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I rock my 200mm to compensate for the [PHOTO]
Posts
Things You Normally Don't Drop In Water:
and a slightly more serious / close up thing of a pistachio being dropped in water:
I let the items pile up at the bottom because I thought that would be a little more satirical than if I did each item individually.
I'm still not greatly pleased with the results but I think next time I need to shoot closer in so you get more of the object dropping in the water filling the frame. Also it would have been nice if my skyport triggers could go over 1/200th of a second but they can't. Also I will try and pump up the strobe power and shoot at a higher fstop because things were still a little out of focus at f/13.
Crits and stuff?
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
You also might want a little more negative space around the glass.
The concept I like.
I got some Heineken tonight because I liked the bottle design...
Also does anyone know of any good product lighting tutorials?
Edit: Just for reference on the water shots I had a bare strobe up really high aimed down at the background behind the glass (which was just about 8 sheets of computer paper taped together and then taped to the wall). I then had a strobe into a silver umbrella at camera left about 20-30 degrees from camera axis. I will try and take pictures of my setup next time too.
Edit2: mts the filters don't look like they worked if they are supposed to allow you to focus closer because most of that is out of focus.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
for a larger copy, click image to go to its flickr page then click "all sizes"
@ CC - Strobist.clogspot.com has some good stuff.
EDIT: PS - that's all natural light for anyone that cares.
In my experience the closeup filters give you a miniscule DOF, moreso than a macro lens does. I'm not certain, but I think the wick in the second pic is pretty much in focus. Note the double-edge on the "rim" of the candle in the second shot - there's motion blur in effect, too.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
Bah! I forgot he had a few tutorials on product shots since most of his stuff is shooting people.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
CC, even spacing around the glasses and a bit more negative space (as mentioned) would do a lot for those photos. A cleaner glass, either through cleaning between frames or a bit of PS work, would also help. Definitely lose the vignetting - an entirely white background really doesn't suit it.
Pope, you've inspired me to schedule a photo excursion with some friends to a few locations out of town known for their endangered orchids. I've never taken a flower photo, and that's a terrible shame.
I haven't shot all that much, outside of the puppies. I won't subject anyone here to more puppy photos other than saying that there are more on my flickr, and I'd like to think they're getting better. I did manage to score one candid portrait I was happy with at a friend's birthday get-together.
Please criticize, as something doesn't feel quite right about it now that it's been exported from my editing machine to my laptop - but I've never been entirely sure about the crop.
Oh, and I've scored a job tending to captive burrowing owls and then subsequently releasing them for my summer gig. Very excited, as photographing the processes and eventually the birdies is highly encouraged by the masters student I'm working for. Considering a 400mm f/5.6 as the new lens for the year, but we'll see what I can do with the 70-200 and my 5D. Really wishing I had kept my 1DMkII, but at least I got essentially a free 6 month rental out of it.
The glare on the left lens is pretty intense considering most people jump to the eyes first. But I'm not big on portraits so that's all I've got...
I feel like she should be a little higher in the crop, with a little more body. I almost feel like the horizontal line from the chair should be right in the center.
I snagged this candid portrait last weekend (at my own birthday party) and kind of dig it, despite having John dead centered. The symmetry works for the type of picture and I like that I caught him mid-bite (although I'm not sure if he's smiling because he likes the rib or because he's smiling for the picture).
I think the background helps offset the symmetry of the subject, since it's candid. It's one of the few good shots I got, unfortunately (my wife took some shots but bumped the focus point, so for hers the wall is in focus instead of the person. whoops).
• some people use carbonated water to get more bubbles - this seems potentially expensive
• some people use a small fishtank - this gives them a flat surface to the glass that's parallel to the lens/sensor which makes it easier to avoid glare/reflections; it also gives them more space for the shot; it also means more water (if you use carbonated then oy vey!)
• you might try a colored background to make the items pop more (if using a fishtank you can tape a piece of colored fabric or paper to the back side of the tank)
• you could shoot outdoors in bright light (or use non-strobes ... floods I guess?) to get faster shutter speeds than the flash binds you to using
• the other way to improve DOF over narrowing the aperture would be to move the camera away from the subject - this actually has more immediate impact on DOF (the degree of adjustment to aperture needed is pretty high to really impact DOF) - but this would really only work with a larger water-container (ie - fishtank) and larger dropped objects ... using a telephoto is like being close to the subject in terms of DOF in my experience
Like I said, just thoughts.
Dark Moon - I don't care for the crop; both the subject and the only other item in the shot (the chair) are on the right of the frame, making the image feel unbalanced. I think a square crop with the subject centered would be stronger. Also the glare on the glasses is not ideal - but I think the crop is a bigger deal (at least to my eyes)
Eggy - pretty good focus and decent enough candid for sure. However I personally have no interest in seeing a stranger in the middle of eating messy food. I think this might remain in the category of higher-quality-snapshot (which may very well be what you're going for).
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
So I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday while flipping through a magazine. I'm used to lighting people sized objects where you can manipulate the light by moving a light back and forth a few feet or moving it around the subject. With product type photography you really have to control the light a LOT more since you are working with a smaller object. Honestly this should have been obvious but this type of lighting is so different from what I'm used to; so it took a while for it to dawn on me.
I'm going to try and make some smaller snoots and try the water thing again a few different ways. I also got an 18x24" piece of clear plexiglass/acrylic ($8 at home depot) for a nice reflection and so I can put white or black underneath it depending on if I want some reflected light.
