Use these Set Ups and Diagrams, follow how I shot the images for the Article ‘Visual Language in Practice’

To try and help you learn quickly about simple methods of rigging a background and quick lighting hacks, here are some set ups and diagrams to help you be clear on what I did. If you have not seen PS Top Tip Session 4 yet, please see it here before moving on!

I want you to be working and practicing your visual language when shooting your own images. Practicing anything is how best we learn and improve. This doesn’t change no matter how long you have been doing something… I still practice my craft. I am really happy for you to simply try and copy the shots from the tutorial, following the sets in this article to see how close your images come to mine.

This is a good time to mention that I would never expect that you can get the same result as me. When you work in your shooting space with your kit and personal preferences about how you do things, you will naturally achieve a result that is a reflection of who you are. And that is a great thing. Be true to yourself, don’t try and imitate. Learn from others yes, but ultimately produce your own creative images that show your skill and visualisation.

 

Chocolate

• We have black shiny acrylic surface to give us a clean reflection.
• There is a warm coloured dark toned piece of card propped up behind the product, leaning against a cross arm. We need to have something reflecting in the surface to give it a tone, rather than it being black or messy looking. The card does this job.
• Lighting – A speed-light and attachment with a 60 by 60m cm softbox. This is being hand-held to the right and slightly from behind the product.
• Distance of the light to the product is approximately 15 to 20 inches
• I am shooting on a 100mm macro lens that allows me to focus close in and fill the frame.

Lighting Tip!

By using the softbox fairly close in, but not diffused, it gives nice clean even and hard highlights on the shiny chocolate surface.

Camera Settings

• 100 ISO. To give no digital noise
• 125^th second shutter. Standard flash setting so not to let any ambient expose in.
• F8. Being very close in means the focus depth is quite shallow. I used this to my advantage with focus fall off either side of my centre point.
• 10 second shutter delay to give me time to press the cable release and then hold the light in position before we took the shot.

 

Candy Floss

 

• Smooth pink paper, scooped to a fairly hard 90 degree bend, clamped to a cross arm.
• Lighting is a 60 by 60cm softbox and speed-light being held directly over the top of the product.
• Distance of the light to the product is approximately 8 inches
• I am shooting on the 100mm lens. This keeps the candy floss as a flatter graphic shape.

Lighting Tip!

By having the softbox directly over the product and close in (only 8 inches), the light wraps around the product more so keeping the shadow edges nice and soft.

Camera Settings

• 100 ISO. To give no digital noise
• 125^th second shutter. Standard flash setting so not to let any ambient expose in.
• F8. Being pulled back a little gives me enough depth of field across the product.
• 10 second shutter delay to give me time to press the cable release and then hold the light in position before we took the shot.

 

Tea Cake

• We have a gently curving sheet of slightly textured paper resting against a cross arm.
• Lighting. I am hand-holding the speed light with a normal reflector attachment. This has a wide grid to focus my light into a spotlight. I am also holding a large trace diffuser on a wooden frame between the light and the subject.
• Distance of the trace to the product is approximately 12 inches
• I am shooting on a 100mm macro lens that allows me to focus quite close.  The longer lens gives me quick focus fall off on the background.

Lighting Tip!

• The idea of using the large trace and smaller spotlight (created with the grid), is so the spotlight has enough diffusion area to fall off gently. I cover all of this and a lot more in my lighting modules within the course.

 

Camera Settings

• 100 ISO. To give no digital noise
• 125^th second shutter. Standard flash setting so not to let any ambient expose in.
• I needed more depth of field with this shot, so F16 gave me enough focus across the main areas. Notice that the background focus is still falling away quite quickly.
• 10 second shutter delay to give me time to press the cable release and then hold the light in position before we took the shot.

 

Ferrero Roche

• We have gold paper scooped up in case any background was being seen. This was resting on a cross arm.
• Lighting – I am hand-holding the speed light with a normal reflector attachment. This has a grid on it to control any spill. I am shooting through a small handheld diffuser from the rear three quarter angle.
• Distance of the light to the product is approximately 24 inches.
• I am shooting on a 100mm macro lens that allows me to focus close in and fill the frame.

Lighting Tip!

• The diffuser is quite close to the light. This helps to soften the harshness of the direct light slightly. This is good for the shiny chocolate surface.

Camera Settings

• 100 ISO. To give no digital noise
• 125^th second shutter. Standard flash setting so not to let any ambient expose in.
• I needed more depth of field with this shot, so F16 gave me enough focus across the main areas.  Notice that the background focus is still falling away quite quickly.
• 10 second shutter delay to give me time to press the cable release and then hold the light in position before we took the shot.

Shoot Products Like A Pro – Product Photography Course and Tuition

What have we learned from these set diagrams and shot breakdown??

• Shooting products can be done simply with very little kit!  A wooden surface,1 cross arm on a stand and a tripod did the job.
• With one speed light, a 60 by 60 softbox, reflector head and grid and two sizes of diffuser, we made all the lighting changes necessary to get the 4 different results
• Different paper backgrounds scooped into different curves can give you varied tonal backgrounds. Remember they must compliment your product!

Product Photography Made Simple… That’s how I like it.

Cheers for now!

Phil

Shoot Products Like A Pro – Product Photography Course and Tuition