Feedback improvements

I have received helpful feedback regarding my finalised product shot and I have made significant improvements following up to it. I made another DIY setup as I got rid of my previous one but this time I placed a piece of paper on the ceiling part and it improved my lighting a lot.

This was my setup before :

This was my setup after the feedback :

I took over 300 photos because I was constantly looking for slight improvements on my photograph but I managed to pick three and ask for some advice on them.

These are the three photographs that I had to choose between:

1

2

3

I decided to pick the first one as it stood out to my friends the most. It was more lit than the others and was centred. I then decided to change the exposure and contrast in CAMERA RAW for my edited piece and decided to do some tweaks on the line. 

EDITED : 

FINALIZED EDITED PHOTOGRAPH

UNEDITED : 

Final product shot?

Finalized Product Shot examples

I think for my final shot I will have this sort of setup, but I won't have the iPad showing and I'll turn the camera portrait mode so it doesn't look like it's on a DIY setup! although this perfume doesn't have a brand to it, I will try and make a logo on Photoshop! It can be my own little perfume that I have made which is fun :) 

DIY Set ups PART II

For my DIY Setups, I wanted the next photograph to be more professional looking so I tried a few different methods.

I stuck a few pieces of paper together to make some sort of background for my product shots because I wasn't happy with the result of only one sheet of paper in the background. I don't think I was happy with every photograph but that's just me, I wanted it to be perfect but it's different when you're doing this from home. I think I was just overreacting with how much I didn't like them but now that I look back on my shots I'm proud of the result. 

There's a few mistakes that I have made and I just didn't like how dark the bottom of the snowglobe was but I don't think I can fix that unless I do it in camera raw. I took a few other pictures of different perfumes but I want to keep them for the next time I post !!

Proposal for Product Shot

The clients that I am representing for my product shot assignment are men and women who are fond of universal perfumes, There isn't a company that I am representing as this bottle isn't associated with any specific brand. The product is a cologne which has a universal fragrance which can be used by anyone from the age of 25 onwards. This cologne has a specific smell that resembles a much older odour so my target audience is more of a mature crowd who are classy and have an elegant style to them. I would expect to see this advertisement online on perfume websites such as theperfumeshop and I would also like to see this add shown in department stores like Arnotts and Brown Thomas. The lighting I’m going to use to make this photograph look professional as possible is the 640 WS Einstein flash unit as I do not have an alternative white light lamp. The props I’m going to include in this photograph is a simple branch with a flower on it and an iPad screen that has a reflective black surface. I have a DIY setup which includes white pieces of paper on all sides which you will see in my setups. 

Finished Product - DIY SETUP

EDITED

 I made a copy of the photograph and I direct selected the perfume and the surface and made a copy of that, I used the eyedropper tool and painted the background black! This is the finished product for my DIY setup :)

                                                                      UNEDITED

DIY setup - Product Shot Assignment

I used my iPad screen to make a reflective surface for my DIY setup. I had a mirror that lit up white light and I tried to use that but the brightness didn't show up on the camera. I used the 640 ws Einstein flash unit as my back-up light. The final picture needs editing and cropping but I'm happy with the result. I used a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV for my camera with a SIGMA 50mm lens. This isn't my final product shot as I will be messing with more reflective surfaces and filters in the future. But it's a good start!

For my props I just used some wool hearts that I found lying around the house as I wanted some sort of "valentine" theme for my Creed Perfume. The target audience for this photograph is aimed for women who try to live "luxurious lives".

Proposal and Research / Product Shots !

Alcohol advertisements have always intrigued me since I was little whenever I watched TV and witnessed an advertisement. Alcohol looks extremely fresh and pristine, it doesn't look like it's going to taste bitter and it makes you want to buy it even if you've never considered drinking alcohol before. I find these advertisements to be extremely aesthetically pleasing, especially when the product shot is mid-pour or it's all about the ice cubes and how perfectly clear they are as if they're made for the drink. This product shot has a nice coorelating background that is the colour as the whiskey itself and it gives a nice rustic feel to the photograph. A reflective black flooring adds a nice little touch to the picture to make it less boring. These are the reasons which I picked this photograph in general!

