Products and Portraiture with Sophie Traynor #2.1

Blog one part Two

27/01/2022

Discussion and workshop with University of Huddersfield year 3 photography students

Background lighting

Shadowing is often a client preference. Background lighting can be done with any tools depending on what aesthetic the client is looking for. Traynor experimented with silver reflective boards, black cards, and a water bottle to show the difference. Traynor goes on to say, "There's no right tool to use as long as the product is light correctly." The key rule to product photography is understanding how light travels through things. When this technique has been mastered the art of lighting can be used to correctly highlight products using objects such as water bottles and onto more professional replacements.

Product Photography Nail Varnish

Final result camera settings: 1/125 sec, 100 ISO, F18

When working with multiple products layout is key. Having two of every product works well to show alternate angles, for example, having one nail varnish upright and one lay on its side. The trick to keep these products from rolling around is white tac, especially on white backgrounds. Live view on capture one is a great tool to have when positioning products as it allows the photographer to gain an insight into how the final image will come into the piece. Altering software lighting to 0.4 as told by Traynor allows the photographer to see every detail before altering to correct camera settings. Dead space is a good thing if requested in brief for magazine and text inputs. However, if this is not required rethinking the layout and making some micro-adjustments to the products is essential. When shadowing products overlapping shadows can often look rather heavy to avoid this mistake altering the layout.

Portraiture photography

Traynor worked with volunteer, Tess King using camera settings 1/125 sec, 100 ISO, F/8.

Traynor started off with the initial standard portrait using a blackboard on one side and an octobox on the other. Traynor removes the grey background by adding light to the back at 60 to bleach the background. When working with portraiture the main tip for facial expressions is for the model to relax and slightly open their mouth, head tilted to the front shoulder, and hair positioned behind the shoulder exposing the neck area.