I have been photographing people on location recently. This has ben both rewarding and a challenge. The reward is coming up with images that exceed the clients expectations. The challenge is making those images using different light sources. The light from the room, the light you bring and the light from outside.
Lets talk about shooting inside for a moment. You have to decide what your main light source is going to be. When I work I try not to fight the predominant lighting of the room. Its important to blend your sources so I might gel my flash heads to the main light in the room. I can correct some things in post production but not all of it. So it is really important to me to get it right in the camera. If you are photographing a corporate head shot for instance you might be in an environment with a lot of florescent light. If you want to show the office then you would need to balance your light with the light in the room. It is the same shooting outside you either reflect the ambient light or you overpower that light with your own.
I have two examples of location photography attached to the blog. Example one is shot indoors with very little ambient light in the area. For this office shot I just overpowered the existing light with flash. I did have to blend the light coming from the window but that was an easy adjustment. That source did not effect my overall light temperature.
The second example is out on a balcony this has some real challenges associated with it. You have the shadowed area of the balcony and the sunny background. I chose in this example of corporate photography to try to balance to the light in the background. I upped my power output in my main light and balanced the foreground to the back ground. I did however have some color balance issues that had to be dealt with in post production. The issues were the warming of my subjects that occurred from my flash head temperature. I ended up taking out some red and desaturating another color a little. I think these shots came out with a nice feeling.
I will discuss more on this subject at a later date right now I am busy with some architectural photography. Thanks for viewing my post. David
This discussion is about product photography specifically table top products. These are shots that a fairly small and you shoot them on a small set usually a table. I guess it’s in the name.
This particular shot was a challenge because of the reflective surfaces. Not only was background reflective so were parts of the product. In product photography where you have this dual problem I like to rough in my light. I see where the light source reflects in the background and try to position the camera so that the problem is solved. Sometimes this approach wont work because the product composition does not lend itself to the ideal camera position in relation to the main light source.
This was not the case here I got lucky and set my main light to light the product with nice high lights. I then added reflective cards to fill in the light on the edges. The last light I used was a reflector to bounce light into the face of the watch. This was trial and error for the right amount so that the reflector did not show in the face.
The result is a pretty straight forward watch shot that is really clean and shows off the product. As a commercial photographer I have to be aware of not only the surfaces of my subject but also textures and composition. I also chose a limited depth of field to put he emphasis on the watch face. Sometimes it works and sometimes not so well. I chose to do this in the camera as apposed to after in photoshop. Both ways work but I like the camera effect.
So when you are working as a product photographer your tools are light and the control you have over that light. When photographing people it is the same. Control the light and expression and you control your shot. There are very few happy accidents. That is all I have for now.
I am in the process of shooting some landscape architecture for some apartment complexes. The problems that I have encountered are working around the buildings themselves. The buildings block the sun in the early morning and afternoon light. I prefer shooting in the sweet light of morning or just before sunset but this is not always possible. If time allows I make multiple trips to the site and photograph what I can in the best light. The problem you may encounter is budgeting extra time and expense for this type of shooting. Sometimes you just bid the job and have to get paid less per hour or your day rate suffers when you have to chase the light for your art.
There is another option and that is to photograph the scene as a HDR shot. That way you can prevent your shadows from blocking up or blowing out the highlights. This kind of photography is extremely popular now, partly because of the control you get in architectural photography shots.
When I work this way I try to be realistic in my final interpretation of the subject. There is a whole lot of ways to interpret your scene and experimenting is the best way to educate yourself on the results you can achieve. I am using the technique to shoot more realistic scenes for my clients. The arty results you can get are really interesting. I think I will play with the artistic side this weekend to push myself more. I will post those results later in the week.
Whatever way you decide to go you are ultimately providing an image the client needs. If you are working on your own vision then I would play with the software and see what type of results I could get. I think the more manipulated look would be great for some construction photography.
