the knife lies will not give an ideal black background, even black velvet, which absorbs light best.
The knife should hang in the air, period.
The black stick is easily painted over with black and that’s it – a knife on a perfect black or white background.
With this I am finishing the first part on subject photography and the second will be coming soon.
Subject, macro photography involves the creation of advertising photos of goods or objects for placement in catalogs, on a website or in an advertising campaign. That is why product photography should highlight the best qualities of the product as much as possible and attract the attention of buyers.
The main goal of shooting is to create a strong desire in the buyer to buy the product. Therefore, it is quite difficult for beginner photographers to work in this field. Difficulties are caused by setting the light and correct setting camera parameters. Basic requirements for photographs of objects:
Clarity of the subject in the image, maximum accuracy in conveying the shape, texture of the material, important details;
Choosing the right angle, for this you can look at images of similar products. Almost every item has several variations of setting;
Necessary equipment for shooting glossy objects, water droplets, smoke and movement;
If you have to carry out this type of shooting to order, then clarify the details of the technical specifications, whether it is a streaming shoot or an image shoot, what size the images will be required, what shape the images should be and the preferred angle. This will significantly reduce the time it takes to adjust finished images and correct flaws and inaccuracies.
So, depending on the subject, there are features of its shooting. Food photos have different requirements than shoe photos. Each type should be considered separately.
The most common type of product photography is catalog photography, when each product is placed on a separate image in different projections to advertise it to potential buyers. Depending on the shooting option, you will need different equipment - shooting on a model, on a mannequin on a plane or on a hanger. For all options you will need a steamer, iron, scissors, pins, thread and needle, as well as a tripod and lighting equipment.
On a plane, or from top to bottom, clothes are removed unfolded. To do this, you will need a background that is placed on the floor or table, a tripod that allows you to position the camera above the subject, 2-3 pulsers with soft boxes for the softest and most diffused light. It is preferable to choose a camera with a short focal length and a wide-angle lens to make it possible to shoot large objects. Here important point– preparing clothes for shooting, laying out and decorating.
The hanger looks beautiful only if the clothes are prepared for shooting. It needs to be filled and shaped, for which any available means are used - bags, tubes, rolled things. Pins and buttons are a must; they can be used to create additional curves and shapes, as well as attach an object to the background.
When preparing objects for shooting, it is worth spending 5-7 minutes ironing out all kinks and folds. This will help you get high-quality images without complex processing.
The peculiarity of photographing bubbles and tubes is the choice of angle and the demonstration of their contents. Lipsticks should be curled beautifully, creams should flow beautifully down the bottle, and crumbly shadows should be beautifully scattered across the background. It is better to pre-select the angle from those offered online, so as not to select your own option on the spot.
To shoot for clipping in a catalog, you will need a light box or two pieces of plastic white, 3 light sources and a tripod. We place one light source behind a vertical background, the other two are equipped with reflectors and are located at an angle of 45 degrees on both sides of the subject. We set the ISO to minimum with the aperture closed as much as possible, this way we get a minimum of noise and grain.
In a similar way, you can remove any small objects - household appliances, shoes, books, and so on. Shiny and moving objects require more sophisticated equipment and skills.
To take high-quality photographs of jewelry, it must be new and unworn to avoid long, tedious hours in a graphics editor to correct scuff marks. For filming you will need the following equipment:
Special design made of white sheets for the most correct dispersion and reflection of light from pulsed sources; each type of product will need its own version;
Additional artistic elements that can be used during shooting.
Typically, each product requires a personal approach, so you need to look in practice at what techniques you should use. Whether it's a black background or white, manual or automatic flash settings, how to position the lights, and how to use plexiglass bases and holders for each type of jewelry.
This type of filming is used to colorfully fill menus in restaurants and cafes, supplement blogs and websites about proper nutrition, as well as for online stores and other food resources.
To obtain high-quality photographs, a harmoniously selected background and a single light source are enough, usually a window.
During filming, you need to take into account the characteristics of the subject - some dishes last only a few minutes, then lose their attractiveness. These include ice cream, hot dishes, and many salads; you need to prepare a place for them and set up the camera in advance in order to shoot as quickly as possible.
There is one important point in photographing food - placing it on the plate. Do not overload the frame with the amount of food, it is better small element, but effectively filmed. And the plate must be perfectly clean, no drips or streaks, crumbs or greasy marks.
To create a fresh effect when photographing fruits, vegetables and berries, you can use a spray bottle with water and make tiny droplets on the surface of the dish.
