E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

What can be learned about product photography that can benefit all photographers?

If you are a photographer who is not particularity interested in commercial photography, per se, you may ask why delve into this specialty and subscribe to this section of the forum other than for the sake of passing curiosity. Good question! Perhaps some more artistically inclined photographers consider the commercial aspect of the craft a more workaday endeavor, especially in the areas of product photography - one might envision the pages of a mail order catalog with its clean but not particularly visually exciting or “different” imagery.

From a creative and artistic point of view, there is a good measure of visual psychology involved. In commercial product photography the photographer becomes a vital part of the advertising and SELLING process. Two of the first components of a SALE of any item or service is attracting attention and creating desire for whatever commodity is being offered. Visual illustration and presentation are very persuasive elements. Whether it is an online or print catalog page, a poster, a billboard, a newspaper ad, a TV commercial or the pictures on the packaging of everything on supermarket shelves, we are surrounded by visual stimulation in the commercial world. “A picture is worth a thousand words” may be an understatement, when you come to think about it.

Good photographers need to be good story tellers - their images are their “words” and certain methodologies in creating powerful and tactile imagery can benefit all photographers.

From a technical standpoint, the most important attribute or skill a commercial photographer can possess is that of photographic problem solving. A “product” can be anything, in size, from a tiny electronic microcircuit to a jumbo-jet airliner. Many surfaces are intrinsically problematic and can range from a slate blackboard to a chrome-plated appliance or a mirror and every imaginable surface finish and texture in-between. Often, extreme kinds of surfaces appear on the same item, or two or more vastly different materials or items must be in the same shot.

Aesthetically and psychologically speaking, terrycloth towels have to look soft and fluffy, stainless steel knives have to appear metallic and sharp, kitchen appliances must appear clean and shiny without distracting reflections, flowers must be colorful, yet delicate, tools must look strong, durable and ergonomic, the wood grain of fine furniture has to be rendered correctly, and it goes on and on. There are as many challenges and solutions as there are products.

As for equipment and materials - historically, for many decades, the basic tools of the commercial product photographer were extremely simple and unsophisticated. A wooden or metal large format view camera, with its swings and tilts, a few sharp lenses, a sturdy tripod or camera stand and a decent set of lights were all that was needed. OH! - and an enormous degree of skill and technical savvy! There was no automation as to exposure or focus. There was no PhotoShop kinda post processing. Most of the work for lithographic reproduction was done on color transparency film with little or no latitude. Issues of color balance, filtration, and exact ISO (used to call it ASA) indexes had to be determined for each film batch by careful testing. The photographer was responsible for exposure determination, composition, all manner of image management such as distortion control, depth of field, selective focus, filter and bellows extension factors, lighting aesthetics, and also make certain the resulting transparencies had the proper dynamic range to conform to the final lithographic process. EVERYTHING had to be on the film in that manual transparency retouching and other pre-press remedial applications were tedious and costly and needed to be precluded in most cases.

Nowadays, of course, what with many technical advancements and the advent of the digital imagining, many technicalities have been simplified, automated and made more accessible and convenient, however, many of the older and classical methodologies are still applicable to commercial work and many other aspects of photography. The finite application of lighting has never been automated and still requires perception and skill on the part of the photographer.

It may be surprising to some enthusiasts that some absolutely beautiful and elegant still life imagery can be created with one simple light source and a few home-made reflectors. Shooting glass objects or shooting through glass can be easier than it seems once you have the technique down pat. Whether you are into shooting butterflies, birds and bugs, food and beverages, cars and trucks, antiques and collectibles, landscapes and buildings, or rusty old barn door hinges, there are some things to be gleaned from commercial photographers.

TUNE IN!

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Thank you for setting this up, I will be lurking and learning!

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Thanks for starting this.

glyphtrix

Persons in the service industry,who employ tip jars, often begin their shifts by "seeding"them. They place money into them to induce others to contribute.

News outlets frequently use a similar gimmick. They may include a photo, unrelated to the article, to catch the eye.

Here are 2 images for this purpose!

Best of luck to the new categories!
Look in forward to reading them!.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Very interesting ... might have a few which might find a place here. Thanks for the inclusion ....

glyphtrix

Hey Chris T,

Go for it. I'm sure Mr Shapiro will inform us if we get out of line.. but try to concentrate on the industrial/commercial aspects.

I just posted the grass because I was riffing on Mr Shipiro's blog that photography was story telling; that pictures were the words.

Grass seeds start small but they turn into fields quickly once they get going.

Be relevant and I'm sure you'll be appreciated.

If you've got interesting commercial/industrial shots go a head and reply to my post ..stick them on.

If they aren't what Mr Shipiro had in mind ..I'll take some heat with you..right before i turn on you and lambaste you. Myself. Hahaha.


Thanks man.

glyphtrix

SORRY E.L.
End of the day.
Spell checked everything else .
Truly very sorry about the name goof.
Absolutely unintentional!
So sorry.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Okay, Glyph ... now I know why you posted the grass pic ... thanks for filling me in ...

I do a lot of product shots - but they're not really commercial grade.

However, I'd be happy to post a few. As soon as I can figure out how to reduce a 12MB image to 410K ....

glyphtrix

Hey Chris T
Ask on the main category !!!!
That's a winning question!!

