First paid industrial shoot

Looking for some comments/suggestions on these images. Client wanted specific shots of machinery, product and the people. They knew exactly which shots they wanted, I just needed to capture them. I found out about this job a day before I had to shoot it, quite the last minute. The photographer that was doing it quit the day before so a buddy called in a favor to me.

I am hoping to impress this company enough to get future paid work in the future. I am still doing some final edits on them (white balance and level adjustments), but some suggestions would help out in terms of color and such if you have. Or simply let me know if you like them.


First shot is showing product being moved around the shipping department. They wanted to show inventory as well, hence the wider shot.

First photo. If I pay someone to come shoot on my company, the least I want to see is my employees slipping during business hours. His eyes are fully close Not a keeper for sure.

He was actually looking down at the load, he did the same thing for all 2-dozen images or so. I did not question it as I thought maybe it was S.O.P for them to do so. It is like right when I went to take the picture he looked down at it, like clockwork.

At 100%, you can see his eyes open. But resized, they do look closed.

Thanks!

Those are nice shots though. I would like to see the subjects looking and interacting more with the camera so they look more like environmental portraits. Just me :P

Remember, if you ask 500 photographers (not that I'm one) you will get 500 different opinions, so if your client is happy you should be too

erikfig wrote in post #14790217
First photo. If I pay someone to come shoot on my company, the least I want to see is my employees slipping during business hours. His eyes are fully close Not a keeper for sure.

Exactly my initial reaction. That photo probably isn't going to work for the client. It looks as though the driver is asleep at the wheel. Sometimes you just have to get in there and coach people to do what you want. It might seem forced at the time but will result in better photos.

The others all seem mostly descriptive and successful, so I'm sure your client will be happy overall. The second photo might have benefited from a different vantage point so that the process of packing would be more clear. The guy is looking into the box as if something in it has perplexed him, so it's not entirely clear that he's packing it. It almost looks like he was doing something with the object he's holding and then noticed something in a box beside him. The only other thing that stands out as a potential problem is the guy looking awkwardly at the camera in the "oldest equipment" shot. He looks very much aware of the camera and seems a bit uncomfortable in front of it. Again, sometimes you just have to coach the people to do exactly what you want.

Thanks for the feedback!

According to the marketing manager I was dealing with, the focus was more on the equipment/product than the people themselves. So they were not to be portraits or anything, but showing the movement of the product, packing, etc...

With that second shot, I have many other images I can look at. Basically, these (8) images are each one out of a group that they wanted. That second shot the marketing manager just loved, which is why I chose it over some others. But I will look through and see if others may be better to use.

Thanks again!

How would this one look versus the previous one?

Another side-note, many of these images will be used in a magazine article so the images will be drastically resized once sent to the editor. So some small issues may not be as visible at the final size they will finally be displayed.

Invertalon wrote in post #14790886
How would this one look versus the previous one?

For some reason his looking inside the box in both. If those two are the only ones, I would pick the first one :P

I think the second box-packing shot is much more successful. It's very clear in the second one why he's looking into the box and that the box is meant to contain the product.

Hi

I have done some industrial work similar to this.

1. I like the second "packing" image better, it looks more like packing rather than hust holding a part.

2. You got the images the client wanted and they are good images. I like the angles, and the verticals and the lighting and the cropping.

3. One small issue for you to be aware of doing this and you DIDN'T fall for it. Be careful that all the workers don't either look in to the camera or pose in ALL shots, I mix it a bit and keep the gazing/posed shots to a relative minimum, and you've got it right with just the fitter and turner. The fork driver would look better not asleep but its not a crime.

4. And most importantly.......you nailed it. I'd be happy to deliver these. Well done on your first outing.

Edit: These definitely qualify for the full rate. Say a day to shoot and some time at the PC at $1,000/day I'd be quoting $1,500 - $2,000 for this depending on circumstances.

I agree on the second shot looking more successful. They clearly wanted the image to show him packaging the product as such, and the wider images I have do not show it as well, nor do they look as good due to the bad lighting inside this plant. Harsh backlight just over his shoulder.

For that first image, because every shot I have with him is similar (eyes look closed), I reduced the fill light on him to hide this a bit. I also tried other crops with other images, but none to me look as good showing the inventory/product.

I think reducing the exposure on his face will help mask the issue a bit...

RAW RAW RAW wrote in post #14791044
Hi

I have done some industrial work similar to this.

1. I like the second "packing" image better, it looks more like packing rather than hust holding a part.

2. You got the images the client wanted and they are good images. I like the angles, and the verticals and the lighting and the cropping.

3. One small issue for you to be aware of doing this and you DIDN'T fall for it. Be careful that all the workers don't either look in to the camera or pose in ALL shots, I mix it a bit and keep the gazing/posed shots to a relative minimum, and you've got it right with just the fitter and turner. The fork driver would look better not asleep but its not a crime.

4. And most importantly.......you nailed it. I'd be happy to deliver these. Well done on your first outing.

Thank you so much for the kind words! Appreciate the feedback. Lessons learned on the forklift driver and such, for sure. I also liked the mixed of "ignoring the camera" and the smile from the one operator. I have ones with him not looking at the camera, but the image just did not look as nice to me overall. I thought it added a light positive note in the image.

Learn from our mistakes, no doubt! I will be much more keen on details in the future. Not making excuses for the fork-lift sleepy issue, but that was the first shot of the day.. And taking my camera out of the bag, the extremely high humidity fogged me completely out. After waiting ten minutes the lens would still not cooperate and I had to wipe the lens between each shot. It was terrible! I literally had five seconds or so after I wiped the lens to get a shot before it was completely fogged again.Thankfully, I was able to have a few without the insane flare-haze of many of the other images. So I was a bit distracted and frustrated to say the least here. I did not think about condensation being an issue until it was already too late and holding down production It was embarrassing to say the least.

The fork driver image is not an issue really, however, you have come up with a novel fix that works here because the operator is NOT the subject. You have nothing to be embarrassed about, as your first time working in the industrial setting, you have done remarkably well. Again, well done.

I think these are generally very good and impressive for a first paid assignment - My main issue would be with the forklift truck shot. My immediate attention was drawn to the driver's eyes apparently being closed.

I have two observations with this, firstly, If he is looking down rather than being asleep OK, but he should also be looking where he is going before he knocks the cameraman over. Secondly, I don't know what the culture is like with Health and Safety in The States, but for this picture to have proper credibility as an industrial image in the UK, then the driver would need to be wearing appropriate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for the environment in which he is operating, such as hard hat and possibly a high visibility vest. For industrial photography, it is important that the images don't embarrass the client organisation in such a way. This is something a good photographer should be tuned into, and as far as possible he/she should guide the client or at least challenge and ask questions ...as rectifying an oversight in a picture later is not always easy or possible.

I like the way you introduced the 'story' into the shot with the worker attaching the crane.