And here below is the "nice studio". Well... it's near a nice studio. It's in the alley behind the studio. The point of this is to demonstrate that a cloudy sky can substitute for expensive lighting equipment.
Also, it was shot with my little pocket point-and-shoot Fuji F30 camera. It's not about the camera (tm) and it's not about the rest of the equipment. It's about the knowledge and creativity.
14 comments:
Amazing all the neat things an air conditioner can be used for.
Hi Rick. Linked in from Anthony's blog. Love the pictures you take and picking up some tips from your work. Hope you don't mind.
Cheers from Malaysia.
- divemuster -
Hey I didn't know you were at my studio..........
I love it when you show us how you take these great shots. Thanks!
Assuming I can't get the object outside, are there some relatively low-cost lighting alternatives to the built-in flash (which never seems to get very good results)?
That's my screen door! Came by your site via Reynolds. It has been bookmarked. By the way nice photo.
If this is representative of your skills and creativity, you should write a book, or do a video on your techniques - it'd sell like hotcakes!
I used to produce clean, shadowless product photos for the gift guides published by the newspaper where I work in the fluorescent-lit boardroom, by sitting the items on the backs of the vinyl banners we used for promotional events. The overhead lights produced a broad, bright light, and I could clean up any problems in Photoshop. The camera was whatever cheap point-and-shoot we had sitting around the office on the short notice I was given to produce the shots. I'd have needed my ProFoto kit and a roll of white seamless to pull that off just a couple of years earlier. Digital photography has made it infinitely easier to produce decent product shots, if you know how to improvise.
Thanks for reminding us that creativity and having a 'good eye' are really what makes the shot happen.
That little F30 is the best low-light camera I've ever owned. While I agree with Rick's overall comment, people might like to know that the F30 is a terrific choice for someone who wants a compact camera for snapshots, especially indoor shots with available light.
When I was a potter, I would wait for those overcast days to take slide photos of my porcelain sitting on black velvet. Made an intensely black background without glare or shadows. The graduated background is more professional looking, though. What kind of paper is that? My other trick for the shiny porcelain was to use Krylon dulling spray.
I agree with you. When I made this photo: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/85/247368896_924dcc5d28_o.jpg
Everyone asked me how I made it. Just some DIN A4 as my background, Skylight and an strange posse to have a hand in the camera and other in the frame.
Wow... thanks for all the great comments.
DaveG... if you have a hot-shoe flash that tilts up and to the side, you can get the same great results by bouncing the flash off of a white ceiling or white wall... or a large sheet of white something. That's another technique I demonstrated in the seminar.
Susan, that graduated paper is called "Varitone" and you can get it from various professional photo supply sources. Just Google "Varitone background" and you'll find it.
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