Product photography lighting workshop, Sunday 17th August

Garry Edwards

Garry Edwards

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Garry Edwards
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As per the title, Lencarta will be hosting this workshop at "Lencarta Towers" in Bradford, for the benefit of TP members.
It will start at 10 a.m. and finish when it finishes, not later than about 5 p.m.

It will take the form of me setting up and photographing various types of products.
Attendees are invited (encouraged) to bring something along to light and photograph - it can be any kind of product/still life subject, and the more variety we have, the more challenges we can overcome.

As I don't know how many people will be attending and how many, or how complex, the various subjects will be, I can't guarantee that we will be able to cover every subject, but I can guarantee that we will cover as wide a range as possible.

This will be as hands-on as possible. If you bring something along to photograph then you should also bring a camera so that you can get a shot of it on your own camera, but generally it will be me who does the photography, we'll get more done that way.

I'm not sure how many people we can accommodate but I'm thinking at least 15.

Still life/product photography is, IMO the most technically challenging genre there is. It's easy to take a photo that shows what something looks like, but much more complex to produce a shot that shows the unique benefits of that product. And it isn't something that people find easy to learn on courses, and pretty much all of the online tutorials and videos I've seen are worse than useless...

So there you go, it's an opportunity to learn how to improve your lighting. And of course the lighting and compositional principles are universal, they don't apply only to still life shots. All I need right now is an expression of interest, we can sort out details later.

One small problem that needs to be mentioned - I will need everyone to arrive on time and at the same time, because for obvious reasons we have security here and we need to open the security gates for people just once, if possible.

BTW, it's free.
 
Aargh would have loved to come but I'm away on holiday :(
 
paulminus273 said:
I would very much like the opportunity
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Big Andy said:
Hi Garry, could you add me to the list please.
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Added.
BTW, I should have mentioned that everyone who is interested in this subject is welcome - it doesn't matter whether or not you have any previous experience in this field.

When we get nearer to the time we can sort out exactly who is still in for it so that we don't waste spaces (assuming that we get more people than spaces) and I will also post the details.
 
Garry, I'd like a place too please.

If there are people from afar staying overnight I could maybe arrange a meet on the Saturday too, possibly for the media museum or something to shoot locally? If there's interest I'll put up a separate thread.
 
If only it wasn't so far north :(
 
domino1999 said:
If only it wasn't so far north :(
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It isn't, we're right in the middle, exactly half way between London and Edinburgh:)
Some poor misguided people have travelled from Ireland, New York and even further - one came from South Africa once
 
Me please :) Cheers Garry (y)
 
Please add my name Garry.


Edit: if anyone local has a bit of floor space I could kip on Saturday night that would save me leaving Norwich at 5.30am.

.
 
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Right, so far we have
Paulminus 273
Big Andy
Phil V
Trev 4
Hoppy UK
Photo Si
Patrick O
 
Garry Edwards said:
It isn't, we're right in the middle, exactly half way between London and Edinburgh:)
Some poor misguided people have travelled from Ireland, New York and even further - one came from South Africa once
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Anything over a 2 hour drive north counts as "north" to me :p Although I'm really tempted, my wife is working that weekend, so I'm on "look after the kid" duty unfortunately.
 
Garry, can I put my name down as definitely interested but re-confirm a bit closer to the date? It is a fair trip in my case and there are still few things that might change.
 
=ReBeL= said:
Garry, can I put my name down as definitely interested but re-confirm a bit closer to the date? It is a fair trip in my case and there are still few things that might change.
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No problem. This far in advance, I'm only asking for expressions of interest rather than firm commitments. People will be asked to confirm much nearer the time.
 
Right, so far we have
Paulminus 273
Big Andy
Phil V
Trev 4
Hoppy UK
Photo Si
Patrick O
Rebel
Cargo
Bassit
Matt9581
Blythman
Diving Pete

Room for just 3 more, assuming that everyone above is actually going to attend, which is unlikely as, at this stage, these just just expressions of interest.
 
Jonathan Abrahams said:
wish there was something like this down south! Does anyone know of any free lighting workshops nearer london?
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With the greatest possible respect, and with all due modesty (OK, I'm not modest at all) :)
If you can find anyone like me running something similar in the London area, just do it, whatever the cost within reason. I have my own reasons for doing this for free, partly altruism, partly the fact that I'm getting paid anyway (by Lencarta), partly because I want to help the next generation of photographers to develop and partly because I have more work than I can handle and so aren't afraid of training people to become my competition - but why would anyone else want to do something like this for free?

