Help photographing some "interesting" objects NSFW

[Derrel]

Why not "brush on" the desired corrections in post? One of the Taiwan retouching houses could improve this for $2-$3, in probably less than an hour, maybe 10 hours turn-around time. A little clarity, sharpening, brightness could make this much better.

 

[Butterman]

It's not our normal product, but the users website is a perfectly normal Adobe Portfolio page showing portraits, landscapes and other products the photographer has taken. No connection to any form of sale or trade what so ever. I don't see any attempt to spam or advertise nor solicit sales.

First post, asking how to shoot a subject and the picture of the subject is an already perfect advert shot, with the product name and all right there. I guess I'm paranoid.

@JonFZ300 And that sounds super paranoid to me. A product is a product and they all need to be shot by people in our profession one way or another. A job is a job and subject matter could be WAY more fringe than a couple of sex toys on white seamless.

Paranoid, cynical? yes!! lol Why wouldn't they just use the already perfect pics that you posted? Really have no dog in this fight, just weird that it's your first post and includes perfect advert pics and you're asking to shoot/edit an advert pic. Carry on.

No dog in the fight? What fight? I posted an old shot of an old product where as new pumps are to be photographed from various different manufacturers. I don't know what you're particularly so upset about to be honest. It's crazy to think they'd produce more than a single product that's a pump am I right?

Maybe you're right and my sinister plans were not how to match the old photographer and retouchers standard on how to make a similar product shot, but to sell penis pumps to other photographers on the internet!! Dude, lmao.

It really is quite amazing. I literally came in here asking for help how to match the shot I posted. That is not my shot and I stated that very clearly. My intentions were to join a forum, ask advice, and become part of the community.

 

[Soocom1]

There was a similar thread a few weeks back about glass and light.
The one point that kept coming out was the use of absorbing reflectors. (black) so that reflections were cut down and detail come out.

Then there is the matter of lens and camera setup.

 

[Butterman]

What do those things pick up and measure? I

Seriously JC???????

What??? I never seen such a thing. I read its a sex toy but trying to figure its game....[emoji848]

i think its for pumping breastmilk?

anyway, i do a bit of product photography and use a 16x16 inch LED lightbox... these all look like they were shot in something like that.
honestly, they look fine to me. you could always take out the round shadows with an editing program, but im not sure if it would be a significant improvement or not.

Yeah these particular shots weren't done by me. I'm looking to make my own shots that will be similar to this shot as I'm trying to kinda reverse engineer what needs to be done that would be acceptable. I was in the studio and on my workstation going through my own pictures at work and my results were not coming out so well. Mostly do to the measurements not showing up right, and I was puzzled how to mask out the object but still keep its form to be used on product packaging as shown in the photos. It seems to me that possibly the only real thing from in the camera here is the cord, squeezy pump, the black plastic areas, and maybe the shape of the plastic tube. I'm guessing he just painted all those highlights in and kept nothing from the inside of the actual plastic, otherwise I don't know how you'd be able to transfer the object over packaging and maintain it being see through over whatever design is put behind it.

 

[Derrel]

[
Yeah these particular shots weren't done by me. I'm looking to make my own shot>SNIP>>

Ohhhhhhh......

 

[JBPhotog]

I believe you are dealing with composites in your example shots and there is either a significant amount of retouching or these are illustrations meant to look like photography. All plastic and rubber castings have defects or molding seams, there is none of this in any of the samples. The drop shadows are also added in post.

Why I say this:
- The single pump image does not show the reflection of the packaging which would be evident if it were standing next to it as shown. The pump hose and bulb are not reflecting or casting any shadow on the pump cylinder. So they look to be separately imaged and composited in post or simply coloured in post via a Hue/Saturation layer.
- Looking closely at the multi pump images, you can see white highlights around the bulb, this indicates they were close-cut.
- The highlights are exactly the same on each one of the bulbs and bulb valves so I would say these have simply been duplicated.
- The "ring" is clearly close-cut, note the white outline, I would venture to guess this is an illustrated item.
- Notice the white highlight around the silicone base of the blue pump, right upper edge. This would not be evident if these were a group shot since the black pump would be interrupting the reflection.

So that was a quick dissection but doesn't solve your issue for the most part other than you may need to shoot them in pieces and composit them in post. I would approach this with an overhead light source with the product on a sheet of white plexiglass with a light underneath it(note the highlight on the under edge of the silicone base where is meets the plastic pump tube) if you want to duplicate the under light effect. Killing the base highlight where it sits on the surface can solved by adding a circular card, or for that matter adding the highlight in post. Adding additional reflector cards to the left and right front of the pump for edge definition. You will need to gauge your success with your eye at lens position. Adding black cards behind to the left and right of the pump should give you an edge to close-cut them.

 

[Butterman]

I believe you are dealing with composites in your example shots and there is either a significant amount of retouching or these are illustrations meant to look like photography. All plastic and rubber castings have defects or molding seams, there is none of this in any of the samples. The drop shadows are also added in post.

