When you see an image of a tasty dish in a magazine you wish you had shot your self – keep in mind that a lot of planning must have gone behind that shot. If you wish to shoot similar images you too could get started with this article, Continue reading “The key to great Food Photography” »
We can get a glimpse of fashion photography almost everywhere we look on TV, newspapers, internet and all media. Dazzling women with long legs and tanned skin scream for attention on news stands all over the place. It is the fashion photographer who is primarily responsible to bring those photographers to us, the everyday people. Unlike what one often imagines, there is more to fashion photography than a glitzy life style, fun and happening models. In fact there is a lot of planning involved behind every single fashion photograph that we see. Continue reading “Fashion Photography – 4 key points to success” »
Tags: Advertising, Fashion
Stock photography has always been considered the ugly stepchild of commercial photography. Originally stock photos consisted of out-takes from assignmentsthe seconds if you will. The strategy for success for a stock shooter was to get as much content into the collection as possiblenot a methodology for gaining a reputation for quality!
Bringing Quality To Stock
Along came Tony Stone (Tony Stone Imagesnow Getty Images) who changed the approach from how much material is in a collection to how good the material in a collection is. He pared down the number of images keeping only the very best, made lots of dupes of a given image (back then you had to send out transparenciesso with more dupes of a given image that image could be in front of more potential buyers at once), and became enormously successful. My original stock agency was a company call AfterImage. When Stone purchased it the first thing that happened was that they sent virtually all of my material back to me and only kept a handful of images. The second thing that happened was that my sales tripled!
Getty bought Tony Stone Images and began to apply business principles to stock photography. It looked as though stock my finally start to be looked upon with a little more respectthen RF happened. And again, the emphasis shifted to how much material one could get in. In some cases photographers would sell their entire archives for a set price.
The Saturation Of Images In Stock
Now stock photography is saturated with a gazillion photossome of amazing qualityand a huge number of well-executed but repetitive lifestyle and business image. With crowd sourcing and the entry of non-professionals into the market through agencies like Istockphoto, stock is still the ugly stepchild of commercial photographybut not to me.
Creative Freedom
For me, stock is the highest form of commercial photography. It gives the photographer something truly valuablecreative control. As a stock shooter I am able to choose whatever I want to photograph. I get to photograph my subject in whatever way I want to do it. Unlike assignment photography there are no limitsno Art Directors to satisfy (or rely on), no account executives to please, no clients to impose their own perceptions on your work. No limits!
That isnt to say there arent any challengesthere are challenges galore! While there is no client to impose limitationsthere is also no client to bankroll the shoot.
While there are no limits to what you can shootno one else is coming up with ideas for you. While there are no Art Directors to impose their visionsit is up to you to have that vision and be true to it.
The Challenges of Creative Freedom
Creative freedom is something that I think is a core need of every photographer. But along with that freedom comes challenges. Few things require us to use that creative muscles as much as stock. We need to be creative in coming up with what to shoot. We need creativity in virtually every aspect of stock. Creativity in how to arrange access to a difficult subject, creativity in how to shoot without the financial resources of a clientand creative decisions need to be made on where and how to place the work.
As I write this I have a list of a hundred or so images that I want to create for stock. Sometimes it takes me two years for my subconscious mind to finally figure out how to make something work under the budget and access limits that I have. That brings up another great point about stock. There are no arbitrary deadlinesonly the ones I set for myself.
An example of an idea that took time for me to solve the budgetary restrictions onand the need to exercise creativity in how to get the shots, can be found in a series of stock photos I did with elephants as the subject matter. I originally came up with the idea because I wanted to be close to an elephantto be able to touch one and just hang out with it for a while. So I came up with a few elephant ideas. When I found out it would cost me $5,000.00 just to rent one elephant I put the project on the back burner. A year ago I planned a trip to South East Asia. I was going to shoot in Myanmar (Burma) for a couple of weeks. I would be flying to Yangon, Myanmars capital, out of Bangkok. I began to wonder what I could shoot in Thailand as long as I was going to be there anyway. Then it popped into my headelephants! Perhaps it would cost less to rent one there. Yesone elephant cost me $450.00. For a whole day! Well, I got to hang out with, and touch, an elephant. And in the eight months that I have had the resulting images in the market place I have already earned almost $20,000.00 from those images!
Because of stock I have had the opportunity to hang with a lion, a tiger, and an elephantIve had the chance to shoot a baboon in my studio too. Animals, of course, are not the only perks I have been able to enjoy from shooting stock. I spent a week (and made a nice a profit off of) one of the swankiest Penthouses in Buenos Aires, a magnificent casa in Mexico, heck, I have even rented a disco (also in Buenos Aires) and had a crazy fun time shooting what in effect was a private disco party complete with a crowd of dancers, throbbing music, and smoke machines. Cool!
For me stock is the highest form of commercial work. It requires discipline, creativity, and guts (heyit can take real guts to spend large sums of money on a speculative shoot). But as they say on late-night television infomercials; waittheres more! There is the friendship and fun factor. For me, it is a lot more fun shooting stock where there is no outside pressure to perform and no one but myself to answer too. Also, for a number of my shoots I have invited other photographers to join me. For the disco shoot I shot with three other photographers. We all shared in the cost and worked togetherbut each producing our own set of images. A creative way to reduce the expense of our shoot, to spread the production time and labor outand to get to work with some close friends. When was the last time you invited some close photographer friends to shoot with you on an assignment?
