The great folks up at creativeLIVE produce new learning experiences for photographers, designers, illustrators and more. Their plan of delivering focused, intensive learning that is student centric instead of geography or school centric, is bold and, I think, disruptive.
There have been many workshops at CL involving photographing people. I did my introduction to Lighting Essentials workshop in early April, and we did a lot of cool setups with people shots.
However, they noticed that I also like to shoot inanimate objects and cool things. Still life and product.
And they also know that I think the ability to shoot some product can help most emerging photographer’s bottom line.
So they invited me back in June to do a new kind of workshop. A product and still life centric workshop. It will be the first on CL, and I hope you join me for a very exciting “Introduction to Table Top Product Photography” weekend.
Still Life and Product is one of the mainstays of commercial photography.
Some shooters prefer it, some do it was as an ancillary part of their work, and some, like me, love it for its various intricacies and detail. I flat out have a blast when I am shooting product and still life.
And the subjects rarely have attitude… ya know?
Craig and Kendra asked me to come back to do an introduction course on Product and Still Life photography for those photographers who want to learn how to do it, want to do it better, and want to add the discipline to their services.
The other cool group that will like this workshop are the various artists and creators out there who make things for sale. Whether you are an artist at Etsy, or a jeweler selling your work online, or a fashion designer making accessories, the ability to make decent. well lit and composed product shots can add to your bottom line.
We start out on Thursday, July 21 with a half day introduction to the INTRODUCTION course. We will cover the basic lighting tools, and lighting itself – especially as it is being used for table top and still life.
The next three days will be devoted to bringing you up to speed on shooting product. From cosmetics to bottles, electronics to sculpture, we will look at the many different ways to light and produce the best product photography you can make. And being able to make good product shots can create very good opportunities for the emerging photographer to make some income.
People need their products to be photographed… from simple drop and pops to far more stylized product shots, there is work to be had in this genre.
This photograph was taken for my second book for Amherst Media, and shows how lighting can play a huge part in making images of rather mundane objects.
This product shot of potpourri was shot for a catalog, and was used on their website as well.
Catalog Shot of Potpourri for a catalog for a fragrance and candle importer
The client was a very high end builder who was known for the ‘hands on’ old craftsman approach to their work. We used antique building tools to illustrate both the history of the company and the story of the craftsmanship.
Triptych of antique tools for a craftsman brochure
A jewelry company had me shoot these “black sand” Hawaiian inspired silver jewelry pieces for a catalog/online sales site.
Hawaiian inspired jewelry for a catalog and online sales website.
Sometimes the simplest items can be quite complex. This shiny, colorful iPod boom box has lots of special challenges to the lighting.
This shiny, colorful iPod boom-box presents several challenges to the product photographer.
Photographing glassware is both tricky and fun. From reflections to color to keeping the glassware perfectly clean, shooting still life and product photography can be very zen-like.
Stemware for an importer.
So I hope you join me on creativeLIVE, June 21, 22, 23, 24, 2012 for a full on, exciting introduction to shooting product and still life.
Cue the video…
