Learning from Video

I watched two 1 hour tutorials on F-stoppers about composition and lighting. Here is what I gathered from watching:

When viewing another person set up a product shoot, you can really notice all of the equipment it takes to make one little thing look its best. One of the tutorials I watched took place outside and featured Joe McNally with a model holding a product. The point of the video was to show how combining natural and artificial light can create a nice effect while still "shedding light" on the most important part of the image, the product.

He was shooting into the sun to create the natural flare effect into the camera and had to somehow light the front of the model and product so he brought in one reflector and a main key light to create the light he needed. This type of lighting setup aims to make the model or subject look at crisp as possible while still having the natural feeling of the sun setting in the background. The photographer has to pay attention to the light meter in the camera as they are setting it to get the ambient light of the sun and not completely light the subject (the lights and reflectors do that).

In this tutorial, he also focused a lot on the composition of the photograph. He completely cropped out the model's face and only showed the hand holding the product. I believe this put more emphasis on the product rather than the person and would give consumers the ability to place themselves within the role of person. By taking away the complete identity of the model, McNally allows for viewers to understand the context in which the product should be used and lights it to create a calming effect that coincided with the colors of the product.


The second tutorial I watched had to do with lighting a product in the studio. This one was much different from the first because it dealt with only using artificial light and it took out the inclusion of humans in order to sell the product. McNally stated that this type of photography is mostly used when adding images to sites to sell because it shows the products in harsh light and doesn't allow room for the imagination, which is the point. This is used to simply show the product exactly how it should look when you receive it, given consumers peace of mind when purchasing.

He used a table with white paper overtop, bounce boards and strobes to achieve the look he was going for. The table acted as a simple backdrop for the products while the bounce board down in front of the product was used to shift light from the key back into the product. By doing this type of lighting setup, you can really achieve crisp and clear images because it allows you to bring up the shutter speed on the camera. The faster the shutter, the more sharp the images look and that is exactly what you're going for in product photography. Even though these inanimate object wouldn't shift or move like a person would, a high shutter is always favored.

The composition of these images were much more simple as the shots were only composed to show the detail of the product. His camera stayed on a tripod the entire time and the shifting of composition came from moving the products themselves around on the table. This showed all of the angles of the products while showing details as well.


The second tutorial will come in handy for my next project where I will be shooting a game product for a colleague so I can't wait to put what I learned here into action.