Well, there you have it. My view of why stock is actually the highest form of commercial photography. It is all on your shouldersand with the only limits being those you place on yourself. You dont have to add to those gazillion images of business people on cell phonesor laughing couples on the beach. Sure you canbut you can also allow give yourself amazing challenges with rewards that are commensurate.
Tags: library, Stock photography
michael wong asked:
When you see a picture of a delicious dish in a recipe book or magazine, don’t you feel hungry? Isn’t it amazing if you have the skill to take the picture yourself? Below are some of the tips you will need to excel in food photography
1. Tripod
Sometime you will need to photograph your food under low light condition and you are forced to use slow shutter speed for it. When you are using slow shutter speed, your camera is more sensitive to movement and you are going to be upset when the pictures come out blur.
So, when you are photographing under this kind of condition, you will need a tripod to stabilize your camera.
Tripods nowadays are built to be foldable, easy to carry, sturdy and light on your wallet. Now with this handy accessory by your side, you have more reason to enjoy digital photography.
2. Limit your zone
When you are doing food photography, you don’t always need to capture the whole dish. Showing part of it will make the food more alluring and seems more delicious.
You just want the essence of the food.
Let’s look at the example of chocolate pudding.
Now, imagine that you are looking at the pudding through your camera. Zoom in close to the edge of pudding and take your picture when the dark and hot chocolate sauce is flowing down to cover the rest of the pudding. You can make this a better picture if you can capture the steam from the sauce. Don’t you think this is a delicious picture?
When your viewers look at your picture, they will surely want a bite of the pudding.
3. Experience
Photographers who just trigger your craving for chocolate pudding don’t just drop from the sky. They practice and gain experience as they evolve. You can read all the articles or books about food photography and still be an amateur photographer. Because it is very important that photographers get their hands on the subject and truly experience the process of getting the best picture. When the picture gives you the right feeling then that is the one you are looking for.
So, start building your experience by starting with something simple like a fruit bowl. Remember to get a variety of fruits and arrange the bowl as how you want it to be. Then, take your picture from any angle you can possibly imagine. When you get that special picture you want, you are a step closer to excel in food photography.
When it comes to commercial product photography, people often ask, “Why do professional photographs look better than non-professional?” The answer is complex and the process requires a great deal of skill and practical experience, but it is a skill that can be learned. If you’ve got products to photograph, investing the time and resources into learning how to correctly shoot commercial product photography – or hiring a professional product photographer is a choice that can drastically increase your return on investment.
The Importance of Lighting
In commercial product photography, professionals use special lighting techniques to bring dramatic effects and crystal clarity to the images. By using lighting correctly, you can bring a three-dimensional feel to a two-dimensional product image; making it seem more tangible to the viewer – as if they could pick it up in their hand and actually feel it.
Typical lighting used in commercial product photography includes powerful strobe lights to gain depth of field, special soft lighting boxes, reflectors, and macro lenses for close-up work.
Creating a Mood
Anyone can throw a product on a white background, but a professional creates a mood in commercial product photography instead of simply documenting a product. Creating an atmosphere that makes the customer want to buy the product is vital.
Lighting and staging play a huge part in creating mood. Modern lighting, home lighting, colored spot lighting, and dramatic lighting are well suited for producing a mood or feeling. For example, a commercial product photography shot of caramel covered apples in front of a plain white background is not very appetizing. It would not create the mood necessary to motivate people to want a caramel apple. A makeover of this shot includes creating a homey look.
An old wooden table in front of a window with special bright outdoor lighting coming through highlighting the apple uses light to create a cheery feeling. Additional staging for this shot could include the apple sitting on an old-fashioned plate positioned on top of a crocheted doily like the one Grandma used to make. An antique white vase full of daisies adds to the homespun photograph, making the apple seem homemade and more appetizing than with a plain white background.
Evaluating a Commercial Product Photography Professional
If you choose not to invest the time to learn how to accomplish high quality commercial product photography yourself, you’ll still want to invest some of that time in evaluating a professional product photographer. Finding the right product photographer can be the difference between average online or catalog sales and record-breaking sales.
A great commercial product photographer not only has a keen sense of marketing, but should also take the time to learn about your product specifically. The photographer should ask questions about your target audience, your competitors, and the formats in which the image will be displayed.
Hiring a commercial product photographer is an investment, and you’ll want to make sure you get results that absolutely thrill you. With the computer equipment available today, a great commercial product photography professional should be able to show you the images before the shoot is over so that you can be certain that you love the quality. Steer clear of any commercial product photographer that refuses to offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
With these three tips under your belt, you can achieve professional commercial photography that works overtime to sell your products. Whether you choose to master the art of commercial product photography yourself or hire a professional, refusing to settle for less than professional product images is a decision that will pay off dramatically in both sales and the way in which shoppers perceive the quality of your company.
Tags: Commercial Photography, product photography, studio lighting
In the field of commercial photography, be it in motion or static, every category presents a challenge of its own. With jewelry photography, an object of highly reflective surface (HRS), the challenge is amplified due to its relatively small size captured mostly in close-up environment with shallow depth of field, surface complexity (specular), and limited ways of lighting due to space restriction between the lens and the object. Jewelry photography demands knowledge and experience to overcome the compounded difficulty of controlling reflections and limited depth-of-field (perceived sharpness) in close-up jewelry photography. Continue reading “Learn How to Succeed With the Most Difficult Task in Jewelry Photography” »
Tags: jewellery, product photography