When on YouTube, I searched youtube videos about commercial photography. Commercial photography is a big part of me having my own business as I need to photograph, video, be able to edit and design posters, leaflets, business cards, banners and more. Therefore looking up useful tips and tricks about commercial photography and editing is extremely useful to me as I have only ever done it as a hobby until now meaning it is essential I have the understanding and knowhow.
The video shown above was not actually too useful for me. I got to see some of the equipment and layout and setup that the professional uses and has however, he did not talk me through it and explain his equipment. This is also irrelevant to me because I am on a budget and are unable to afford this equipment however, it would have been useful to see his setup if he had shown it.
This video shown above I personally found extremely useful. He took a basic photograph of his product with a white background that looks a little grey, and was able to turn it into a really nice, professional looking image using Photoshop. I definitely learnt a lot from watching this video as it showed me how to create the look I was going for which is professional. It is creative as the yellow background matches parts on the shoe, however, for my official shop website, I am looking for the background to be white as the customers and not looking for creativity or distractions when wanting to buy a product.
Next, to really enhance my knowledge of Photoshop, I spoke to one of my new tutors. He specialises in Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects and he loves editing. He also has experience in it also. I spoke to him about the professional, natural look I was going for, for the products and he sat down to help me. He taught me the difference between colour balance and hue/saturation. The real difference between playing about with hue and playing about with colour balance is that the hue and saturation can get a little messy. Sometimes it can make the photo look over edited which is not always a good thing. For what I want, to put the images on my website to sell, I want the images to look as natural and clean as possible so just slight lighting corrections, saturation, colour, contrast, levels, maybe add in shadow and highlights or curves, is the only things I really wanted to be changing. My main area of editing for these photos is the background as the background on my photos have come out very dark and grey looking. I think with the tutorial shown above, I can easily change this.
I tried playing about with the colour balance as my tutor had said and this really worked for me. I think always having a backup original image is a must and then having several other layers with different effects on really worked for me. I experimented with curves on one layer, saturation on another layer, levels on another layer which brightened my image a lot and finally colour balance. This brought all of the necessary colour back into my photograph but in a more subtle way that doesn't change the whole image too much. I then decided to turn multiple layers on and use the blending modes like overlay, soft light or lighten to combine the layers more. This allowed me to combine the multiple effects on each layer, into one in a nice subtle way without losing the bright background or the colour in the products. This is something I will definitely have to practice more but it is also something I am very interested in doing. I like how the starting image can be completely transformed into something new by just using Photoshop. If I wanted to take my time more with the images, I would use the lasso tool to cut out the image and add in my own background, shadows and highlights. This would take a lot of time and dedication which would be a challenge with the project deadline.
With this information, I wanted to gather another quick understanding of what each tool does in Photoshop just to refresh my memory after not using the program for a while.
The website link is shown above, it just gave me a quicker view over each tool and what they do. Shown below are just some of the things it talks through and teaches you. I found this extremely useful and less daunting as I have not used the program in a while. With my tutor's help also, I was able to feel at ease when editing my photos and getting the looks I wanted.
The video shown above was not too beneficial to me, by her thumbnail, it looked like she was going to teach me a lot about commercial photography and how to get the perfect image with a low budget setup. This is the information I want to be taught but when watching the video, she mainly showed you how to create this setup. This is not what I wanted as she used products like a glue gun which is not cheap meaning I could not follow this setup if I tried. I think her setup looks really useful but after buying all of these tools to create it the way she did, I might as well just buy my own cheap setup rather than buying the tools to make it.
This video shown above, I thought would have been far more professional than it was. There was only a few views and likes meaning it wasn't too popular, but, with the way she has laid out her products on her backdrop, I thought she would have been more experienced than it looks like on the video. The video was filmed by her phone it looks like so it was hard to pickup what she was saying. Plus, I already have the setup I want, I would just like to pick up more tips and knowhow of lighting.
The video link shown above was the most beneficial to me. Even though the man was photographing a bottle not bath bombs and products suited to me, what he was teaching me about lighting and commercial photography, really helped me a lot. He showed me that as long as I have a white backdrop which I do, I can create the long I want.
The tutorial showed me how the slightest little lighting movement, can change the look of the whole photo. Whether you want a light at the front and back of the product to minimise shadows, or whether you have the light on top to create a halo, or even have lighting at the sides to create a shadowed effect. It is all down to the look you are going for. I personally would have the lights in the same positions that this man had them in as I would like my shadows to be minimised but my products to be bright and eye catching. I like the idea of having the halo and lighting at the top to create a focal point on my photograph. I will definitely be referring back to this video as he taught me a lot of tips and tricks for lighting and shadowing. I also liked the idea of how he had two main photographs from the shoot and combined the layers together which is what I have been practicing in Photoshop. This gave the right highlights and colour he wanted.
