video: episode 17, a review of studio product photography tricks and tips
23 June 2008
24 Comments
This video shows the process of thinking like a studio photographer working with environmental product photography. We’ve covered many techniques in previous videos (all are in the video library) but haven’t really had a “review” video where the techniques get tied together. That’s what we’ll be doing here, throwing in something new and referring to something old. If you have any questions on the equipment referred to in this video you can find equipment links here.
Subscribers view video here:
The webgallery of still images from the shoot may be viewed here.
Hi,
this video was very good. I enjoyed it very much.
One new topic that came up was exposure time vs. aperture.
I’d read about this earlier but did not get any detailed information on this yet. But to sum this up:
Exposure time will let me control the ambient light and aperture light will let me control the strobe light … could you comment on this in a video as you did with your gray/black/white cards?
This must be due to the fact that a flash or strobe light is faster than any shutter speed available to me?
Are my guesses right here?
By saying “exposure time” you’re referring to shutter speed. Aperture controls how much light reaches the sensor (google it), and shutter speed controls how long the sensor is exposed to the light. The length of time a strobe emits light is usually in the thousandths of a second (such as 1/10,000th). You should probably learn how your camera works first, before getting into artificial lighting. Just my two cents.
Jim,
Great video! But isn’t it disturbing that the black reflector is visible in the top of the image? Especially since it blocks the “kitchen items” on the counter top, making it less clear that the background is a kitchen environment.
Best regards,
Bart
Hi Bart, thanks for pointing out the card at top. My intention was to crop in closer to the product for the final image, which I did with the photographs posted in the final webgallery. In retrospect I see that the original colored items at top looked pretty cool.
On a job we generally shoot things “loose” (extra area around the product) to allow for cropping and movement of the image by the designer. As a result, the 2:3 format of a DSLR consistently loses the top and bottom of the image to fit most output formats. Cards and modifiers are often seen in the edges of photos as we shoot and that was the case here. In retrospect, I should have made my intentions clearer regarding the top of the image, either making a more deliberate effort to include the items at top or not showing them at all.
Hi “Just some guy on the internet” — all knowing teacher.
The shutter spped was put to 1/6 in the video. The reason for this is not obviuos to all.
The dots are connecting, Jim. I liked the trick with the large frame to give the light a mix of hotspot and softbox light. I hadn’t seen that one before. It seems to work quite well with complex, reflective objects.
Matthias, I like your idea for a quick video on the subject of how to juggle exposure when combining flash and ambient light. Hmmm, I’m going to post this as a topic in the discussion forum to see if anyone can point to good existing resources on the subject. I bet there’s some good info on Strobist, anyone know a link to an article?
Jim is wearing long PANTS?
Strobist has 2 items in Lighting 101 for balancing Strobe and Ambient lighting:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-balancing-flash-and.html
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101balancing-flash-with.html
Steve
Thanks for another great video. I’ve been working on my lighting skills but I’d never even thought about a product from a design point of view. So I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Mattias - I expect the 1/6 shutter speed looked the best to capture the ambient light from the small hotlight used for the background. A faster shutter of say 1/250th wouldn’t register the output of that source - it just isn’t bright enough.
Check the Strobist ‘Lighting 101′ lessons - David has 2 separate lessons on balancing ambient with strobe.
Thanks a lot for this video!
I loved how you combined the different topics and pointed out the specials of their application in this ‘field work’ scenario (reflection-> black card; white fill-> move around; softbox-> gradient spots for highlights).
As already mentioned, it’s a great concept of analysing the designer’s work and setting u lights accordingly.
You’re a very good teacher and learning from you is fun
Greets,
Martin
Hi Jim,
Great video. Very well done.
I really appreciated that you had the camera locked off and showed how the different setups affected the shot very clearly at the end.
Keep up the good work!
Jon
Another great video - I stumbled in when you posted the first videos about stick in a cans, etc and I thought this was just going to be another site that posted DIY tricks….but this stuff is fantastic for guys like me who have some working strobist knowledge but still love seeing the specifics of studio lighting as done by a pro studio. Thanks for teaching!
i love your series and have found it very helpfull for a newbee to Photography. I have viewed your video’s and tried to find the series on Acitate screens. Can direct me too where I could find this video. Thanks again for the outstanding series.
Hey Alan, I realize now I never did a specific video on making the screens but if you go the video library (link at top of right sidebar) you can find the screens used in the first few videos (at the bottom of the page, episodes 1, 2, 3, etc.) and a link to a post on building the screens. I hope this helps.
Another nice video, Jim - it’s good to see everything come together in a practical situation from the sophisticated lighting gear to the simple tips.
The tungsten lit background does work out well; with the rest of the image being almost black and white, it makes for good separation.
Here’s the first of the Strobist posts folks were looking for:
Strobist: Lighting 101: Balancing Flash and Ambient, Pt 1
(It’s such a good one, I knew exactly where to find it in my bookmarks!)
wow dude! this is your best video!! thanks a lot
Awesome!
I really like this video showing very well what tools to use and combine for a specific task.
You state in the video that you have a DIY video on how you put together some of your screens and other homemade studio equipment. Yet I cannot find it. I’ve watched all episodes at least twice and still haven’t found it. Was this in the “missing episode”? I kid, I kid. Thanks again for having such a great site with a wealth of information. I really loved the outside portraits which is what I do mainly.
Hey, Steven, I’m sorry you weren’t able to find the screens info, that’s totally on me. The information ended up as a post rather than a video and you’ll find the details here:
http://prophotolife.com/2008/04/22/technical-more-sticks-screens-and-bulbs/
I’m taking this week off from posting to do site maintenance and to make sure info like this is easily found. Thanks for your input, I’m glad prophotolife has been a help!
hi jim, is nice video, i have more learn about it because i never take photo product as good as anyone before like your video when i seen today, hope i can learn more about how to made photo with your trick in this video, thanks
dewo - Hamburg
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