I will see what I can come up with this week and get some feed back later on. David
I am working on a new project right now that presents some of the challenges architectural photographers face on the job. I am shooting the interiors of small apartments. Some with blinds on the windows and some without. The first problem you encounter is working in a tight space and needing to make the room appear bigger than it is. Forget truth in advertising I get paid to lie all the time. As commercial photographers part of our job is to create an illusion of either beauty or in my case a spacious apartment. I am currently using Canons 17mm shift tilt lens this helps me keep the distortion to a minimum and shows a lot of the room. I may need to go to the 14mm perspective corrected lens but my budget has not allowed it.
The next problem you encounter is hiding your lights and getting enough room to actually make you’re lighting have a natural feel to it. I try not to blast light everywhere and let some of the ambient light from the room show up. This is hard to do when your light stands are pressed up against the wall as well as you and your camera. I tend to kick light off the ceiling if it is a white one the color balance gets thrown off if it is not a white ceiling. A problem you run into in architecture photography is the light from windows and glass doors. If you have no blinds on the door it can be over powering to the room. To solve those problems I either change the time of day or even wait until dusk to shoot. Sometimes though you have to shoot with the window light as is. During those times I try to make the light coming into the room my dominant light source. I then try to match my strobe heads to that light source for color balance. This will give your shot a more even feel. The outside light is sometimes very cool so it looks odd if you’re shooting daylight or matching the tungsten in the room. It can be difficult when you are using a window or glass door as the main light source but the effect is really natural looking and that is ultimately what your after.
These are just some of the problems I am encountering on my new project. I will update with some images soon. Thanks David
I am a business photographer based in Phoenix Arizona. I have been working in the Phoenix photography market for about six years. I have been in photography for over twenty-four years. The Phoenix market is very interesting in that the slower period for me is in the hottest part of the summer.
It seems in the middle of July through August that I slow down. It is like the dead of winter in other markets. We of course experience the usual Thanksgiving to New Years slow down for the holidays but that happens everywhere.
I wonder if some of the other creative fields experience a similar business pattern. If there is anyone who could comment on their experience that would be great.
I am just rambling this morning waiting to go to a meeting.
I have been working on some event photography lately. I just completed the project and sent it off. The lighting conditions went from great to totally bad through the evening.
I guess in corporate photography there is always some challenges. Other wise they would not need a photographer and just use someone with a camera.
I have yet to find the perfect flash attachment for event photography. It is either to harsh or really nice and soft but you have to be three feet away from your subject to get any depth of field. With commercial photography where you go in and light the room and subject, life is so much easier. I find in architecture photography the conditions can be a challenge but you understand the time frame to get the exterior shots and just light the interiors as you need to. Construction photography is another subject where you have to rely more on time of day and sun angle to help you achieve great results.
The subjects are working and the equipment is really large so you really just have the sun to light your subject. You can see some of these subjects on my website http://corporatephotographer.us . As for the event photography I have yet to upload any of that to the site. Here is one shot that I like more to follow.
Product Photography: Limited focus or all over focus in product shots.
I have two photographs to look at. One has a very limited depth of field the other one has focus throughout. In product photography a photographer might use a shallow depth of field to highlight certain areas of the the product. The benefits of this are that the viewer is forced to stay on the focused area. The eye might try to wander off the focal point but you will come back to the focused areas. This is also good if your going for a certain mood. The drawbacks are you cant really show all the features of the product in clear detail.
You can see in the first photograph the front of the stone on the earrings is sharp and you can see the texture and color. The rest of the earring is soft and you have trouble seeing the rest of the product.
In the second photograph you see the whole product and can see the quality. In some instances this would be what the client would absolutely want. In product photography you are trying to please the client. In some instances it would be good to have a limited depth of field to give an image a different feel. It also nice to give your client some options if you are shooting the cover of a catalog and not just recording the details of the product.
The reason I enjoy product photography so much is the creative use of light, background materials and the interesting products you get to shoot.
