video: episode 17, a review of studio product photography tricks and tips
June 23, 2008 – 12:01 amThis 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.
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The webgallery of still images from the shoot may be viewed here.
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20 Responses to “video: episode 17, a review of studio product photography tricks and tips”
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 Matthias on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Just some guy on the internet on Jun 23, 2008
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
By Bart on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Jim Talkington on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Matthias on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Craig Lee on Jun 23, 2008
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?
By Jim Talkington on Jun 23, 2008
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
By Steve Wilson on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Mel on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Steve Wilson on Jun 23, 2008
Check the Strobist ‘Lighting 101′ lessons - David has 2 separate lessons on balancing ambient with strobe.
By Steve Wilson on Jun 23, 2008
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
By Martin from Hamburg on Jun 23, 2008
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
By jon on Jun 23, 2008
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!
By Buffalo Rich on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By ALan grubbs on Jun 23, 2008
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.
By Jim Talkington on Jun 23, 2008
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!)
By Matthew Botos on Jun 24, 2008
wow dude! this is your best video!! thanks a lot
By martin on Jul 3, 2008
Awesome!
By Shaun on Aug 13, 2008