BUT I bet if you just convert it from RAW to JPEG it'll work out...

"Resizing options "in popular post production software ought to help you de sample a bit.. and there's always cropping if it's really large.

BUT by then
you could just post it directly into This site yourself.

( was just offering the added convenience if you had anything ready to go.)

OOH !
THERE A FAQ. SECTION.
MAYBE THE ANSWER IS ALREADY THERE .
you just go to the very bottom of the home page
The absolute bottom
It says something like "all categorues"
You hit that link
Then you can see FAQ AND like 10 other hidden categories .
See ya.

glyphtrix

If your happy with the shot someone here will appreciate too. The site is FOR everyone of all skill levels! f somebody doesn't appreciate it- don't worry about it . At the very least , they will tell you how to make it better...

Technically, that's against the rules too except for the hidden critique category which is the ONLY place constructive negative insights are officially allowed. Negative critiques aren't supposed to happen else where. It happens occasionally . Don't sweat it. Most members will stand up for you and squelch it if it's really unwarranted .

PS The grass was also click bait for the main photo gallery to draw attention to this category.
A gimmick described earlier at the beginning of this thread. An Eye catching, but unrelated , visual; news agencies pull this trick alot.

With a name like glyph (image) tricks
You can be sure I know of a few....
Welcome.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

You know, Glyph ... I did think about that ...

However, I suspect provisions to do it are provided in both Photoshop and in Lightroom - neither of which I have.

And, to make a post enquiring as to how to do it, without having either - would just support everyone's assertion I'm some kind of dunderhead ....

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Oh, I see ... on the grass ....

Glyph ... I joined here in late August, and made my first post on September 4th. I followed that with another 50 more in just about a week to ten days. Within the second week, I became quite suicidal, from all the negativity and insults I received on here. I was absolutely bowled over by it all. For this past week, I've hardly been here. In fact, I was considering leaving it altogether. I was really feeling down. And then I saw the announcement about the two new segments, and decided to give it a fresh go. So, I helped Ed with his opening post, and started to write things here. If I do figure out how to reduce my images, I will certainly post some. Doing so, without reduction, though - would take a few days, and I cannot guarantee they'd ever complete (I'm on dial-up.)

Thanks so much for the welcome, Glyph ....

glyphtrix

Yeah you're gonna have to get your hands on some software. You can't play this game without it.

Now a fair question to ask and it may even be in FAQ section is alternatives to lr and fs and Adobe elements ..

Corel has quite a few options.a lot of members use them.

There are free shareware programs.. I use several different shareware and paid programs BUT I HAVE NOT YET SHOT IN RAW..I'm only advancing out of cellphone -with -accessory lenses just this month.

I haven't seen any raw buttons in my software but maybe GIMP has that. But its a bitch I hate that program. But it can do anything! And it's free.

Because you might need to work with raw and because i dont know if my programs support it ( except GIMP )
I can't give you any useful reccomendations.

It's still a valid question to ask on the main board
It does. Repeat .

For Windows I use ; photoscape, photo filtre. ( UK knock off of photoshop) Fotor. Inpixio photo clip 7 , and a browser: XNVIEW could all handle the down sizing easily But I 'm not sure about the raw conversion part. Can't help you there .

On my android phone I use snapseed from google, fotor, pixlr, photodirector.. to handle these and other processing tasks from jpegs.

glyphtrix

This category is more sheltered . Infact it's lightly hidden.
I ALMOST Quit this week too. The site can be tough. You know what

I think Mr Shapiro wouldn't mind you asking in his corner the questions I've brought up . No harm done. There aren't any active topics yet.

I'm sure members like trixe. And rehesse and even sharpshooter will give you some suggestions when they check back in.

I got kicked off Imgur. A site that's cousins to the reddit crowd. My graphic arts skills weren't up to their high tech standards. My account was deleted for ne. Ouch.
UHH has a few jerks.. there's an ignore button.. you may need to use it . .
Most members are very very supportive.
I just post a custom pic of a cat sticking out its tounge-in when I can't handle the worst of the replies .

Hang in there.
TO EVERYONE ELSE READing THESE SIDE BARS INSTEAD OF USING THE CHIT CHAT SECTION OR PM OPTION..truly sorry.

We've got some dead air here and its after hours .. if you could point the member in the right direction that would be sweet.


(AND TO anyone familiar with my wedding rants: I've been the Master of Ceremonies and DJ.. IVE worked with the Band U2 and even the Clinton inauguration..I haven't shot weddings ..but I've worked alongside the best photographers in the biz and learned from them. Which is why a cellphone shooting enthusiast can comment about weddngs"

I AM very honored to now be amongst many unbelievably talented photographers who are sharing their wisdom !

Mr shapiro, thanks for letting us borrow your page tonight. You can see how bullying is an important issue for the whole site to reconsider.
How it gets dealt with.

Signing out for tonight Hawaii time.

..[/quote]

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

This is a computer, Glyph ... and - as already indicated, I use dial-up. Whenever I start to download anything at all, apart from the required Windows Updates ... it phases out, within a very short time.

However, I shall keep my eye peeled for a solution .... thanks for all the suggestions .... UK, huh? ... Born there ...