There is always a cost to learning; some of the people who will be coming are travelling greater distances than you. This one is on a Sunday but most of the occasional learning opportunities I offer are on weekdays, and people give up a day's work to attend. Most of the stuff that costs nothing (online tutorials and YouTube videos) are worth what you pay for them...
 
Garry Edwards said:
With the greatest possible respect, and with all due modesty (OK, I'm not modest at all) :)
If you can find anyone like me running something similar in the London area, just do it, whatever the cost within reason. I have my own reasons for doing this for free, partly altruism, partly the fact that I'm getting paid anyway (by Lencarta), partly because I want to help the next generation of photographers to develop and partly because I have more work than I can handle and so aren't afraid of training people to become my competition - but why would anyone else want to do something like this for free?

There is always a cost to learning; some of the people who will be coming are travelling greater distances than you. This one is on a Sunday but most of the occasional learning opportunities I offer are on weekdays, and people give up a day's work to attend. Most of the stuff that costs nothing (online tutorials and YouTube videos) are worth what you pay for them...
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You forgot "thoroughly nice bloke" (y)
I'll be making a 300+ mile round trip and I'm sure it's worth it.
 
Thanks Garry, but I think its perfectly feasible that someone else may also be kind enough to offer their services for free just like you. As an aside, I do value the cost of education and have paid for many studio lighting courses to strengthen my skills and even enrolled in a short university course.
 
James83 said:
Any spaces left?
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In theory, we now have 15 and so are full up.

But as these are only expressions of interest, it's almost inevitable that some people won't attend and we will have spaces.

So, we can now start a reserve list.
 
That's fine Can you put me down on the reserve list please :)
 
Sorry Garry but I need to drop out as I unfortunately have to attend a christening now.

Thanks anyway, and hopefully I can make it to another in the future!
 
Big Andy said:
Hi Garry, can you give out the post code of the location please.
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Yes, BD3 9TR

I'm planning to make a detailed post on Monday.
 
It's with some regret that I have to drop out Gary. This is due to unexpected family commitments that I really have to give priority to. I wish you and everyone who goes an enjoyable and instructive day. Hopefully I can make the next course if you run any more. Cheers. Trev
 
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It's just a few days away now, so it would be good to finalise the list, which now reads as follows but is likely to change.
Paulminus 273
Big Andy
Phil V
Hoppy UK
Photo Si
Patrick O
Rebel
Cargo
Bassit
Matt9581
Blythman
Diving Pete
Macey J
James 83
Bella Smith

So, we're full and everyone on the reserve list (to date) now has a place.
Can people now confirm or otherwise that they will be there?

And here are the details:
I thought it might be a good idea to post them here, as they may be useful to people who aren't taking part.

Product photography, general principles


1. When we photograph products, we do so to increase sales of that product by making it look as attractive as possible, and to show as many benefits of the product in one shot as possible. Typically, we will take several very different shots, showing closeups etc., but the objective is always to get a ‘main shot’ that attracts the potential customer. If the customer isn’t attracted by the main shot then the other shots won’t be looked at. The main shot is always done first, any detailed shots follow the main shots and can often use exactly the same lighting, only the camera height and camera angle needs to change.

2. The sequence of events for photographing a product shot never vary, it is exactly the same as for any other type of shot. The sequence is

a. Identify what the main features/benefits are

b. Position/compose the subject

c. Decide on camera distance (lens focal length must be adequate to provide a fairly natural perspective)

d. Decide on camera height

e. Lighting. Lighting always comes last because, although it is arguably the most important, even the smallest change in any of the above elements affects the lighting tremendously, so it always has to be done last.

f. Minor techy details – depth of field, exposure, white balance.

