Tag Archive for: studio photography

Product photography with a glamorous edge

Product photography doesn’t have to be boring

One of the first things I often hear when talking about product photography is that it’s boring.
And although I agree to some point, there is so much more that can be done with some creativity. So this blog is about product photography with a glamorous edge.

As an all-around studio, we shoot almost everything from weddings, products, pets, families, etc.
And I have to be honest there is one kind of product photography I also don’t really find challenging or gives me the right satisfaction.

White seamless, or black background for your product photography

Sometimes you just have to. Simply put, because those images are essential.
A client wants to be able to see the product from every side. And in my opinion, this is a very important series.

A few things I always teach people that are essential for every photoshoot, but especially for products.

why and how to use a lightmeterclick here for the video

Other essential gear, also in all your photography 

Light meter 


The first thing I have to explain is why the light meter is so incredibly important.
When we look at how colors work in the digital domain, it’s vital to understand that within the colorspace, each color has its own coordinates.
These are often referred to as x,y, and Y.
Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.
Now it’s important to understand that a color can have many luminances, saturations, and hues.
So it’s too easy to just say we need Y to be….

For the Luminance part, the use of a light meter is essential. You cannot do this any other way, that’s just as fast and accurate.

ColorChecker


The next step, without any doubt, is the ColorChecker.
I’ve been using the Calibrite (X-rite) system for years. And it works for both photography and video like a charm.
Make sure you first meter the light and then shoot the colorchecker as flat as possible. Also, make sure if you use accent lights, etc. they are all off. Just shoot the Colorchecker with the main light.

After this, it’s very easy to create the perfect white balance and profile for your camera/lens/setup.
For color-critical work, it’s vital to shoot the colorchecker (and re-meter) EVERYTIME you change something in the set. Also, when you change backdrops, props, etc. They all can influence the color.

Shoot tethered

I can’t repeat this enough. I’m a big advocate of shooting tethered.
In short, what is tethering? In essence, it just means you connect your camera to a display. So, the images come in right away while you shoot them. This way you can check them close-up.
I cannot stress enough how much this helps in your workflow and accuracy.

Personally, I love shooting into an iPad (now also on the desktop) app called Cascable. I can HIGHLY recommend everyone checking it out. It’s my go-to solution.
Of course, you also need something to connect your camera; you can choose wireless, but this is often way too slow for RAW and also not always as stable as needed.
I’ve been using IQwire for quite some time now. We just released our brand new Formula 10G red solution, which is insanely cool and fast. Of course,  still available in 5-10-15 meters. Where, for me personally, the 10 mtr version is the sweetspot.

“BS, I do it all without, you’re old-fashioned!”

You don’t want to know how often I hear this.
Also, you don’t want to know how many professionals mail me when they run into problems with clients because they can’t get the colors exactly right.
Using a light meter and ColorChecker is vital for correct colors. This has zero to do with old-fashioned or whatever; it’s the same as using a level or ruler when building a table/house.

“Can’t I use the histogram?”

Sorry, no, you cannot, and you should NEVER trust your histogram.
Think about it. When you look at the histogram, what does it tell you exactly?

Exactly, just the distribution of the tones in the image.
In other words, a black dog in a dark room will render a line all the way on the left side of the histogram. And maybe some spots somewhere at the right (for the eyes).
While a snowman in a snowstorm most probably just give you a spike on the right side of the histogram.
All very nice and 100% correct, but…. it doesn’t tell you if the color red is accurate.
So NEVER use the histogram. And realize it doesn’t give you any information about the RAW file.

 

In fact, a small tip, in between.
Go into your camera settings and find picture styles, now change the contrast to the lowest setting and brightness all the way up.
Although you’re shooting RAW (who doesn’t :D). It will give you a much better representation of the dynamic range of the RAW. Instead of showing the blinking skies as soon as there is a little bit of dynamic range in a scene.

What does happen?

Let’s say you have been working for years with the histogram and don’t use a light meter or ColorChecker. The problem is easy to explain.
A few years ago Annewiek bought a sweater and scarf from the same website.
They looked great together. But when the package arrived, it went back straight away. The sweater was a totally different color red and the scarf was more purple than red.
Checking with the site, they fitted together great, in real life? A disaster.
As a photographer, you might never hear this from your customer (if the company is large enough). But you are liable for a lot of waste in shipping and destroying capital/goods.
So, if you’re serious about photography? Don’t feel bad about using a light meter and a ColorChecker; they really speed up your workflow and make customers trust your work.

That being said

Let’s get to the fun part.
When shooting the real product shoot, I’m following all the rules.
But….
When it comes to the next part, it becomes more fun. Here comes the part about product photography with a glamorous edge.

