9mm

[Raley]

This is my attempt at product photography. Took this photo like I was trying to sell the item. Would this pass? Does this make the product look nice? Critique please. Anything is helpful please dont hold back. Day 3 of photography
iso 100, f-20, 1/15 SS, 25mm.

 

[Warhorse]

I like the guns exposure and focus. The ammunition is in my opinion distracting, as the brass appears to be scratched up. New shiny ammunition would be better.

 

[ronlane]

I can see @Warhorse's point about the ammunition. I also see one more thing to keep in mind. You have lost the back bottom of the grip to the shadows.

 

[Designer]

I agree with @Warhorse about the ammunition. Also, the lighting should be either more even, or artistically varied. A one-light setup might work if you have some reflectors directing light toward the rest of the item. The only part that has enough light is the upper right of the object. That portion of the frame and slide have some fairly flat light.

If you were to move your light source a bit more to one side, and place a reflector on the opposite side, you wouldn't see such a bright spot of light in one place.

Take a few minutes to glance through some gun periodicals to get an idea of how firearms can be posed and lighted to better advantage.

 

[480sparky]

IMHO: In terms of composition, it's too far down in the frame. It needs more 'room' below it.

An option with ammo that I found works better is to stand the firearm up on the table and shoot horizontally. Than scatter the rounds liberally across the table. This will minimize the ammo's impact in the image but still be present.

 

[smoke665]

First I'm a little confused as to your choice of exposure. Every lens has a sweet spot for sharpness and in general that sharpness decreases as you stop down. Second, 1/15 is to slow for handheld, and even on a tripod increase you chances for stray ambient light to create problems. If you open your lens up to f/8 it would have let you up your shutter 1/100.

Mixing matt surfaces with highly reflective surfaces is always going to be a problem. The easiest solution would be to delete the bullets. If they have to be in the shot then you need to either change the angle of reflectance on the light striking the bullets, light the gun so that the bullets fall in the shadows, use multiple exposures (expose for bullets/expose for gun) and combine post, or all of the above.

 

[bulldurham]

My two cents worth: your BG fabric and the gun have essentially the same luminosity value and thus with direct lighting, they will both reflect the same tonal value. Secondly, I cannot fathom why you would use F/20 when your overall depth of field is less than 3 inches. Rule of thumb is that if the object of your attention isn't moving, then any shutter speed will work. F/4 would be more than sufficient. ISO 100 is as low as this camera allows so if you stay at ISO 100, f/4 then where can your shutter be? 20, 16, 11, 8, 5.6, 4 = 5 stops of light = 15, 30, 60, 125, 250 - If I am letting in 5 stops more light, then I must gain 5 stops more shutter and this always has wiggle room to go up a stop and decrease the speed by half (5.6/125).

As to composition, I would put tiny blocks behind the gun to raise it off the surface a bit and light only for the gun, letting the brass become more diminutive in brightness and position so the handle doesn't get too blanked out in shadow (though it looks ok in Photoshop) and give it a bit more head room.

 

[Raley]

Thank you everyone for you criticism. This is why i need a second opinion to point out things i dont see. After reading your comments some of it seems so obvious like the framing and how the shadows cut the bottom right part of the product off. When promoting a product you want that product to be in full view and so you can see every detail so i get how my shadows failed to do so..

Thank you guys for the tips on lighting. I never thought to use mirrors to reflect light, i will definitely have a go at that.

The brass were reloads, they have been shot,dropped,packed loaded shot again and so on lol. Maybe old brass would work better with antique firearms? am i on to something there?

My two cents worth: your BG fabric and the gun have essentially the same luminosity value and thus with direct lighting, they will both reflect the same tonal value. Secondly, I cannot fathom why you would use F/20 when your overall depth of field is less than 3 inches. Rule of thumb is that if the object of your attention isn't moving, then any shutter speed will work. F/4 would be more than sufficient. ISO 100 is as low as this camera allows so if you stay at ISO 100, f/4 then where can your shutter be? 20, 16, 11, 8, 5.6, 4 = 5 stops of light = 15, 30, 60, 125, 250 - If I am letting in 5 stops more light, then I must gain 5 stops more shutter and this always has wiggle room to go up a stop and decrease the speed by half (5.6/125).

As to composition, I would put tiny blocks behind the gun to raise it off the surface a bit and light only for the gun, letting the brass become more diminutive in brightness and position so the handle doesn't get too blanked out in shadow (though it looks ok in Photoshop) and give it a bit more head room.

As far as my f stop choice, i have no idea tbh. But thank you so much for the above formula!

Really thank you guys for everything. Im really into this and am trying to learn all i can. I show my friends and family my photos and of course they are like yea they are great! I needed an educated second opinion so thank you!

 

[ac12]

I second the idea of looking at current product pics for ideas.

Why even include the ammo in the pic? The problem is that the eye is attracted to bright objects. The brightness of the brass distracts the eye from the pistol.