The main problem when shooting mirrored objects is the reflection of everything that is next to them. To avoid this, a box is created like a cyclorama or light box made of white paper, cardboard or plastic. It is necessary to create the most diffused and reflected light so that direct rays do not fall on the object. The camera lens also needs to be covered with white as much as possible so that it also does not appear on the surface. Light sources are located behind the background, their direction can be changed to achieve the desired volume and shape.
It is best to shoot glass objects when the light is directly behind it behind the background, then it highlights all the edges and does not create glare on the glass. To highlight the side walls of the vessels, you need to place black sheets on the sides; they will create the desired volume. Prepare the object, check it for cleanliness and the absence of stains and dirt; any speck of dust in the photo will be clearly visible.
This is a specialized type of shooting that requires equipment - usually a trigger is used, it delivers drops with a specified frequency and intensity to a precisely specified location. For the liquid itself you will need saline solution, cream, dyes or acrylic paints, experiment with density and viscosity to get desired result. The background can be black or white; in the second option, the light is located under the pallet to emphasize the boundaries of the umbrella. If there is only one light source (flash), then it should be placed on the side of the place where the drops fall, and a reflector is needed opposite.
One or several drops of colored liquid are applied to the tray exactly in the place where the trigger is directed; you can use a thread and a needle to find out exactly where it fell. Then the fall interval, minimum ISO (100, 200), shutter speed from 1/125 are set; it is better to shoot from a tripod using the remote control, since you will need to press the button and wipe off the fallen drops.
Photographing steam or smoke will require you to have a camera flash with adjustable aperture, focus and shutter speed settings. It is better to choose a dark background, it looks more impressive, and you need to shoot from a tripod. From the camera settings, a fast shutter speed, a closed aperture, a very low ISO and manual focus will all give maximum clarity in intense directional lighting.
The most interesting results are obtained when using flavored sticks, which produce a thin stream of dense smoke. It can be directed and changed during shooting with various objects, just do not forget to ventilate the room, as accumulated smoke creates a gray haze and reduces the quality of the pictures.
Each type of subject photography requires its own devices and available tools, but there is a certain list of equipment that is used in the work. In addition to the camera itself, you may need:
Soft boxes, reflectors, honeycombs;
Sources of pulsed and constant light - from 1 to 5 approximately, the power depends on the type of shooting;
Ready-made reflectors or sheets of white cardboard, plastic or foam, black plastic or paper;
A homemade or purchased light box can be an excellent device for photographing small objects without shadows. It is a box with white walls smoothly turning into a substrate without corners. This creates the effect of endless space and eliminates the appearance of shadows from the object. It can be made from an ordinary box; to do this, you need to cut large holes on the back and side walls, cover them with paper, attaching it with buttons, and place 3 light sources behind the box. Filming is done on a tripod to achieve maximum clarity.
If you collect all the information on each type of shooting and combine everything into brief abstracts, you can highlight 10 important advice for a photographer who is starting to master macro and product photography.
Use a tripod; for some types of shooting, the “power” of your equipment is not so important, but you must secure the camera. For some types of photography you will need to shoot from above, you will need a “crane”.
Preparing a subject for photography is very important process, the final result depends on it. Clothes should be ironed and laid out beautifully, bottles should be arranged, food should be decorated by a stylist, this is the only way to get high-quality shots.
Don't be afraid to train in order to get required frame sometimes you have to shoot the same thing for several hours, and beginners also need to get better at it.
Before shooting to order, carefully find out the technical specifications, clarify what exactly the customer wants to see at the output and how the images will be used. The entire work process depends on this.
use available tools, show creativity and ingenuity. It is not necessary to buy specialized equipment every time you plan to shoot for catalogues. Maybe you have it lying around colored paper, cardboard or a piece of fabric, create backgrounds and reflectors from them.
Feel free to look at others, there are tons of different images posted online, find similar ones and feel free to adopt the shooting angles, type of lighting and add your own ideas.
Minimum post-processing, strive to ensure that you have to put in a minimum of effort to edit and correct the finished images. This requires experience and regular training.
The camera and lens must correspond to the level of filming; of course, you can take good shots with a point-and-shoot camera if it is an online store in a distant city with 3 customers a month. But if you increase your level, then the technique must correspond to it.
Your resume in photography is more important than your face. Create a beautiful picture, know how to sell your work, learn to choose only those photos that position you as a specialist high level, then the level of orders will constantly increase.
Shoot constantly, everywhere and always, look for your “zest”, your style, read a lot of literature on the topic, try different combinations your camera settings.
Product photography is a commercial type of photography, they are created to sell products to clients. This requires professionalism and experience from the photographer; if you have chosen this direction for yourself, then you need to be able to sell your services and your photographs. You must also be able to present the goods in such a way that the client wants to buy it, then you will always have a lot of work.
