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Other Lessons

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Basic Portrait Indoors

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Basic Product Shot

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Basic Product Up-Close

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Glamour Shot
with the HalfDome2

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Olympus C-740:
Depth of Field Portrait

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Olympus C-750:
Basic Start-Up

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Olympus D-560:
White Balance Indoors

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Olympus E-1:
Basic Start-Up

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Olympus E-1:
A Closer Look

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Panoramic

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Resolution

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Shooting a Basic Headshot

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Techniques for Shooting Jewelry

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Two-Dimensional Artwork

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Simple Tricks for Consistent Portrait Lighting

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Soft Lights for Dramatic Results

The car above is a BMW 700 series sedan, but you can't drive it because it's only 8 inches long! With the help of a good digital camera, some basic lighting equipment, and a little photo editing, this photograph comes very close to looking like the real thing.

Product photography can not only be a great selling tool for your small business or auction items, but it can also be a lot of fun. This lesson walks through the steps taken to create this image and also demonstrates how to create dynamic detail shots using depth of field.

(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.)

Before we began building the shot, we activated the built in flash of the camera and took a snap shot similar to what you might find up on eBay. Built-in flashes can work well in low light situations or to serve as a fill light outdoors, but rarely does this type of lighting lend itself to studio photography, as it tends to render objects as flat and dimensionless.

To compare the difference between this result and our final result, we've placed the two here side by side (figures 1 & 2).

As you can see, the effect of each image is very different: one looks like a cheap model car while the other looks as though it could be a shot from a real car ad.

To start, we first rolled a 4-foot wide sheet of white background paper onto a curved shooting table and placed the car at a slight angle. We set up our Medium Starlite Kit and positioned it 3/4 overhead to render a soft shadow under the car.

We first made sure that the All Reset function of the camera was turned off and then mounted the camera to a tripod, set the Exposure and Focus modes to Manual, set the ISO to 64 (its lowest), set the Resolution to SHQ, and made a Custom White Balance setting to match the color temperature of the Starlite Kit.

We set the Aperture to f/2.6 to create a limited depth of field, focused on the front of the car and took a shot
(figures 3 & 4).

Notice how the f/2.6 aperture setting has made the back half of the car in out of focus. This helps to draw the focus to the front of the car. Reviewing the result, however, we realized that the car still looked like a model car because our perspective was different from how we would normally view a real car.

So, we lowered the camera angle to a more even level, refocused, and took another shot (figures 5 & 6).

The result was better, but now we wanted to make changes to the lighting. We wanted the background to be much darker to create more contrast to the shot. We wanted the car to "pop" forward so that it would look more three-dimensional.

So we took the SilverDome soft box off the LiteStand and placed it on a Boom Stand so that it would be directly overhead, and angled it slightly forward to keep the light off the background.

Without making changes to the camera, we took another shot (figures 7 & 8).

The result was greatly improved as now it had a much greater sense of depth. Notice how the windshield is much more apparent than before. This is due to the reflection of the soft box overhead.

The shot was very close now, but the left side of the car seemed a little dark. So we set up a Small Starlite Kit and positioned it to the left side of the set and again, angled it slightly away from the background (figure 9).

This time we took two shots. We wanted to compare different depths of field, so we took two exposures: the first at f/2.6 @ 160th of a second and the second at f/8 @ 1/25th of a second (figures 10 & 11).

The results reveal a different look to each. Figure 10 brings the attention to the front of the car, while figure 11 renders the entire car in sharp focus. Remember, there is no "correct" shot here, only alternatives to different looks.

At this point the car looked pretty real. To enhance the image a little more, we copied the f/8 version to the computer, opened it up in Adobe Photoshop, and digitally "turned on" the lights. For a more in-depth look at this and other digital processes, visit www.webphotoschool.com (figure 12).

THE DETAILS

Next, we decided to create some detail shots to more effectively demonstrate the fine craftsmanship of this model car. We pulled the Small Starlite Kit Small Starlite Kit out of the set and moved the camera in closer toward the car. We opened the hood, focused on the engine and took two shots: the first at f/8 @ 1/25th of a second and the second at f/2.6 @ 160th of a second (figures 13, 14 & 15).

Notice that everything in figure 14 is in focus, whereas in figure 15 your attention is drawn straight to the engine. This technique is particularly effective when you are trying to draw your viewer's attention to a particular detail.

Next we spun the car around, closed the hood, opened the trunk, and took two more shots at the same settings (figures 16 & 17).

As a small business owner or auction seller, these tools and techniques can be very valuable to you, particularly on the web. For instance, there are many more details and features to this model car: the car doors also open, the steering wheel moves the front wheels, and there are even odometer and rpm gauges. The more you demonstrate on the web, the more interest you will receive.

Remember to experiment with these techniques and most importantly, have fun!