A Typical Photo Shoot

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A Typical Photo Shoot

     Today's instalment is about a typical photo shoot. A few new toys arrived, so I was photographing them. I decided to write about what a "typical" photo shoot or session might be like. So today's instalment will be about lighting, and  a term that I coined - ATD or "attention to detail".

      The Canon item below is an Infrared remote transmitter. It's used to trigger the camera without touching the shutter release. This is important in order to avoid any camera shake. It costs about 

$ 30.00 U.S.

    I decided to show you what might need correction if this was a "real shot" for Canon.

   1.  Old toy cars used as props (accessory items to enhance the sellable item).

   2. Pennies placed in photo for scale

   

Corrections Needed:

1. Dust on the item

2. Yellow right fender has dried dust particles in the paint.

3.  Canon name needs more contrast and sharpness

4. Bumper on car on left has blue coloration that needs removal

to show bumper as clean and high-quality, rather than defective.

5. Flattened end of axle is disrupting the surface of the Canon product.

   The Original Image

   The Final Image.

I did a lot more than the 5 listed items that I wrote about before.

See if you can find them.

Just as a reminder from another blog, this is what you are paying a professional photographer for.

He's using his/her knowledge, experience, and training to:

1. Light

2. Compose

3. Colour balance

4. Focus and Expose properly

5. Clean up the photo for final presentation to the printer or client. 

      The item below is a great-looking Hubley cast iron truck and trailer from the 1930's. The photo below is good enough for e-Bay, but I wanted to light this item to bring out all of its' majestic qualities from  an item that is at least 80 years old. This truck has earned every right to be shown in all of her/his majesty!  

A highly-acceptable image for e-Bay

This is the right-side of this fine toy.

I only expanded the lighting on this one because I had already photographed it for e-Bay. 

I usually present 1 photo of 4-5 smaller images in the frame.

Underexposed, and not enough highlights (bright areas) on the truck and hauler.

What you want to do with lighting is:

1. Create a 3D image form a 2D medium (the photo image had Length and width), but not depth.

Depth is returned to the photo by creating different intensities of light to dark tones.

2. Create a mood

3. Show detail in the bright and dark areas

TheLighting for the Starting Image 

The Lighting for the Final Image

Here is the set-up with those smoked salmon boards

The Lighting Legend

* A legend is simply an explanation such as the list of symbols on a map

Red Arrows:

1. Spot light high, towards the back of the set-up and aimed down (main light)

2. The second spot is to the right and high.  It fills in the shadows of the main light and is providing some highlights on the 2-part toy.

Yellow Arrows:

1. Adds a reflection to the back of the hauler

2. Adds a reflection to the top of the cab

3. Adds reflections to the side of the hauler and cab, especially for the writing "Motor Express"

4. Adds a highlight to the front of the cab

Have a nice weekend everyone.