I picked this product photograph because It's very minimalistic but it gets the job done. Black backgrounds are sometimes hard to deal with but I like how it's simplistic and the reflection makes it a bit more appealing. I also like Nutella so this product shot is A1 :) The three different Nutella jars add a bit of a story to the brand itself and even if you strip away the wrapping, you still know what it is.

I wanted to pick a product shot with a landscape background. I like the positioning of the flowers and how fresh it looks which is the cleansers job! I like how the brand incorporated the flower and you can see the background is covered with them even though it's blurry. The packaging itself looks boring but the advertiser done a beautiful job making it look attractive and appealing.

Playing around with Camera RAW

BEFORE :

AFTER: 

Camera RAW is so helpful if you want to quickly edit a photo that you took. I use it all the time whenever my photo doesn't look its best. As you can see in the after picture I made the picture a bit warmer and intensified the black on his hoodie. There are endless possibilities in camera raw and the recent tools I have learned about gave me a better understanding! I didn't even know you could remove pimples on the skin until now.

Headshot Assignment - Different types of Lighting positions.

BROAD

BUTTERFLY

LOOP

REMBRANDT

SPLIT

Portrait Assignment - Messing with the Lighting!

In our lab exam we had to make sure how the lighting in the studio worked. I was really nervous at first and I kept hitting the button once on the lights which was so stupid of me and I realised afterwards, it was humiliating but this is the finished result! I'm extremely happy with how it turned out because there's no shadows or anything and my picture didn't turn out dark at all. Thank god it's over for now :)

Image Production - Playing around with Photoshop

I attempted to do a "Glitch" on one of my portrait shots. This is a Broad portrait shot! 

I stumbled on a website which you can download photos of high quality and I edited one of them! I used skills that helped me throughout my time in the labs. 

This is supposed to be a "Pop art" type of piece. This is another portrait shot I took which is supposed to be a "Loop".

This is a picture that I took that has been on the blog previously and I edited it in a way which the Moon hits his face at just the right amount. I included some little transparent stars :)

I used the direct selection tool and made sure the hair fit perfectly in the background and this is the result. 

Portrait Photography - Headshot Assignment

Photographers name - Phillippe Halsman
Person - Salvador Dalí. 

Expressive, Curious, Mysterious, Magical, Shocked, Frightful, Strange, Bizarre, Weird, Secretive, Compelling, Captivating, Humorous, Simple, Alarming. 

Working with Flash - Lab 3

In this photography lab we had to work with different types of external flashes. External flashes can be very intense and it has different types of settings which can minimize the intensity of it. On this photo you can't even tell that I took it with a flash. I looks like i'm in a fairly lit room with white lights. Here you can see the difference between external flashes and internal flashes built in the camera. I had a lot of fun playing around with flash photography.

Here we see an external flash that isn't on the camera, but beside the subject. It is connected to the camera which creates really cool dark and shadowy effects on the subject. The room we were working in was completely dark with just the flash clicking on and off when it was other peoples turns. This type of photography is really interesting and I am looking forward to experimenting with it in the future.

Natural Indoor/Outdoor Lighting 3

You can see the difference with the light hitting the subject with the reflector unlike the previous one I posted where the diffuser was hitting her. I have never worked with the diffuser before and It was really interesting to see that such a small piece of equipment can do so much :)

Natural Indoor/Outdoor Lighting 2

I really liked this picture, it looks like an album cover or something. In this part we were working with different angles where the light hits the model. We didn't use the diffuser until we went outside. I took a picture in the same spot while she turned in different directions.

Natural Indoor/Outdoor Lighting 1

Our model for today Lauren really enjoyed the massive amounts of wind. We had a very hard time trying to stabalize the diffuser that we were working with. This picture turned out okay, the sun was going down which was a shame so we had to hurry up.

Flash Photography 3

I can't believe I got the chance to take a photo of a famous Youtuber AND Tiktoker as of recently. I was playing around with the settings of the camera and I managed to get this shot. I like how the flash focuses on him while you can still see the background. 

Flash Photography 2

He's trying to smile but deep down he's thinking about Lil Peep. RIP. I liked how the flash didn't make his face too bright, it just looks like we're in regular lighting in a closed off room. 

Flash Photography 1

Our model for today caught off guard, he went blind after this. I like the effect this photo has, It's not too bright nor too dark. I was getting the hang of things after this photo. Flash photography seems difficult but after messing around with the settings you get pretty good photos captured.