There are times when you want to remove an item (jewelry, shoes, gloves, handbag, etc.) in such a way as to highlight all its beauty. For example, items are often removed to show off their new clothes to friends on social networks. However, more often than not, product photography at home pursues more practical goals: successfully selling an item through an ad, getting people interested in it greatest number potential buyers. In both cases, you want to get professional quality pictures at home. The photographer's advice will help with this.
A professional photograph is taken, as a rule, against a white background, the subject on it is evenly and well enough illuminated, so that you can easily see everything, even the smallest details, while there are no unnecessary shadows around the subject. There are two main options for getting the appropriate quality when photographing your home.
Any table can temporarily turn into a subject table for photography at home: a computer table, a kitchen table, a coffee table. In some cases, when the object is small in size, even a stool can be entrusted with the role of a table for object photography.
During the “photo shoot,” the table needs to be moved to the wall and a sheet of white Whatman paper leaned against it so that part of it is on the table, part of it covers the wall, while at the transition point a smooth descent is formed, without hard bends, like a slide. You can see samples in the images illustrating this article. If you plan to film completely small items(ring, earrings, etc.), then an ordinary white sheet of A4 format will suffice.
Photographer's tip:
The object can be placed on a record covered with white paper and the player can be slowly rotated. The object will rotate, so you can easily shoot it from different points, and then choose the most successful angle.
Lighting an object located on a photographic object table is an important point. Optimally, it will be possible to limit natural light, that is, the light coming from the window (but, of course, not bright sunlight, otherwise it will have to be diffused with a curtain). In this case there will be no extra shadows.
Photographer's tip:
Don't rush to use sources artificial lighting, if the light from the window seems insufficient. Try setting your camera to auto mode and leaving it still. This will not only allow you to “pull” best quality in the existing lighting, but also to avoid “shaking” of the device, which will also have a positive effect on the quality of the image.
If you need to use additional light sources (flash, table lamp, flashlight), make sure that they are not directed at the subject being photographed. Light can be reflected from a side wall or from the ceiling. It is also possible to use homemade reflectors: a sheet of white paper or foil. A mirror can also serve as a reflector.
Photographer's tip:
A mirror can be used not only as a reflector - if you place an object on it, you can get some pretty spectacular pictures.
Similarly, a tablet with a white background screen installed on its screen can serve as a background and at the same time a source of lighting. The photographs in this case also turn out interesting, the subject looks advantageous in them.
It is important that you need to remove small objects from a tripod, or, in extreme cases, from a small bedside table, stool, or several books placed under the device. This is the only way to avoid the “shaking” that is almost inevitable when pressing the shutter button if you simply hold the camera in your hands. And do not forget about the advisability of using the automatic shutter function.
When the size of the object allows, it is worth building a lightbox for photographing it. There are several options for how to make it yourself. For example, it can be glued together from whatman paper or even sheets of white printer paper. A better quality lightbox can be made from an unnecessary cardboard box (from a postal parcel, from a shoe, from a household appliances etc.).
A lightbox for product photography is, in fact, a box open on one side (objects will be placed in it on this side, and from here you will shoot them). The ceiling and walls in this box should transmit light well, but not be transparent. This means that the usual cardboard box To carry out product photography at home, it will have to be improved. To do this, you will have to cut out the central part in each wall of the box, and instead stick with tape either regular printer paper, or white plastic bags, or tracing paper for baking (almost every home has it).
When photographing an object, you need to direct the light through the top and/or sides of the box (they will diffuse it). Light sources in this case can be desk lamp, monitor screen, flashlights, including those built into the phone.
All that remains is to pick optimal angle shooting and select the appropriate mode on the camera. If you are an amateur who does not have great skills, it is easier to simply select the “Macro” mode on the device - this will greatly simplify the process, especially if you are photographing micro objects such as jewelry, cosmetics, hair accessories, tin soldiers, stamps and the like.
Elena Pronina
© 2013 site
In this article, I do not set myself the task of covering all the nuances of subject photography without exception in all its diversity. Rather, I strive to help a novice photographer who is thinking about product photography for the first time (for commercial or other purposes), but does not know how to approach it.
We will talk about shooting isolated objects on a white background, since it is this type of subject photography that is most in demand in photo banks and, by a happy coincidence, is extremely easy to learn. First of all, you will need accuracy and attention to detail.
Not all objects are equally suitable for isolation on a white background. I don't want to say that you should limit yourself to photographing only simple objects - you can photograph almost anything. However, shooting some things involves considerable difficulties, both directly during shooting and during post-processing.
Let's consider the properties of an ideal object:
Thus, the ideal objects for shooting on a white background are: walnut; unglazed clay pot; wooden box and so on. An example of the worst object would be, say, a white long-haired cat trying to fish a goldfish out of a round glass aquarium.