Feeling/mood/fun… or I WANT THAT NOW!

When I know I want a product, I’m searching for it. And, mostly look at the white/black background images. To make sure it has all the details I need, looks nice, etc.
But when I’m just surfing the web, I would probably never find that product when it’s just white/black backgrounds.
So we need something else.

I always call these “the character shots.”
The reason is pretty simple: with this part of the product shoot, we are going to have fun.
And believe it or not, this is the most difficult part.
Products can’t be coached, take different poses, smile, etc… or can they?

Jay Maisel

When I first met Jay Maisel, one of the things that always stuck with me was his hammering on “gesture”.
It took me a while to figure this out. But in essence (what I think he meant) is very basic.
Find the angle/mood/zoom/lighting that gives something a character.

I’ve been using this as a challenge for guidance programs.
Shoot the same building or area for a full week, but… and that’s the hard part, EVERY image should show me a different character.
Without giving away too much… you can think about angles, backlighting, at night/during day, during the rain etc….

And this is exactly what we are going to do with our products today.

Digital Classroom: product photography with a glamorous edge

Normally, during the Digital Classroom, it’s all about model photography, retouching, etc.
But sometimes we have special episodes on street photography, workflow, and product photography.
This time we talk about products, in case you have not yet guessed it. At the end of the blog post, I’ll post the whole episode, but let’s go through it very quickly.

First setup, a guitar

In this episode, I started with a guitar I designed a few years ago. I absolutely love the results.
The problem is that the coating is very shiny. So, perfect to explain the angle of incidence is the angle of reflection.
But as mentioned before, when we are shooting products in a more fun way, we need to do something extra.

I started in the episode with a white background.
But by adding the red cloth, it already became much more interesting.
Shot with a Geekoto GT400 and the Geekoto Lantern.

Product photography with a glamorous edge

For me personally, this is still part of the product photography, but just adding some flair and context.
By using a wider aperture, I have already started to play with the Depth of Field, enhanced by the angles.
This is a great way to show the whole product or part, but still guide the viewer towards the area you want.

But let’s up the ante 😀 and let’s show product photography with a glamorous edge…

In the next shot, I’m not paying attention to color accuracy anymore. It’s all about feel and style.
In this case, always keep in mind that I’m shooting this during a live stream without any preparations.  I always just go with the flow.

A glamorous edge

For the next shot, I’m using a vintage amp as a prop to lean the guitar against.
I’ve chosen this amp because it’s not immediately recognizable as a Fender, Marshall, Carvin, etc.
The reason is that some people will immediately make connections between brands. And that can actually hurt the sales.
A metal head will probably be triggered by a Marshall logo. While a Jazz player will probably be more excited by a Fender amp. And of course, everything in between and opposite (guitar players are flexible with gear).

Of course, we needed some accents and smoke.
I’m using a mix of a larger smoke machine for the haze in the back and a smaller device for the “cold ice” effect on the bottom.

Geekoto GT200/250 as strobes
The Rogue Frank Doorhof Flashbender in striplight configuration as the main light
And the Rogue Magnetic system for the colors and grids

product photography with a glamorous edge

Isn’t this glamorous? With the smoke and red and blue lights?

In essence, everything is visible. Also, the guitar, even the fact it’s headless. But the color has changed in this shot.
This is the kind of shot that WILL trigger me when browsing, and probably I will most likely click on this one. Instead of a standard shot. Even if it’s just to check what this is. It triggers something. And don’t get me wrong.

This is the kind of shot you really HAVE to discuss with your client.
It can very easily be totally wrong for what the client wants. But in my experience, as soon as you start to “freak out” in the studio with sets and styling the client will start to interact and give you valuable advice to get the results you both love. Nobody knows the product and target group better than the client. But don’t be afraid to also steer your client into areas you know will work. It’s always a cooperation.

For the next product, we chose the….

Carvin Legacy Drive

As a huge Steve Vai fan, I had to get this one. It’s an awesome tube-driven pre-amp that will get you very close to that “sweet”/”soft” Vai solo tone but, also the gritty rhythm.
For this shot, I wanted to have some flares on the products. Show off the dials and keep the color close to the original.
In the video, you can see we are using some materials to actually lift up the pedal so it’s easier to fit into the set.

My K&F concept black mist filter works like a charm for shots like this.

