Occasionally I will do food shoots that have a theme, the theme of my latest photography shoot is the Mediterranean style food photography in Bury. Using a wooden pallet and painting it blue has done most of the work. To help the look of the photography I did use a food stylist who prepared and brought props. It really does make a difference to the photography using a stylist, it is an extra expense but it is worth it.
I used a mostly window light to create a natural look and feel to the images, this image was also made into a gif which shows the step by step process to make this dish. If you are looking for food photography please get in touch and we can talk about your image needs.
Thanks,
Phill.
Hello,
I have worked on these still life images recently in Manchester and I want to show them on my photography blog. There’s not many specialist still life photographers in Manchester which is good for me. It is a specialism that not many photographers have mastered, these images are of the electronics company Russell Hobbs. It’s one of their toasters which is obviously red. The material is glossy which makes for an appealing look with the right studio lighting. This toaster has an accessory which can be seen in the photography below, it’s called a ‘bun warmer’, it comes with nearly all toasters that are sold in Europe but not in the UK. It is used to warm buns and croissants, most people who see these want them in the UK too.
Glossy and shiny products are a technical challenge but when your a photographer with lots of experience then it isn’t much of an issue. I used a photography technique called ‘focus stacking’, this is where the photographer focuses on the front part of the subject, then takes several shots focusing in different areas of the product to build up a very sharp still life image.
This image is being used for the front of the packaging which means it needs to be a high quality product image. Once I have worked on the post-production side of this still life shoot the final results speak for themselves.
The camera used was a Canon 5DS R, Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 lens, Elinchrom flash studio lighting.
Many thanks,
Phill.
Hello again,
I am showing some images that I created this week. These product images are from a shoot for Remington electrical company, these products are part of a series of hair care products called ‘Silk’. The black material has a unique silky effect which has it’s appeal and differs from other hair care products. The idea was to show these two products together as they are being offered as a double package. The main image is a normal product image with some quality studio lighting skills to make the products look premium and glossy.
When photographing these I shot them upside down to hang them from a fishing wire. All images I create are cut out using Photoshop and other editing to polish the products are also done using Photoshop. The other image with these two products shows them in a location setting using a table dresser as the main prop, this was also shot in a photography studio. Often is is a good idea to shoot studio images and location images on the same day if you have the ability to, these images will be used in e-commerce websites and for other online marketing needs. With Remington using these images they will also be used around Europe and other countries could also use them like USA and Australia, the brand has a lot of impact worldwide and they also share their assets.
I hope you enjoyed this weeks photography blog update.
Phill.
Hello,
I am showing some photography work that I completed recently, it is a location product shoot in Bury for Black & Decker. The set is a large kitchen setting, ideal for the products which are a new set of toasters and kettles. The difficult part is controlling reflections of the highly reflective materials of the products. The other difficult part on a shoot like this is balancing the flash lighting with the ambient light from the light bulbs on the walls and the daylight coming in through the window.
Something that makes these images look appealing in the clean look, it’s simple and the depth is created by the background falling into out of focus leaving the products are perfectly in focus. If your business is in need of a location product photographer feel free to contact me and we can chat about your image needs.
I hope you enjoy my photography blog update, if there is a topic you would like to hear about please let me know.
Thanks,
Phill.
Hello,
I have been working on some studio jewellery photography this week and I wanted to talk about this on my blog. I was sent the ring by a new business, the ring and the box are both high quality products which is very helpful when it comes to close up marco photography. There can be all kinds of issues with jewellery photography, the first problem being the ring or item itself. Often the product can be poorly made which means fixing the product in post-production, or the quality of the product can be fine but it has marks or scratches which also need to be removed.
Other issues with photographing rings is there size, they are small and shiny products which does mean there is going to be some technical issues. Photographing some items is an issue because as the photographer brings the camera close to the subject and takes a shot, the product has a lot of DOF (depth of Field), which means there is a small amount of the image is in focus, most of the image is out of focus. There are ways to get around this and the best option is focus stacking. Take multiple images at the same angle, changing the focus point on each shot, then in Photoshop or some other software combine all the images together to create a high quality image.
The issue when photographing shiny objects is it acts like a mirror, everything near the ring can be seen in the reflection on the surface of the ring. It is an area of photography that only experienced photographers should attempt to get the best results.
Once all the technical difficult aspects of photography are out of the way then there is just as much difficulties to work on the image in post-production. Almost every aspect of the ring is changed and improved, highlights are added, dark edges help to separate the product from the background. Hours of work goes into creating one image.
The result I aim for not to over used Photoshop, keep details from the original shots taken which helps with a realistic look.
I hope you liked reading about my Jewellery Photography, if you want to know more or want me to blog about a different area of commercial photography then please let me know.
Thanks,
Phill.
Last week we completed two commercial photography shoots for our new client ‘HRS’, they make security systems for airports and for construction sites, building sites etc. They have software products and also a hand scanner, finger print scanner amongst another products to help security at sites where numerous staff are coming in and out of the sites.
