another attempt at product photography

Elaine

Armed with some new flash knowledge (helped along by Swartzy and Divamum), I've attempted some product photography again. While I feel I've gone leaps and bounds above my previous attempt, I'd like to improve this further. The background isn't as uni-formally white as I'd like, and the lid on the left is blending in to the background a bit.

EXIF embedded



What is my next move??

Miguel Delinquento

Now a graduated background
Elaine,
By itself I like this illustration quite a bit. Even lighting and the shadows are not obnoxious. A very nice improvement from the past.
The obvious problem is that the plastic lids blend in too much with the white background.
You need to create a different backgroud. I've used graduated grey backgrounds via Photoshop, but I suggest you experiment with other subtle colors that would pleasantly offset the drink presentation.
You are doing fine.

M

Art Scott

a good start....well done.....

What is your set up??


Scott Kelby's book: The Digital Photography Book Vol 3 has a nice section on Product Photography.......but he write in such a way that if have not read the previous 2 books you might be lost in the beginning of the book ....... and also the HOTSHOE DIARIES.....tons of info on stobist lighting.....

Elaine

Thanks, M and A!

OK...my setup. Just don't laugh!



The red on the left is black construction paper acting as a sort of flag on my flash (Canon 580EXII). It seemed to help give a tiny bit more direction to the light. Maybe I need to use something thicker, like black foamie stuff.
That's it. One flash being bounced off some white surfaces. The shots were taken in a totally dark kitchen.

I was really hoping to make a white background work, as my friends want to use some shots of their coffee cups to make posters for their business' windows. But maybe a color will work. I'll have to try it out.

Elaine

How 'bout this lighting? I have distinction between the lid and background now. Is the front of the cup too dark though?

Art Scott

Elaine wrote:

How 'bout this lighting? I have distinction between the lid and background now. Is the front of the cup too dark though?

Much better......No the front of the cup is not too dark.......

Miguel Delinquento

Elaine,
The differences between this second attempt and your first are too minimal to be significant. White on white just doesn't work, especially if you have to take into account inconsistent printing output and/or monitor calibrations--depending on your audience requirements.

Your kitchen studio setup is good. White is a fine baseline for customizations, but you will need to use the Photoshop extract tool and process to create a more contrasted background to make the shot work.

You are welcome to ignore my advice, after all the consultation fee is on the low side, but do realize that I do very very similar product shots (among a zillion other duties as assigned) for a competing coffee shop, one that is HQ'd a couple hundred miles north of you.

M

Elaine wrote:

How 'bout this lighting? I have distinction between the lid and background now. Is the front of the cup too dark though?

Elaine

Miguel Delinquento wrote:

Elaine,
The differences between this second attempt and your first are too minimal to be significant. White on white just doesn't work, especially if you have to take into account inconsistent printing output and/or monitor calibrations--depending on your audience requirements.

Your kitchen studio setup is good. White is a fine baseline for customizations, but you will need to use the Photoshop extract tool and process to create a more contrasted background to make the shot work.

You are welcome to ignore my advice, after all the consultation fee is on the low side, but do realize that I do very very similar product shots (among a zillion other duties as assigned) for a competing coffee shop, one that is HQ'd a couple hundred miles north of you.

M

But I like the white! And my friends asked for a white background! Whaaaa!
OK...tantrum over. Sigh.
I have photoshop, but I haven't done anything like that in forever and don't know where to start. Could you point me towards some good directions??

Miguel Delinquento

Elaine,
It's good to meet client desires. Unfortunately, sometimes the client, not being the artist, doesn't really know the preferred way to do things. Since you've met the white background requirement quite professionally, you can declare victory.

But there is little risk and so much gain to both you and your client by showing an alternative.

I don't have an authoritative web tutorial I can point you to, but if you type into Google:
A. Extracting backgrounds in Photoshop
B. Creating a graduated background in Photoshop

you will have lots of choices by writers more eloquent than I.

M

Sam

Personally I think all meet the requirement, and show the product well. I think you may be over analyzing the images a little. If they wanted a simple unstaged image with a white background you got it.

I did tweak your last image a little.

Sam

Elaine

Sam wrote:

Personally I think all meet the requirement, and show the product well. I think you may be over analyzing the images a little. If they wanted a simple unstaged image with a white background you got it.

I did tweak your last image a little.

Sam

Thanks, Sam. Did you brighten the whites with curves, or??? Please share!

Elaine

I did some digging and learned something new last night about Photoshop, which is always a good thing. Thanks, Miguel! I found the extract tool and played around with it for awhile, and found the whole extraction thing to be...tedious! So, I plopped some different color paper down and tried a few more shots. These aren't gradients, but they do provide some options and they keep the bits of shadow in the shot that make it look real. Any thoughts?


1


2


3


4


And something a little different, with the white.
5

Miguel Delinquento

Um, yes, tedious, yeah, sorry for not mentioning that.

Beats spotting negatives though.

These look really good Elaine.
No. 2 is my favorite, and I like the red/blue combo on no. 3. The white label seems a tad blue-cast, but still I like the shot. A little too much blue in no. 1, but I can see some clients favoring it.

I think you can declare victory now.

Make sure they add some coffee beans to the compensation.

M

Elaine wrote:

I did some digging and learned something new last night about Photoshop, which is always a good thing. Thanks, Miguel! I found the extract tool and played around with it for awhile, and found the whole extraction thing to be...tedious! So, I plopped some different color paper down and tried a few more shots. These aren't gradients, but they do provide some options and they keep the bits of shadow in the shot that make it look real. Any thoughts?

Elaine

Miguel Delinquento wrote:

Um, yes, tedious, yeah, sorry for not mentioning that.

Beats spotting negatives though.

These look really good Elaine.
No. 2 is my favorite, and I like the red/blue combo on no. 3. The white label seems a tad blue-cast, but still I like the shot. A little too much blue in no. 1, but I can see some clients favoring it.

I think you can declare victory now.

Make sure they add some coffee beans to the compensation.

M

Yippee! Thanks for all your help! :ivar