The setup is actually not that different. We just moved the main light closer to the product.
And to make it even easier to move around, I place the Geekoto mainlight with the FlashBender on a Platypod to be able to place the FlashBender everywhere I want.
In the video, you will see me angle the FlashBender to combine the feathering effect and direct light to get the right mix on the pedal and the background.
After that, it was smoke and shoot till you get it.
And don’t feel bad about combining 1-2 shots into one killer final result.
In this case, I did not need it, but for the final setup, I did combine two images in one shot 😀

Product photography with a glamorous edge Product photography with a glamorous edge

And then the final product shot. For this one, we did something different. But with the same lighting setup. Although now I changed the FlashBender for the collapsable snoot from Rogue

Positive Grid Spark Mini VAI

Yep, there is that name again, Steve Vai. To keep it in the theme, I brought another product to the studio for our product photography with a glamorous edge.
Positive Grid has been making great software and so-called modeling amps (emulations) for years.
In fact, I use some of their software on my iPad and desktop.

The Spark series is very popular for travellers or just playing on the coach. It’s very flexible, can function as a recording tool, and has …. well it has a lot, too much to mention here.
And because it emulates to many different amps and pedals, I thought it would be fun to use a mirror, very glamorous right?
Seeing it’s not the original gear, but an image of that gear.

Of course, we wanted something nice, and a while ago we got this smaller mirror with a huge silver side.
I have not yet found a place for it in a shoot, but this was perfect.
So we placed the Spark on the mirror.  I’m using the same gels on the silver and trying to get just enough in the mirror. The snoot just focuses on the Spark.
The nice thing about the Rogue Snoot is that you can use it in 3 different positions. You can use it without the diffusion panel, which gives a rectangular look on a speedlight-based strobe, and a nice round effect with a hot center on a round flash tube. Or a perfect round with the panel. It’s insanely flexible and should be in anyone’s backpack or studio setup when you need focused light.

So let’s take a look at the final setup.

product photography with a glamorous edge Product photography with a glamorous edge

 

Some images I shot from a slightly higher angle to also, show some of the buttons, and some are slightly lower.
In these kinds of shots, you don’t have to show all the details, remember these are the “WTF is that, let’s click” images.

Conclusion: product photography with a glamorous edge

Great that you made it to the end. I was planning on making several posts about this, but decided to just do it in one.
I hope you guys also enjoy something else from us. Feel free to share the video, like, comment, and of course, subscribe.

We update this blog several times a week. So, keep checking back!. There is always new material, or older material you have not yet read, or forgot.
In other words, just visit 😀

And as promised, the full video.

 

Why the blog or website is more important at the moment

Frank Doorhof blog

Back to square one?

When we started with the internet (ok now I feel old) we used dial-up connections and a small booklet to write down the websites. And of course, as a company, we dreamed about having our own website on this amazing (but incredibly slow) internet. This article is about our Frank Doorhof blog, and why we (and you) need a website.

It wasn’t long before that dream came true and our company was on the World Wide Web.. We have several websites. FrankDoorhof, Studio FD (Dutch) and Photography-workshops.eu 

You can read English blogs on FrankDoorhof.com and Dutch blogs at StudioFD.nl

More reach means more customers

But how do you lead people towards your website? At first via the (believe it or not) newspapers, flyers, and stickers on our products and invoices. But then….. the revolution of social media started to happen.
In the Netherlands for a lot of people, it started with websites and discussion forums. For me, it was a site called Dutchheaven which really made a huge impact on how to reach people and network Plus there was a discussion forum and chat room.

Not a lot later in the Netherlands, we saw a new network called Hyves. In essence, you could compare this to Facebook. It was not yet interesting for a company, but it was a great way to get in contact with people with the same interests as you. And slowly of course also companies started to discover “social media”.

Social Media took over

When Hyves stopped most people (if not all) went to Facebook.
This was the first time for us that we really started to use Facebook for our business including the Photography studio and workshops. And it worked like a charm. Direct contact with your audience, a nice and clean interface, great messaging, and no spam.

Frank Doorhof Blog

Social media? or filtered media?

When I take a few steps back and look at the social media landscape at the moment, I have to be honest it’s not good. Facebook filters a lot of messages and comments, which means I don’t see comments (random), followers don’t see all my posts, and the last year using the message function is a disaster because 90% is spam with messages about my page being deleted (don’t click on those links :D) and deleting them is a one by one deal (please add batch delete).

But it isn’t much better on other platforms.
Instagram is nice, but there is no real community with discussions, for sharing images it’s great just like Threads, but it’s hard to explain techniques or lighting setups in depth when you can’t use links or layouts.

LinkedIn is nice but not for everyone in your target audience.

And X (Twitter), what can I say?
It has changed a lot, some things are better but I have a lot of issues with the hate, no moderation, and an enormous amount of fake news and conspiracy theories. Plus the limit on characters makes it almost impossible to explain lighting setups etc.

