product in field shots

[lotusflower007]

Well, You guys are some very talented photographers. Love the work I've seen.

I am a graphic designer, and I am trying to produce some usable photos for my company. I will be using these images in layouts, and as of now we really don't have any good field photography... I was pretty happy myself with these shots. I thought that for spending a half a day, with a Nikon D50 that can't seem to focus worth a dam, and a tripod, and photoshop they came out good. My boss said that they quote "sucked"
..nice... my response was "buy me decent equipment, and I will take a better picture"

So I would love to hear feedback... how to improve what I can do with the equipment I have. or what equipment do must I have?
Are they really that bad, that its a "dont quite your day job" or is it a "your on the right track, just do ...."?
thank you

 

[Turbo]

You want to show the products in their work environment...but you should still make sure the eye is drawn directly to the product. Try to fill more of the frame with the products rather than the stuff in the background. You're not trying to sell antique tools, so maybe try a more modern look....I don't like the sepia.

For the first shot, I don't like the cluttered engine bay. I'd use a different car, maybe get hold of an enthusiast. I would want a good looking high performance motor in a clean, distraction free engine bay. Do you want the photo to say "Good enough to lube up your mother's Subaru!" or "Good enough for 1000 horsepower worth of american iron!" I think a high performance motor will imply that the product performs well.

Just my two cents.

 

[lotusflower007]

You want to show the products in their work environment...but you should still make sure the eye is drawn directly to the product. Try to fill more of the frame with the products rather than the stuff in the background. You're not trying to sell antique tools, so maybe try a more modern look....I don't like the sepia.

For the first shot, I don't like the cluttered engine bay. I'd use a different car, maybe get hold of an enthusiast. I would want a good looking high performance motor in a clean, distraction free engine bay. Do you want the photo to say "Good enough to lube up your mother's Subaru!" or "Good enough for 1000 horsepower worth of american iron!" I think a high performance motor will imply that the product performs well.

Just my two cents.

thanks for your feedback!!
That's a great idea. So as I am new to this, I realize that the shoot really needs to be planned out to get a photo that they want.

 

[robertwsimpson]

I agree with Turbo. At the very least, get someone who doesn't park under an oak tree every day.

the second one is way too busy. for this kind of product photography, I might consider messing around with some vignetting so that the audience's eyes are drawn directly to the center of the photo. I'm not sure if it would work or not, but depending on where you're putting these photos (literature? website? white background? black background?) it might!

 

[Dwig]

I agree, in general, with the previous posts. Two more comments:

1. The engine compartment shot would benifit greatly from just a little fill. A small, somewhat harsh light, small flash perhaps. the add a few key highlights, much like catchlights in eyes, to better define the shapes of the black objects. This shouldn't be bright enough to cast any significant shadows.

2. Be cautious about judging the composition until you actually put it into a layout if the proposed layouts will place text or other objects on top of the image. An image that looks perfect by itself has, by definition, absolutely no space of any additions (e.g. text, logos, ...). An image that does have areas for text and/logos won't look quite the best without them. If these are to be general use images, in house stock images, they should be framed loosely to allow various cropping to accommodate each different use as they occur.

 

[lotusflower007]

I agree, in general, with the previous posts. Two more comments:

1. The engine compartment shot would benifit greatly from just a little fill. A small, somewhat harsh light, small flash perhaps. the add a few key highlights, much like catchlights in eyes, to better define the shapes of the black objects. This shouldn't be bright enough to cast any significant shadows.

2. Be cautious about judging the composition until you actually put it into a layout if the proposed layouts will place text or other objects on top of the image. An image that looks perfect by itself has, by definition, absolutely no space of any additions (e.g. text, logos, ...). An image that does have areas for text and/logos won't look quite the best without them. If these are to be general use images, in house stock images, they should be framed loosely to allow various cropping to accommodate each different use as they occur.

great advice, thank you that makes a lot of sense.

 

[lotusflower007]

I agree with Turbo. At the very least, get someone who doesn't park under an oak tree every day.

the second one is way too busy. for this kind of product photography, I might consider messing around with some vignetting so that the audience's eyes are drawn directly to the center of the photo. I'm not sure if it would work or not, but depending on where you're putting these photos (literature? website? white background? black background?) it might!

- I had to google vignetting - and yeah that's a great. I can easily pull that off in photoshop.

 

[LearnMyShot]

Yes, I agree, move in on your subject. Then put a white card above and out of frame over the object and bounce a light off of it to open up the shadows.....In photoshop make everything B+W except your product....the boss will be thrilled...he just wants to see his product.