You wouldn’t expect it, but our local King Soopers has a cake decorator who is making some pretty cool cakes for people. This one was for our daughter’s 5th birthday.
There are some moments in life that, try as you might, you just cannot be there for. The ultrasound for a grandchild, niece, or nephew. A babies first words. But odds are someone is recording them, and now they can be placed in a greeting card and sent to those who couldn’t be there. Lifesound Cards makes this possible with an innovative product, and I had the pleasure of doing the product shoot for them. Check them out online at lifesoundcards.com.
If you have a Colorado based product or service you need photos of, contact me today and let’s get some pictures made.
Recently I was contracted to do some product photos for a new local Colorado company – FirstGearKits.com. Based in Evergreen, they sell various types of emergency kits to cover potential natural disasters in whatever area you live, work or play in. Having been a Boy Scout when I was younger, I still believe in the motto “Be Prepared” and definitely see the value in kits like this. Heck, as often as our kids lose cellphone chargers, a kit including a hand crank cell charger would be worth it by itself.
I do product photography, and I do real estate photography. But when it comes to shooting hotels and resorts, it’s a mix of both.
The manager of the Best Western Denver SW (located in Lakewood, Colorado despite the name), saw my photos recently and liked my work. They are in the middle of a website redesign and needed new photos of the property since they have completed renovations recently. I went down one recent afternoon and took care of the shoot. By the end of the weekend I had presented him with the images I thought were keepers. He was extremely pleased and they should be showing up on the website after the new one is launched. And I’ll be going back for exterior shots once things green up here in Colorado.
Contact me today if you have photographic needs in real estate, products or portraits.
I love shooting hard-to-photograph items. I am getting pretty good at it. But this time, I really had my work cut out for me. Arjuni is a Denver purveyor of hair weaves. The owner came to me with what seemed like a simple request – take photos of roughly 27 samples for use on the new website. It was something of a rush job, because the grand opening of the site was two weeks out. On top of that, two other photographers had been tried beforehand, but could not deliver images to her satisfaction. Great, no pressure there.
I experiemented a bit with some different positioning and lighting, and then settled on something that seemed to work really well. The owner was pleased. I started getting comments like “Phenomenal work!” and “Thanks for all of your hard work. You’ve definitely captured some gems that I’m excited about!” Really, this is what it is all about. Sure, I get to make images that make me happy, on my own time, but when I am on the clients’ clock, I need to deliver.
That said, I really like doing product photography here in the Denver area. So far I have done some neat things and met very interesting people. I have started to see repeat business, which is a good measure of success I think. If you need a product shot, even if it is not a hard to photograph surface, contact me for a quote. I have no doubt I will deliver images you can be proud of, and ones that will help sell your product.
Twice now in the last 7 days I have been asked to do product shoots. I do these in my home studio here in Lakewood. One company who has become a repeat customer is WM Devices, a local producer of electronic effect devices for musicians. William hand builds all of the equipment he sells, and doesn’t sacrifice a sharp look on the exterior. Baked enamel finishes with screened lettering, these look right at home in any musicians kit. If you are a musician, check out his stuff at wmdevices.com.
I like shooting products. I can take as long as I need to in order to get the lighting just right, and can take multiple images if I need to. I normally use my DIY Light Tent, but for larger objects, might revert to the DIY Backdrop holder. Lighting is the really fun part, making sure to get the colors just right (especially for something like the WMD Geiger Counter above). I can take all day if I need to, and the client gets charged a flat rate, so it isn’t eating into their budget.
If you have a product you need photos of, drop me a note or give me a call and we can discuss your needs, timing and budget.
Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to do a product shoot for a local soft drink company who was taking their product national in Whole Foods. Made from agave cactus nectars, these drinks are competing for shelf space with a whole host of competitors. The owner was rolling out new labeling and needed pics quick. He chose me because of my experience in shooting highly reflective surfaces, particularly glass bottles. To make the images more compelling, the owner wanted the bottles to look like they had just come out of a cooler. Fair enough, but now I needed to figure out how to do it.
The solution turned out to be fairly simple. I set the shot up as I normally would for shooting glass, got the lighting right, checked some test images and liked what I had. Then I used a common household spray bottle filled with water (nozzle set to a fine mist) and sprayed the bottles lightly. The water beaded up naturally, and I started shooting. It was actually pretty simple.
A couple of things to note when doing this:
- If you need to respray them, let them dry first. Towelling the bottles off can result in torn labels.
- Use extra caution if the labels are printed on regular paper. Let the water sit too long, and they will change color.
- Take your time. Rearrange the items as necessary, let them dry completely, then rewet as needed.
But Wait, There’s More…
Just a couple of weeks ago I came across some very cool photos of spiderwebs that had waterdrops on them. The photographer, Sam Pierson, had gone out one morning after a foggy night and got some incredible shots (link above goes to a great gallery of them). When I saw this, I thought “those are awesome, I want to make one”. I don’t have any good webs like that in my area (at least I haven’t found any), but when I do locate some, I plan to take my spray bottle with me and see if the same principle can be applied to the webs. I think you can make the wet look whenever you want.