 

The solution: Don’t build your brand on rented land

Our website has been online for a long time and has always aimed at sharing photos but most of all also sharing techniques, tips and tricks, videos, and of course, answering your questions. In the last decade or so, the focus might have shifted away a bit from the website due to the immense popularity of social media. But as mentioned before I think it’s time for our website to be the main focus again.

I’ve been adding loads of new articles about lighting, photography in general, results from Digital Classrooms, and a lot more in the last few months, so I’m sure you will find something you like. And I will continue to add articles to the blog, so make sure you add them to your bookmarks,  or……

Frank Doorhof's Blog

on our blog, we share how-to lighting setup, including results

Building a community

As mentioned before one of the strongest points for education is that you can always ask whatever you want and get an answer or opinion from the community or the site owner. And this is exactly what makes social media great for connecting people and education.

So under each article, you can leave a comment on the blog
Feel free to ask questions, share your work, or just share your tips about the subject. Registration is 100% free and you help us to build the community which leads to more articles.

 

Conclusion

I think a lot of people and companies have been focusing a lot on social media in the last decade or so. However, the generation now is leaving school is already a lot less active on social media. I think that’s why it’s now the right time to, besides your social media presence, also to focus on a nice website where your clients can connect instead of just watching static pages.

Feel free to add your opinions, and share the article with your social media followers 😀

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Thanks again for your support

Frank & Annewiek Doorhof

 

 

 

 

How to photograph awesome guitars in the studio, and an alien ukulele

Awesome products to shoot

In todays blogpost it’s time to combine two of my passions, guitars and photography.
It’s always fun to do the Digital Classroom livestreams, and although most is aimed at model photography I also sometimes like to throw in something else.

In this episode I take some pictures of 2 of my favourite guitars and an alien ukulele
I show the lighting setups, how to use smoke, how things go wrong and a lot more.

But before I link to the episode, let’s show the results.

In these images you see the Ibanez Jem guitars.
The black one is the Jem 777VBK (Rosewood fingerboard)
The white one is the Jem 7V WH (ebony fingerboard)

Having some fun with a theme

The final photo is just for fun.
When I saw this Ukulele I just had to get it, not just to experiment with but also to use in a photoshoot, because let’s be honest… it’s cool 😀

During the broadcast I promised I would make a special version of this one.
It’s a bit cheesy, but somehow I like it 😀

Curious how I shot these?

Now you might wonder how I shot these?
Well you are lucky, because here is the link to the full almost 2 hour episode.
If you have questions feel free to ask.

The competition

During the broadcast we talked about the Tourbox give away, if you missed that part….
Create a cool video of you creating your art and tag it with the tags #photographer #photography #tourbox and we will select two winners who will win a Tourbox and a free Lightroom video from me. Make sure you also tag me of course.

The BenQ discount code

For the BenQ 10% discount code email me at [email protected]

Using two or three umbrellas for a perfect white background a video tutorial

The white background

Is often one of those backgrounds we all use once in a while, and some have even build a complete career around it.
When I started out with my learning process I was lucky enough to find out about Dean Collins so I started using a lightmeter almost immediately which makes setting up a white background (and everything else) a lot easier and faster. But still I ran into a lot of problems.

Over the years I’ve tried different ways to shoot this setup.
At one point I was using two strobes on the background, two strip lights as accents and one main light.
The problem always was the floor. The accent lights would give double shadows, this by the way was solved by angling the strip lights slightly up and using grids, but that didn’t solve my other problem, the floor itself.

The miracle of plexiglas

When using the standard setup the main issue was always the floor.
The background would be nice and white, the model was perfectly lit, the accents were nice, but the floor….
You can do it in Photoshop but then you have to edit every single shot, plus it looks the model is floating, so I added some shadows.. and realised it must be possible to do it faster and easier.

Enter, Plexiglas.
By placing transparant plexiglas on the floor you can redirect the light and create a perfect white background which seamlessly blends in with the background, it’s a simple trick of reflections. And the cool thing… you can also use transparant plexiglas on other colors, it’s always giving an awesome reflection.

I’ve talked about this extensively in this blogpost, but today I also show you in the video how I use three and even two umbrellas to create the perfect white background for a full body model including accents… yeah it’s really possible and super easy (and cheap).

Gear used :
3x Geekoto GT400
1x Rogue travel kit with the black umbrella and sleeve (main light) and the white umbrella.
1x Rogue white umbrella.

The nice thing about the Rogue umbrellas is that they are made of Fibreglass which makes them very durable and super easy/light to setup.

In this video I show you how the setup works.