First studio product shoot (modem warning)

[iwatkins]

Hi All,

As some of you know, I've slowly been building my studio. Well, it is pretty much done. Got my background support system in yesterday so portrait work can go ahead as soon as I have some furniture for subjects to pose on.

Product work started today by doing a shoot for the car dealer friend downstairs. He is currently building a new website for add ons for the already very quick Type25 (http://www.type-25.com/). The website he is thinking of will a have a dark, menacing, kind of a mood. So I've tried to reflect that in some of the shots taken.

The images below are not the final results. The ones to be used on the site will probably be quite a bit darker than this.

Anyway, all shots are on 10D plus either the 50mm f1.4 or the 28-135 IS. Lighting is Elinchrom Style 600 RXs with various attachments.

Cheers

Ian

Induction Hose
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1135_7283.jpg

Uprated Water Pump + Oil Oiler
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1202_7302.jpg

Uprated Water Pump
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1206_7308.jpg

Piston and Gudgeon Pin
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1302_7359.jpg

Piston and Gudgeon Pin + Side lit by a furnace (well, a red gel)
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1322_7377.jpg

Piston and Gudgeon Pin (red gel again)
http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Studio/20050319_1344_7398.jpg

[drewmk2]

Hmm... im thinking if you're trying to "model the parts" you ought to just set the camera to about f/10 so DOF doesn't blur at all.

[iwatkins]

No "model the parts" was not the intention at all.

If I wanted pure documetery shots for a web based catalogue, then yes, f10 (or similar) and lots of light. But as I said, the images are going to be used to give a menacing, moody kind of catalogue, the hint of this, a nuance of that etc.

Ian

[Kiernan]

I think they're extremely well done. Great work.

[RJSorensen]

I bow in your general direction . . . very, very nice. I would like to try this someday, so I envy your setup as much as your work.

[Red]

I bow in your general direction . . .
Well, that's much nicer than the way Monty Python said it!

Ian, I love the mood you've put into simple product shots, but I have to agree that a couple of them need a deeper DOF. The out of focus far-edge of the Induction Hose and Piston are distracting.
The Uprated Water Pump + Oil Oiler is great, just need to clone out the seem in the background.
The Uprated Water Pump on its own is very well done. No offensive glare anywhere, which must have been hard.
But I really really like the Piston and Gudgeon Pin + Side lit by a furnace (well, a red gel) shot.

Good to be able to see some of your lighting skills ;)

[iwatkins]

Thanks everyone, I still class myself as a beginner in all this, but I'm learning fast. :)

I will concede that as shot, some could have had a deeper DOF. I think that is just inexperience on my part really. I'm sure the client will work around this once the shots go darker though, so I don't think I need to reshoot, although that wouldn't be a problem.

The seam in the background, I don't know, how did I miss that ? :) This is the thing about table top shooting, you really do have to look at the whole picture. I was probably focusing too much on getting the items themselves lit properly.

The water pump on its own was a tough one, I think I took about ten shots before I was happy.

The red piston and gudgeon pin was the hardest to do for me as it needed some red light and some white light but in the right proportions. I took over 25 shots to get one I liked. This shot was the one shot that the client really wanted after seeing the light of a ceramic heater (glows reds) reflecting off a piston in the workshop.

In all, the above images took just over three hours to produce. I would say 90% of that time was setting up, adjusting lights, standing the objects up with props but making sure those props were hidden etc. Only 10% was actually spent shooting.

I hope with experience I'll be able to reduce setup times dramatically, but for now I'm happy tinkering away with ideas. I had a lot of fun. :)

Music choice on the studio sound system : AC/DC Live Best of. :D

Cheers

Ian

[PhotosGuy]

Good start! Not sure about the dark mood, though. As a gearhead, I want to see the details of the part I'm buying. Tell him to put his Goth GF on the cover instead! ;-)

[Michaelmjc]

not bad, I like the background you used. I also like the red tint on the last two, very cool.

[iwatkins]

Good start! Not sure about the dark mood, though. As a gearhead, I want to see the details of the part I'm buying. Tell him to put his Goth GF on the cover instead! ;-)

I'm with you. Give me detail and the cold, hard facts. But this is what you have to suffer when the client is calling the shots. :)

Actualy, his GF (well, wife actually) isn't Goth but is a bit of a honey. I'm working on her to come and model for me. As I said to the client, "How much for your wife ?" :D

Cheers

Ian

[PhotosGuy]

As I said to the client, "How much for your wife ?" BTDT!

[karusel]

I understand what your intentions were for this job.. but black on dark gray is just a bit too dark... namely the 'induction hose' and 'oil oiler'. The eye suffers as it attempts to resolve detail and contrast that's not there.. But hey, if the client wants it so, than you hit the right spot :D

The third shot, I'd pick a slightly differend angle...

In last photo you went over the edge, the photo before is.. well, as good as it gets, I think it's an excellent shot.