Make sure that the items you remove are clean. The dust, invisible at first glance, will be clearly visible when carefully viewing the images on a computer monitor. If you are shooting a small object so that it appears larger than its actual size in the photograph, then be prepared for the fact that any dirt and dust will become intrusively obvious at 100% magnification.
To bring your shooting subjects into a marketable state, it is best to use optical brushes and microfiber cloths, i.e. those tools that do not leave marks or fibers.
On smooth and especially glossy surfaces, fingerprints are clearly visible and must also be eliminated. To avoid leaving new prints, it is sometimes advisable to wear medical gloves made of latex or nitrile before work.
Of course, dust, small stains of dirt and individual fingerprints can be removed in Photoshop. Another question is, how long will it take? In my opinion, it’s easier and faster to take care of proper cleanliness once than to then remove the same specks of dust over and over again on each of the hundreds of processed images.
I have had the opportunity to do subject photography even on fresh air, setting up a table in the middle of the lawn at his dacha. On a moderately cloudy day, the cloudy sky is a source of perfectly diffused light, quite suitable for subject photography.
Typically, isolates photographed for photobanks have a slight blurry shadow underneath them. If complete isolation without any shadows is required, then objects are placed on frosted glass or thin white plastic and additionally illuminated from below.
To isolate without shadows, I placed a piece of glass on top of four clear glasses, thus raising the cup above the paper.
And if I had not been too lazy to find frosted glass,
the reflection would also disappear.
General information about exposure can be found in the article “Exposition: theory”. About exposure when working with studio flashes, see the article “Studio flashes”.
If you use studio flashes, you should prefer manual exposure mode, but for constant light, aperture priority mode will work.
I usually use an aperture around f/16, but sometimes you may need a greater depth of field.
Use a histogram to evaluate exposure. Your goal is to work the subject well without overexposing it. The white background can be overexposed completely freely, provided that the overexposed area does not interfere with the object. Don't try to make the entire background completely white - you'll still have to etch it out in Photoshop. Just try to get as close to the final version as possible to make later editing easier.
Thank you for your attention!
Vasily A.
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This quick guide created on the basis of advice from experienced photographers who have a studio for product photography, and who shared their skills in topics dedicated to product photography on foreign photo forums.
There are two main scenarios for product photography: product photography of an isolated object and in a specific connection with a group of other objects.
IN this material shooting of one object on white is considered . This is the simplest, cheapest and most effective method show a separate thing. This type of photography is most often used in practice when it is necessary to photograph various items for catalogs or online stores. (Additionally, read the material.)
Isolated items can be photographed in a simple way, when the entire thing with almost no shadows or some minor shadows is flooded with studio light. In a similar way, you can photograph a subject with deep shadows while the background remains white, using direct light. There are practically no lighting schemes for such subject photography; the more diffuse sources, the better.
There are an endless variety of lighting sets, from a single light source to complex sets consisting of multiple sources and different backgrounds. The simplest lighting set is a sheet of white cardboard and one source of diffused light, which is placed on top (usually a medium or large softbox) under the ceiling. A complex set of props includes a lightbox and several lighting fixtures. For the DIY photographer, most accessories can be homemade. Since it does not apply secret technologies, you will need simple plexiglass, adhesive tape, metal or wooden frame. Well, everyone else will have to use factory or .
And how a budget option, to photograph a subject, you can consider a plastic studio background on which the subject is placed, plus one diffuse light source is used, located on top, for example,.
Professional photographers recommend, of course, using more sources. Large quantity devices will be included in the kit best result. For example, the diagram may look like this: the main lights are placed on both sides of the object, at 70 degrees (the angle can be changed according to needs).
If you are shooting in a white room, you can try directing the light from the two main sources towards the walls of the room (perhaps in the corners), this will diffuse the light even better. If you don't have a small flash, you can put a reflector under the transparent/translucent base of the photo table and make sure that some of the light from the main flash is reflected and additionally illuminates from below.
Softbox- a universal tool for a photographer involved in product photography. Softboxes can compensate for the lack of a photocube, provide soft diffused light and, in some cases, allow you to reduce the number of light sources involved in the scheme. They should be in any photographer's arsenal. Softboxes can be used to photograph isolated objects, as well as objects located contextually (in composition with other objects).
Photographers divide light into several types of lighting , regardless of the lighting scheme. In each light kit, a specific source can perform different functions. Depending on their position relative to the subject and the photographer, it has a specific name.
This article is just a quick guide for those who want to start understanding such an exciting part of photography as product photography.
Blog article was conceived and written by Costa007 and Sangiorzboy.
Free translation S.Zavodov