The white and black product table I have seen on amazon is around £150. It is big and wide enough for me to photograph products, however, I have no money. So, my backup plan instead of buying this table right now is to buy material instead. In the Pentagon in the Chatham town centre, there is a material shop upstairs called Fabrics. I bought a big roll of black and white in their which I will iron and stick to the wall in my kitchen. Either than or I will tape the material to a big box so it looks like an endless background. This will work as I have tape, material and boxes from the empty's of the products from the business. I may also invest into a little photo box that you can buy off of Ebay with material. It will only need to be small as the products are small. I will then make a reflector from a piece of cardboard from one of the boxes and I will tape screwed up tin foil to it to reflect light. Finally, I will use ordinary spot lights, use this tutorial to be able to create my own soft boxes for the lights and that will be my temporary setup as I do not have the money to spend on equipment. I have a Nikon D3200 with 4 other lenses at the minute, I would later like to upgrade my camera to the D7100 and have two flash photography lights with a hot shoe adapter, a couple of big product tables and have my own photo studio with rails on the ceiling for different lights but that would be far in the future as I have no money. My cheap setup I think is good enough for now just to get my business up and running. I have a tripod to stabilise my photos also which would be good for my back when bending down to the products. It will also keep the camera still and stabilised so there is no movement.
This link shown above is another YouTube tutorial about how to create the perfect lighting to photograph. It showed me the before and after images when using a soft box and it showed me exactly how to create one. This was extremely useful and cheap and is something I would be able to afford when I buy cheap lights. This is something I am looking into creating for when I use normal spotlights as I think they will really transform my images. As well as having a better camera for two SD card slots and the ability to connect a hot shoe adapter to my lights. My photographs will come out much better. At the current moment I am just using natural lighting outside with my little white backdrop I made from material and the box I bought off of Ebay.
The images below are the photo box I purchased for my temporary photographs while I am not at college. I cannot always fit into the photo studio when it is booked out or when I leave college as this is my last year, therefore, this will be a starting point for my business.
It comes with a light strip at the top of the box and a white and black material as a back drop. The light unfortunately does not work but it is a cheap box so it did not surprise me. I am still using the box even though the light does not work, as I am using natural lighting or spot lights that I am shining through the sides or back of the box. The box sides and back acts as a diffuser for now.
It is doing the job and my photographs are not coming out bas at all. I am only at the starting point of my business so having cheap and affordable equipment is the best way to start. I can always brighten and enhance my images on Photoshop for a lighter and better look which is what I am currently practicing.
Shown below is the before and after effect of one of my photographs using this light box, my Nikon D3200 camera, no tripod, a 18-55m lens and natural lighting. I like the angle and the positioning of the products and the depth of field. Brightening up the background and products a little, really makes all the difference. I may still edit this photograph and make the background even white by using the lasso tool but already, I can see a big difference that Photoshop has made. The only problem with the light box is that there is not much room to photograph different angles and perspectives of the product, you have to move the product a lot for it to stay within the background and you cannot photograph from the top.
I watched this YouTube video because I found that it fits my project a lot more than the other potential videos that I have watched. The man creating the video has his own bath bomb business and he also does all of the photography and media for it. I do not like the images he has produced and put on his website too much as I think they look very rough around the edges. I think he could of spent a lot more time editing his images for a better outcome. However, he has taught me a lot about what I can research and what would be helpful. He told me to look more into my camera and make sure you know everything about it including the settings because this can affect your images if the settings are wrong. I agree with this as each camera is different so you would need to know a lot about the camera you have itself. He told me also that I should concentrate on getting or creating a light box as it is crucial to diffuse the light so it is not so harsh on your products. He taught me that all the relevant pieces of product or information should be shown. If the packaging is important and shows off your business, then the packaging should be shown, if the colour and patterns are on the side of the product, then this is what should be shown. It doesn't matter if they are all arranged differently, as long as it fits the scene of the product and looks pleasing, it doesn't matter if some are on their sides and some are not. Lastly, he said that experimentation is key for a successful image. Take lots of photos and always remember to save and make backups incase something goes wrong and always look at them on the computer as they could look completely different than on the camera.
This video I found the most helpful video that I have watched so far. Even though it is based for food photography, the principles and settings remain the same. The video link shown above where the man photographs bath bombs for his business, says that food photography is the best videos to research as they are more than likely to be photographing half cooked or cold food. The principles and settings are very similar meaning food photography is easier to research as their will be more media and videos on it than specific bath bomb photography.
The first principles that the lady goes through for taking her photos is lighting. She says that natural lighting is the most important because it has a really nice colour and warmth to it. Most lights either have a really warm temperature in colour to them or a very cool tint to them. With food photography or bath bombs, it is best to try and get as much natural lighting as possible as this is the most attractive. A lot of photographers like it when it is a really cloudy day because the sunlight gets diffused. The same reason as to why photographers may buy or make soft boxes, it diffuses the light making it softer and less harsh. On a cloudy day, the clouds diffuses the sun so the light comes from everywhere rather than a directional light. Depending on the look you are going for, you may want a harsh light with shadows for your photo but if you want a more subtle look, a cloudy day or a diffuser is the way to go. Another way to diffuse the natural lighting on a bright day is to hang a bedsheet or thin material on your window when you shoot. This softens the directional light.