As for the negative space around the glass I'm not sure I agree with that idea. The subject of these photos are the objects being dropped into the glass and the resulting water splash. If I pull the camera out even further to add negative space, then I'm going to be making those subjects even smaller in the frame. This doesn't seem like a good idea especially in the collage format that I was using. If anything, I think I would rather move in closer to the items like I did with the pistachio shot. Ideally I would be using a fish tank but I don't have one and those things are expensive.
DM: Thanks I didn't even notice the vignetting until you pointed it out. Either my light wasn't lighting up that corner or my cheap 75-300 sucks HARD because I was shooting at f/13.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
For example if you want a person to look uncomfortable/cramped/etc then you can intentionally break that rule:
THIS IS NOT MY PHOTO I AM USING IT AS AN EXAMPLE
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Over at The Online Photographer they worked on a somewhat clinical test on the factors that affect DOF and found camera-subject distance outstripped aperture.
Anyway, my point is that since you mentioned lowering aperture further to try to improve DOF maybe you might get better results (plus a wider aperture which means faster shutter or lower ISO) by moving the camera back, despite the need to crop.
But maybe it's not worth bothering with. Just wanted to clear up that I wasn't suggesting a change in your comp at all.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
@nO: Jesus christ dude, your strobe work is just fantastic. Makes me wish I had a few hundred dollars I could spare on a strobist kit and I also now want a Heineken.
@Pope: I don't think you've taken a flower shot yet that I don't like which is an accomplishment I'd say given the over taken cliched subject matter.
NeedO - Effing perfect, dude. That could be in a magazine. Definitely one for the portfolio for sure.
BladeX - Cheers. That's awesome to hear.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
Blade - thanks mang! Yeah, before I had the lights I didn't want them. Now that I have them I find more and more opportunities to take pictures because I don't have to rely on natural light as much. And then the next bad thing is that I want bigger / better lights, etc.
Erisian - thank you, kind sir!
Edit: setup shot
for a larger copy, click image to go to its flickr page then click "all sizes"
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
The color below the bottle is actually a green piece of paper from some hobby store - not a gel. The background light IS gelled yellow, however.
Yea I'll try and do something similar when I start producing images that are of similar quality.
How long did you spend trying to get this just right?
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Salti - yeah, good crits, I'll adjust when i get home.
You would probably also want to edit out the little circle in the bottle above the label as it distracts from the ideal you are trying to present here.
All in all I like where you are going with the colors and composition on an artistic level, but there are some questionable messaging here. Yellow is a warm color, the highlights are sharp, and head is flaccid. To me, it looks like a warmed glass of beer.
Edit: Take a look at beer ads. Most brands use cool colors. Stella Artois is an example of a brand that uses warm colors in their messaging but their bottles and glasses are always beaded. Guinness seems to be about 50/50 from what I've seen, but they use cool muted colors. As their product has gotten traction in North America you're seeing a lot more sweating glasses in their ads, even if it's not as pronounced as an American lager ad. I'd be curious to compare their British ads with their American ones.
http://kaileyjoanette.co.nr
Black background with a white sheet under the container with to flashes into psuedo DIY soft boxes at 70 degress from the camera and another flash in a soft box back left of the water container.
setup:
Beer shot. Not quite as good as I would have liked but its definitely getting there. The brightness / rim on some of the bottles washed out the labels a little bit. I intentionally left some shadow on the labels.
setup:
This was done with a white paper drop behind the water jar thing. I aimed a flash directly at that and then had snooted flashes at 45s aimed at the orange cube.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Also great beer shot, besides what you pointed out looks great. If I was being really picky I'd point out the bright rim light on the beer on the far right, but it's not a big deal. Damn good selection of beers there too
Really, I just shot this to show I have a better beer selection than nO
I was also planning on spritzing the bottles with some water to make them look cold but I forgot to do that. ....and I just noticed that the far right bottle is actually shorter than the other bottles because it isn't 12 oz. :?
Really late Edit: I highly recommend the left 4 beers for those who like non-hoppy beers with lots of flavor. Wild Blue, Paulner Salvator (Double Bock), Great Divide Claymore Scotch,and Blue Moon Grand Cru (excellent with some orange slices in it). Yes, I am a beer snob, but I get to be one since I'm such a light weight.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
I guess I shall have to investigate when I get home and see if a model is using her head shot on some site intentionally or if someone is just using some pictures the without anyone's knowledge. :? Or I could just not care about it....hrmmm
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
But when I google "escorts denver" (without quotes) and add "site:flickr.com" (again without quotes) I don't find any of your images.
How weird!!
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
I know very little about these things, but it seems to be a good deal.
Hrm, Ok. This is the picture in question and does not include the word "escort" anywhere on the page but it does include the word "Denver" from my tags.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Depends on your price range. If you can spend something like 400-600 I would go with a low end Canon or Nikon. You can also buy things used.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
I like the lime the best, as the s curve from the drop is very delicious. Not sure why you didn't push the highlights in photoshop, however. Use curves with a layer mask to just brighten those glitters up, mang.
The beer shot - nice light, weak comp. Just kinda busy and the eye roams around.
How did you shoot this? One hand on camera, the other letting the orange / lime / etc. go? I needs me a translucent water container type thing.
Edit: that middle bottle deserves a shoot of it's own. Such a nice design.
I'm just using a wired shutter release and pressing the button with one hand while dropping the object with the other. I grabbed my water container thing which is really designed to keep food fresh at Bed Bath and Beyond. Sadly it was more expensive than I really wanted to pay even with a $5 off coupon I got in the mail (~$10).
If you do start doing water shots I will say it is definitely worth your time to get rid of the water drops on the sides of the container between shots.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.