3. Camera. SLR or DSLR cameras are ideal for most product photography. Some specialised subjects really need a monorail camera, where we can distort the image as required and shift the plane of sharp focus (Scheimpflug principle)but this is too specialised for this workshop. Compact cameras are usable provided that they have full manual control, and produce more depth of field, but are limited in terms of image quality and can’t be used at small apertures.
4. Lights. We will be using flash because it’s easier, but continuous lighting is also perfectly acceptable as long as it produces true, consistent colour and as long as various modifiers can be used with it. Obviously, as Lencarta is hosting this event and as I use Lencarta equipment anyway, we will be using Lencarta lights – but the make doesn’t matter, all that matters is that the lights have a full range of power adjustment and that the light they produce is consistent, which generally only rules out the cheapest ‘junk’ makes.

5. Specialised equipment. Pro product photographers use focussing spotlights and Fresnel spotlights for some jobs, and although, with care and skill, other tools can be used instead of them, bodges aren’t time efficient. Honeycombs are used all the time, to avoid flare and concentrate light, and there are no substitutes for them. Every other type of lighting modifier that we will be using is general purpose, i.e. softboxes, umbrellas and beauty dishes.

6. Accessories and bodges. Blu Tac, cinefoil, masking tape, lighting gels and gaffer tape are vital accessories and are used constantly. A boom arm, a reflector or two and lighting stands of various heights are equally essential.

7. Flash meter. I tend to use a meter to measure the overall exposure, but unlike many other people I don’t use one to determine or set a lighting ratio – I don’t work to lighting ratios, I work to visual effects. I generally only use a meter to take a final reading, back to camera.

8. My approach to lighting. I always start with one light, even if I “know” that the shot will end up with several. The main (or key) light is the one that will usually do 90% of the work, and that’s the one that I start with. I then add other lights (if necessary) to either mitigate shadows caused by the key light or to add light in areas as required. Each light is added individually, and I get the effect of that light right before adding the next light – it has to be done that way, otherwise I won’t know which light is solving problems and which light is adding problems.

9. The lighting objective. Light is used to create form, texture and shadow. The fact that the lighting also produces enough light for the required exposure is secondary at best.

10. Hard light or soft light? Given that we want to produce a striking image, we tend to go for the hardest light that works for the subject and is within the gamma range of the camera. Soft lighting is for beginners and Ebay sellers J

11. Depth of field. As a general rule, we try to get the whole shot in focus although, as always, there are exceptions to this. The reason that we try to get sharp focus front to back most of the time is that, with most subjects, the background is simply too close to put convincingly out of focus. Therefore, with a full frame digital camera we usually shoot at around f/16 (f/11 on a cropped sensor camera). A smaller aperture than this is likely to start to create diffraction limitation, which results in an overall lack of sharpness in the shot. One noticeable exception to this ‘rule’ is when photographing food, we normally use a large aperture to put part of the shot out of focus. This style of photography probably owes its popularity to the fact that very few photographers have, or know how to use, a large format camera with movements, so they make a virtue out of necessity.



The format of this workshop.

1. I intend to start off by explaining and demonstrating the basics principles

2. We will then see what we have available to photograph, and although, if everyone present has brought along a subject of their own, it is unlikely that we will be able to photograph everything in the time available, the intention is to deal with all of the different lighting challenges presented by these different types of subjects.

3. We’ll start simple and gradually introduce more sophisticated techniques, as appropriate to the different lighting challenges.

4. (probably) most subjects can be shot on a product shooting table. We will have two of these available, the intention is that I will be working on one but another one can be used by other people, and I will interfere and criticise as (I consider) appropriate, we will get more done that way.

5. Anything messy, involving perhaps water or a fog machine, will need to be done at the end, as it will create problems if we mess up the studio too much too early.

Food.
There are some food shops locally but I can’t recommend them and suggest that you bring along something to eat. We will stop for a short lunch break at 1 p.m., this is carved in stone as I have type 1 diabetes and need to eat at the right time.

Other boring details.
Address:

Lencarta Ltd
Unit 3A, Mohair Mills
Gibson Street
Bradford BD3 9TR

Mohair Mills is at the far (eastern) end of Gibson St and there are double gates that should be closed. We need everyone, if possible, to arrive at 10 a.m. so that I don’t need to keep popping out to open the gates. I will only have 1 or possibly 2 other staff members here. Drive through the gates, turn left and park. We will finish when we’re done, probably about 5 p.m.
 
Garry
I need a 'whisp' of smoke for my planned shot. Is the smoke machine overkill? Is there something better I might need to bring. I've never shot 'smoke' before. (It's to simulate CO2 escape from a bottle)
 
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