I was asked to take studio photography images of there products for our first shoot, I took the staff to the photography studio that I use which is in a great area of Manchester. It is the center for most of Manchester’s creative community and is a great place to work from. There is only 3 products to shoot but HRS asked for several angles of each product, there was some challenging aspects to taking photographs of the hand scanner, the surface area where the hand is placed has a reflective surface which has a rainbow shine which at some angles is overwhelming. To solve this issue I used different lighting techniques and picked the best image to use. The final image was a combination of 3 photographs to make up one final image. It does require advanced post-production skills but this is something that we do on a daily basis as commercial photographers.
I hope you liked reading about our commercial photography work, please make requests if you want me to blog about any type of commercial photography and I will get back to you.
Thanks,
Phill.
Hello,
Today I want to show some of my new photographs. I was contacted by the client called ‘Exigere’ based in London. They have a new office and are currently expending, they needed corporate headshot photography of all the staff (30 in total) and images of the team working in the new office. I started the day by setting up the studio equipment, lights, camera, tripod in a office room which is where all the headshot were to take place. It wasn’t easy because the room was small, and it took a little bit of time to find the best angle for the corporate headshots.
The walls in the office were white which is a big help to any photographer, I could bounce the flash heads off the walls which creates a soft light which has alot of coverage, spreading light over the subject and across the room. My camera setting for this are F11, 1/125th sec, 100 ISO. Once all the photography equipment was setup I asked the staff to come in the office room a few at a time, this is so they can have a laugh with each other and take away some of the tension that people can have when they are asked to pose for a photographer. This process did take a long time because the staff do have a job to do and couldn’t be there the minute I was free.
Once all the staff had successfully had there corporate headshots taken care of I would use a telephoto lens to sit back and what the staff working at there desks, taking photographs of them from time to time. Again I was able to bounce lights off the walls, this photography commission was a long day, 8am until 6pm. The clients appreciate the hard work and are very happy with the results. The new website that has been built for them combined with the photography has really improved the look of there business. Exigere are happy which makes me happy.
Thanks for reading,
Phillip.
Hello everyone,
Phillip Pilkington – Bury Photographer. I wanted to do a show and tell of one of my images. It is of a puddle which I have made into the shape of the UK using Photoshop and my retouching skills, it takes a lot of work to create an image like this and I am going to reveal how it was made.
The first and most important part of this image was to have the concept before starting to take images, having a vision of what you want to create and that if all goes to plan it will be a successful image is so very important, when making this I almost gave up as I became concerned it would not work. It took around 7 hours to retouch in Photoshop and I used 5 different images to create it. I used my Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II medium format film camera, I shot it using slide film and scanned in the slides to my computer.
I took shots of different puddles which had different shapes, I did this so I could cut out small pieces and drop them onto one chosen puddle image from which to build on, using layer masks I could blend the pieces into the main image, the final result is a subtle shape which was my intention, I wanted to include Northern Ireland but I knew that another puddle next to this one wouldn’t look the best. One of my images of puddles had a wet leaf in it and I thought that it would work well.
When I showed the image to others, even to other photographers, they would ask me “how did you find a puddle in that shape” well I didn’t but I shows that the image works so well, deceiving even other professionals is a great accomplishment.
The image won a photography flair competition held by Creativematch website. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
Phill.
Hello again,
I am going to chat about the image that is on all of my photography marketing material. It’s an image of to wooden hands touching, it is made to be recognized for referencing a famous painting by Michelangelo ‘The Creation of Adam’. Its a post-modern technique which is to use concepts that are already well known and to re-use them, sometimes it looks like a straight copy and other times it looks like a clever reference which makes the viewer feel intelligent when they get the reference.
I took the image on a large format digital camera, I took several shots of the hands in different positions which were later imported into Photoshop. I cut out the wooden hands and dropped them into a graduated grey background. It was a simple image to produce but very effective, this image is more about the concept and aesthetics than anything else.
I wanted to show off my Photography skills but also to show that I can do more than just technical product photography but conceptual photography too. I have chosen to use the image in my marketing material as it symbolizes beings connecting to each other which is the reason why people want to use photography for business, it connects to the viewer, photography can reach out to an audience in a way other mediums can not. I hope you like to image and Phillip Pilkington’s commercial photography. If you do then please leave a comment.
Thanks for reading.
Hello,
I am starting a blog for my photography website which is a premium commercial photography in Bury, Manchester and other areas in the Northwest. I hope you enjoy looking at great photographs or learning what Phillip Pilkington Photographer does as a business.
I will start with an image which is what my business does best, premium product photography. Its a white background still life image of a gaming headset, one thing which makes the image premium is the lighting control used to enhance the look of the product. This is created by using carefully positioned reflectors and studio flash heads very close to the product itself. Other studio flashes are used to light the background.
Once the lighting has been perfected and the correct exposure has been worked out, then its just a matter of pressing the shutter and the shot is finished, well the first step is finished, next the image is processed and uploaded into Photoshop where the magic happens, the post-production of the images improves the look of the image greatly. The image is cut out so the background is an even white, the levels are checked and any blemishes are removed. This image has had a lot to tweaks to the top of what is the head band, it has provided with a smooth and consistent look which helps make the product look slick and stylish.
I hope you like reading about product photography as I have a lot more images to show and to talk about. Until next time.
Phillip.
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