Why I say this:
- The single pump image does not show the reflection of the packaging which would be evident if it were standing next to it as shown. The pump hose and bulb are not reflecting or casting any shadow on the pump cylinder. So they look to be separately imaged and composited in post or simply coloured in post via a Hue/Saturation layer.
- Looking closely at the multi pump images, you can see white highlights around the bulb, this indicates they were close-cut.
- The highlights are exactly the same on each one of the bulbs and bulb valves so I would say these have simply been duplicated.
- The "ring" is clearly close-cut, note the white outline, I would venture to guess this is an illustrated item.
- Notice the white highlight around the silicone base of the blue pump, right upper edge. This would not be evident if these were a group shot since the black pump would be interrupting the reflection.

So that was a quick dissection but doesn't solve your issue for the most part other than you may need to shoot them in pieces and composit them in post. I would approach this with an overhead light source with the product on a sheet of white plexiglass with a light underneath it(note the highlight on the under edge of the silicone base where is meets the plastic pump tube) if you want to duplicate the under light effect. Killing the base highlight where it sits on the surface can solved by adding a circular card, or for that matter adding the highlight in post. Adding additional reflector cards to the left and right front of the pump for edge definition. You will need to gauge your success with your eye at lens position. Adding black cards behind to the left and right of the pump should give you an edge to close-cut them.

This is great advice thank you so much dude! I really appreciate it.

So looking into one of the left behind PSD files. The box is just perspective warped in PS from illustrator box art made by the design team. It seems that more or less every image I look more into on their site its as though he was using the camera just to get the shape of the subject then literally just paint over the entire thing in PS. That is not my forte whatsoever so I'm gonna have to figure that one out in terms of their look.

I'm going to use your techniques to try and get a good shot to use the item since I've been putting it off and moving onto simpler products throughout the week.

 

[JBPhotog]

This is great advice thank you so much dude! I really appreciate it.

So looking into one of the left behind PSD files. The box is just perspective warped in PS from illustrator box art made by the design team. It seems that more or less every image I look more into on their site its as though he was using the camera just to get the shape of the subject then literally just paint over the entire thing in PS. That is not my forte whatsoever so I'm gonna have to figure that one out in terms of their look.

I'm going to use your techniques to try and get a good shot to use the item since I've been putting it off and moving onto simpler products throughout the week.

Bear in mind that Illustrator can do perspective control too so as mentioned earlier, the packaging was likely completely rendered in Illustrator. I agree that the pump itself was retouched via layers in post production.

Good luck with the shoot and feel free to post your progress.

 

[Butterman]

This is great advice thank you so much dude! I really appreciate it.

So looking into one of the left behind PSD files. The box is just perspective warped in PS from illustrator box art made by the design team. It seems that more or less every image I look more into on their site its as though he was using the camera just to get the shape of the subject then literally just paint over the entire thing in PS. That is not my forte whatsoever so I'm gonna have to figure that one out in terms of their look.

I'm going to use your techniques to try and get a good shot to use the item since I've been putting it off and moving onto simpler products throughout the week.

Bear in mind that Illustrator can do perspective control too so as mentioned earlier, the packaging was likely completely rendered in Illustrator. I agree that the pump itself was retouched via layers in post production.

Good luck with the shoot and feel free to post your progress.

I'll absolutely keep the progress up to date, thanks so much again!

 

[Derrel]

SNIP>>>my sinister plans wereSNIP>to sell penis pumps to other photographers on the internet!

A sinister plan, indeed! LOL

 

[zulu42]

SNIP>>>my sinister plans wereSNIP>to sell penis pumps to other photographers on the internet!

A sinister plan, indeed! LOL

Does Leica or Manfrotto make one?

 

[Derrel]

SNIP>>>my sinister plans wereSNIP>to sell penis pumps to other photographers on the internet!

A sinister plan, indeed! LOL

Does Leica or Manfrotto make one?

I did a Google search for "Manfrotto penis pump"... Manfrotto DOES make a vacuum CLAMP..but not a vacuum cylinder for "male enhancement".

Leica allegedly (meaning, I heard this from a friend of a friend's uncle's second cousin's best friend) explored entering the product category in the mid-1960's, but the red dot company is known for its conservative approach. Leica management declined to enter the market for vacuum cylinders after an April 1, 1965 meeting in Germany, at a Howard Johnson's in Berlin.

 

[Butterman]

::UPDATE::

So after working there for a few weeks now and reviewing more of their website and deconstructing their PSD files it's safe to say that 75% of the products are illustrated over an existing photo for reference. The previous photographer was an expert graphics artist and would use the existing shape and paint over everything like an artist more or less. The only photos that are "normally touched up" (IE - removal of dust/scratches/throw in some fake gradients here and there, etc) are some of the non reflective/non-clear products. Everything else it completely painted over losing all information taken in the actual photo. It's much like a lot of the jewelry photography you'd see shipped over to India or China for retouching and your entire product is just painted over with the brush tool and gradients using the existing shape.

As for the clear tube of the pump its an illustration that is then set as a multiply later in PS to then become see through. As that sort of work is not my wheel house whatsoever, I'm trying my best to learn as fast as possible to meet their standards, but am also trying to swing the art direction to more of an in hand look preserving as much of the product as possible just being well photographed and cleaned up. It's been a stressful journey so far but we'll see where it goes.

Anybody with similar experiences please feel free to share. It's been worrisome as a photographer the last couple of years watching more companies becoming so much more reliant on completely fake renders and illustrations to advertise their products rather than anything similar to what you get in hand.

 

[Derrel]

an in hand look


lol

 

[Derrel]

Those Taiwan retouching houses offer low prices and quick turnaround.