Special thanks to Sam for letting me use his picture here. You simply must check out his gallery, he has some outstanding images there. For more information about Oogave Soda, check out their website.
On 11.18.09, In Commentary, Do It Yourself, By Chester
I have scored a few product shoots because of my demonstrated ability to take good pictures of glass objects. Truth be told however, there really isn’t a whole lot to it.
First step is to have the proper environment to shoot in. For me that means using my oversized DIY PVC Light Tent. It is big enough that the light is distributed really well within. For added measure, when I was building it and then making the second revision, I made sure that the fabric would cover any of the PVC so it would not show up as a reflection in the objects I was shooting.
Second step is, obviously, lighting it. When shooting in the big tent, I tend to go between two different placements for my lights. I use a pair of 27W, 5500K compact fluorescents in standard 10″ clamp light fixtures I got at Home Depot. Sometimes I will place them slightly ahead of center on either side of the tent. Other times I will put them overhead, either facing directly into the tent or bouncing the light off the rafters overhead (sounds goofy, but it works). I take a couple of shots, see how they look, and then readjust as necessary. Most of the time I can get a good idea of how the lights are working from peeking through the viewfinder and then adjusting.
I generally do one or two shots in auto mode to get some idea of the f-stop and exposure ratio, then start working from there. As you can see from the EXIF for the shot above, it can be fairly fast. But again, that depends on how you light it.
One key I have been working on is how to keep the camera reflection from appearing in the object. I account for this in a couple of ways:
1) The opening in my front curtain is only large enough to let the lens through.
2) I do not use any sort of lens hood.
3) When practical, I elevate above the object and shoot downward at an angle. Straight on shots are the worst for showing the camera lens, and I try to avoid this at all costs.
4) When 4 isn’t practical, I try to get any opaque objects on the surface of the object to be in the forefront.
5) When 3 and 4 don’t work, I just deal with the fact that the reflection is part of the image.
These things must be working, as I continue to get product shot engagements, and several specifically indicate it is because of my work with highly reflective surfaces.
I had an occasion where I needed to light an object from underneath (the glass of beer in the pic above). I wrestled with it for some time, and then came up with what turned out to be a pretty easy solution.
Using a flat fluorescent light fixture I picked up at Home Depot, and a piece of black craft foam, and my large DIY light tent with glass riser, I was able to get the photo above. I cut a hole in the black craft foam that was roughly the same size as the base of the glass. I then put my black backdrop into the light tent, set the fluorescent light on my workbench inside the light tent, and then placed the craft foam on top of that so no light escaped except through the hole I had created. From there I inserted my glass sheet to have a riser (which was conveniently about an inch higher than the surface of the fluorescent light), filled the drinking glass with beer, and turned on the light. This photo did not require any additional lighting other than the fluorescent underneath the product. And by using the pane of glass as a riser, a nice reflection appeared as well.
That’s all there is to it, hope it works for you if you need some illumination from underneath on an object.
Why I want an Olympus E-30 DSLR
In the DSLR world, most people think that there are just two brands – Canon and Nikon. They find it quite easy to forget about the other players in the market – Sony, Pentax, Olympus and others. I have never really understood why it is so easy to dismiss these other manufacturers. In fact, the Zuiko lenses from Olympus have long been regarded as some of the finest glass around.
I don’t know that I would say I take offense to this dismissiveness, but I guess I do. Back when I started shopping for a DSLR to move up from my Canon G5 point and shoot (a VERY capable camera I might add), I looked at Canon and Nikon. And then I participated in a test drive event Olympus sponsored. I took home an E-500 for a weekend and was hooked. Shortly thereafter, I bought an E-510 kit that included 2 lenses. Since then, I have created some stunning images that get rave reviews. I even put them up for sale, that’s how confident I am of the work. I have done headshots, portraits, landscapes, product photos, all with my E-510. None of my clients have complained in the least.
Why then is it time to upgrade? More importantly, why do I want an Olympus E-30? Well, it’s time. As noted before, I am looking to ramp up how much I shoot. In that respect, having a second body is always a good idea. Once I start my schedule of team photos, there is no way I can be out of commission if something goes wrong with my only camera. So this is indeed a primary driver.
My photography is continuing to evolve though, and this is really why I am looking to upgrade my camera. I love taking HDR pictures. Sadly, Olympus elected to not update the 510 firmware to allow for the kind of EV bracketing that is ideal for HDR captures. The E-30 is well suited to this, allowing a 5 frame, 1 sec burst that will be perfect for HDR. Overall, the upgrade in frames per second from 3 on the 510 to 5 on the E-30 should help with taking pictures of my daughter, as well as the various sports I take pics of during the summer (baseball, softball) here in Colorado.
The increased megapixels will be nice, but not necessary. The ability to interact with the Olympus Radio system for flashes would be nice too, but I already make do with Cactus triggers (and manufacturer flashes in general are way too expensive). Simply put, I am taking my photography far more seriously, and I want a camera that can keep up. Sure, I could switch systems to Canon or Nikon, but right now I don’t see the point. I think the Olympus E-30 will work just fine for me.