The next principle to strongly think about is the angle or position. The angle or position can really set the tone and mood of the image. It gives the photograph a whole new perspective and can make something look interesting no matter how boring the subject is. The lady in the video uses either the top down angle or the straight on slight angle to shoot the majority of her photographs.
She then went on to discuss styling. Styling, organising and arranging the products and props in the scene, creates the whole look of the photo. Even though she is photographing food, this relates to my project because I am also trying to create the same professional looks for my website and social media pages. These principles relate to how I could make my photographs look a lot more creative. She said to get more creative, you could add some materials maybe fabric or wood as a decorative feature. If the product looks good tot he naked eye then it is going to look good on camera. It is important to make the images you take, look as best as they possibly can because they will only look better when editing. The editing should look natural and enhancing, it is the image that needs to be as good as possible as it is the base. If the base is not good then the editing cannot make it look better.
For the camera settings, the three main areas you need to know about are the ISO, shutter speed and aperture.
The ISO controls how much or how little light gets let into the camera making the image dull or bright, I like to keep the ISO at around 200-400 as the higher the ISO, the grainier the image.
The shutter speed controls how fast or slow the camera takes to take the picture. You may want to take the image fast if you want a sharp image or you want to capture something moving very fast or you may want to take a long time to take the image if you want to capture light trials.
The aperture changes how much is in focus. Either in the foreground or in the background. This can be really beneficial to you if you need multiple objects or for me, bath bombs in focus rather than just one in the foreground.
To summarise my technique research for photography, I believe that it has helped me develop my project because it has allowed me to understand the lighting, setups, settings and backgrounds needed for commercial photography.
I have learnt that as a beginner, soft boxes and diffusers are the best way to light your subject area that you are shooting. Spotlights are very nice and bright but usually they are either tinted yellow or tinted blue and give lots of shadows because the lighting is too direct. With a added soft box to your light, the light comes from everywhere and no longer has a tint or direct stream of light to it. Because professional lighting and soft boxes can be very expensive, this YouTube tutorial shows me how I can make my own light diffuser that acts the same as a soft box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyxzC5kqbyw
The man in the video talk to us about how you can put a white sheet, paper or material of some sort, in front the light that acts as a diffuser to shield the light a little more, eliminating any tint or harsh direct light. This information was really useful to me as before watching the video, I had no idea just how important lighting is for photography and commercial photography. Here are the before and after affects using a diffuser.
As you can see with this image seen in the video compared to the images shown below, this image has much darker and harsher shadow lines whereas the images shown below, do not have so much direct light but more white light that comes from everywhere. This was using a home-made diffuser that they made themselves but that really works. This can be made with almost any white material that allows light to shine through, it just makes the light less harsh and directional.
These images are might brighter, they look like they don't have a background, and they have less tint to them. The better the photo is at starting point once done the photo-shoot, the better the images will look once edited as they can only get better.
Next in terms of technique research, I have discovered a lot more about camera settings. I have never used the manual camera setting before so this is very new to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChZc1m31K8Q This link shown on the left, really helped me understand the basic of camera settings and techniques because it gave me a rough understanding about what settings I should be adjusting and how I should adjust them. I learnt about the ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. Even though she was a food photography, as learnt from the previous YouTube video, food photography is the best to learn from for commercial and bath bomb photography as the techniques are very similar. This video further taught me about styling and lighting also which is something important to think about as you want your product and images looking the best.
The second video I analysed at the top, taught me about how I can effectively edit my photography using Photoshop in a really easy manner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlnyTPhII60 This is the video that has inspired me the most within my editing stages for my photography because it allowed me to find another way of enhancing the photographs rather than just increasing the saturation, levels, curves and contrast. Doing these features to the image area great as it really brightens up and brings out the vibrancy of the photographs however, it can sometimes make the backgrounds of the images worse by adding shadows and making the background darker. By selecting the product and making it a different layer, it allows you to edit the product separately to the background where you can then delete the background and either make your own background with another image of grass or outdoors, or a solid colour where you can also create your own highlights and shadows.
After researching this photography technique, I also found out about the colour range tool in which you can select all of the background and change the colour or make it brighter without touching the product.
This video shown above helped me through my editing stages because it taught me step by step how to insert an image into a shape in Adobe Illustrator. I needed to learn this technique while I was creating my logo for the business as this was my initial design, putting my own photograph in the back of a circle as the base of the logo. This video helped me learn this technique really quickly, efficiently and easily. I will definitely refer back to this video in the future if I ever forget how to do this.
To conclude, I believe my technique research has been very useful because it has allowed me to gather new techniques and knowledge on camera settings, styling, lighting and editing. This has boosted my confidence with the camera and photography shoots as I now feel I am able to take semi-decent photographs with the knowledge I have just gathered.
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