My Go at Stock Photography

garboui · Jul 22, 2008

Here are some pictures that i came up with playing around with light boxes. The apricot and knife picture were done with nothing more than some printer paper taped together in a makeshift light box; the lighting was provided by a desk lamp and computer monitor. The coffee and salad one were done in a larger diy light box. The lighting for the coffee was almost all natural exceot for the adition of one flourscent lamp. The salad used the flourescent lamp and my 20D's built in flash, diffused with a card of paper proped up between the lens and flash.

C&C about the pictures is very welcome as i may be using these as samples to show a small buisness owner to shoot some product for her coffee shop and is something i would like to get better at as a side buisness (hopefully). Because of this i have been sticking with pure white backgrounds because the pictures will then be used by a graphic designer friend of mine to create the sinage with. Now less talking and on with the pictures.

(EXIF tags are still attached)

1.

2.

3. For this one i know i should have clamped the aperature down waay more than i did. My biggest problem though was with lighting and trying to minimise that light reflectionon the front of the cup.

4.

Rachelsne · Jul 22, 2008

nice try, good make shift light box too! I think the first picture may be a little soft, the last pic you would have benefited a smaller aperture, as part of the salad is in focus and part not. I like the colours in the salad.
Nice pics

garboui · Jul 22, 2008

thanks,
yeah i know the first pic was a bit soft but that was solely a limitation on the lens that i was using for that one.

as for the salad pic i do have another exposure that was done at f22 but when looking at the two pictures side by side the shallower DOP one just looked well, ummm... tastier

cdanddvdpublisher · Jul 22, 2008

the one thing that might come back to haunt you on the salad photo - which i like a lot, for what it's worth - is the shadow in front of the bowl. for the most part, a lot of microstock sites get really picky about that

Meysha · Jul 23, 2008

Hey. Nice go at these.

Although, it seems as if the light is coming from behind all the objects and it gives weird shadows on the front as if I'm peering through trying to see the object, if that makes sense. Also try some without the soft box. Shadows are ok, and will sometimes make your object pop more. And if an artist wants they can just cut the shadow out.

I think with your depth of field, it's either not enough or too much but it's not quite right. Use f/2.8 or f/16.... but probably not much in between.

Otherwise the pics are fine. Content wise, and I dunno how much control you had over it... but The salad isn't very interesting for a salad. And the coffee is in a cup that has cappuccino written all over it but it's a black coffee... with yukky bubbles in it.

But again, you can't always choose what you take pics of.

garboui · Jul 23, 2008

thanks for the C&C so far guys, definitely have some valid points on which i can advance my technique with. Keep the comments coming!

meysha, although the subjects are not directly backlit it may be the result of the flash reflecting around inside the light box. i think i may try putting some cards in front of the camera down low to try and even out the shadows. Though i still like a slight bit of shadow as it adds some seperation/depth from the white. as for my DOP i am really only limited at f4 with the lens' that i have currently. yes i know the subject matter may be a bit boring or contradicting to itself (the coffee), or the drab salad but i was more or less shooting my own meals through out the day to get the technical aspects of things tweaked a bit better.

here is a couple more from yesterday. i decided to try and make a bit more interesting this time to shooot.

1b.

2b.
in this one I desaturated the blue a bit to make the plate less of a subject in the picture; i think it helps a bit.

no sharpening was applied to either of these two photos unlike the previously posted ones.

craig · Jul 24, 2008

Excellent! You have a strong command of photography. Beg, steal, or borrow to get your hands on real lighting and you will have it made.

Love & Bass

SimplyMo · Jul 24, 2008

garboui said:
2b.
in this one I desaturated the blue a bit to make the plate less of a subject in the picture; i think it helps a bit.

quote]

if i may just add one thing.. i must agree...i think desaturating the blue of the plate was 100% the right move.. there is a significant difference from the two pics (both having the same plate).

Meysha · Jul 24, 2008

Desat blue is a great idea! Looks really good.

THORHAMMER · Jul 26, 2008

I like your food stuffs the most, nice DOF, and thats the way there shooting it nowadays for the festive food anyways , nice stuff

dklod · Jul 29, 2008

the shot of the coffee, maybe its the label on the cup, but I would have it in focus, not the coffee itself. just a personal thing.

cdanddvdpublisher · Jul 29, 2008

the second set of shots looks good as well; i'd just consider the possibility of a sharper focus in both shots; the salad looks great but the wrap sandwich is off sort of thing.