Commercial Photography

Commercial photography is a very wide net to cast. However commercial photographer have one thing in common-they are being paid for taking that photograph. They are commissioned by someone to create a certain image, whether it's a company who want photographs for their ad campaign or an editor who hires a photographer for some photojournalism. Sometimes they're glamorous e.g. a fashion shoot, sometimes...not so much (photographers are paid to take pictures of  a crime scene for the police therefore it is considered commercial even though it doesn't fit in with the stereotype people often attach). It is named commercial photography because the photographer is paid not because it is a style used to SELL, SELL, SELL! 

What is thought to be typical 'commercial photography', often called commercial advertising photography, is a very popular style.There are many commercial photographers although some really made a name for themselves such James Nader, a London photographer who has been commissioned everywhere from Italy to New York. He mainly specialises in fashion, beauty and advertising. Here is a sample of his work...

Each of these photographs have a unique composition and even a unique style but all commercial advertising photographs have one purpose and one purpose only: to persuade the consumer to buy this product. So whether its jewellery, doughnuts or make up the same principles apply.

So after researching some commercial photographers for inspiration, I took the leap and started experimenting myself. My aim was to produce something dynamic, crisp and something that would look, by recognition of the style, to be commercial advertising photography. Obviously, I would never have the resources (or the patience) to create anything remotely close to Nader so I was prepared for it to be not as professional looking but I did want to see if I would be able to produce something with a similar style.

Started off with a white background for that slick and clean look! I experimented with many different subjects (all inanimate objects I'm afraid) but didn't quite find what I was looking for. They tended to look like ordinary still lifes instead of something for an ad so I carried on changing angles and changing lighting. Here are a couple from the glasseas campaign I as commissioned to do :) ...

I actually quite liked these photographs however what really bugged me was the hinge showing in the top left-hand corner of the left lens. Also when the shadows where cast they tended to be very distracting. I ended up giving up on finding an angle that works after I started tearing my hair out. As I was looking at the glasses frame in the images it occurred to me that to get the smooth and sleek look, you need to start off with a smooth and sleek subject...literally. I needed something smooth the light would just delicately bounce off. With the glasses frame in these photographs I felt the sleekness I was looking for so I set off to find a better subject.

That is when I came across the Olympia camera with the 50mm lens...love at first sight! Took it to the studio and started to get a feel for the texture and the way the light reflected when it hit the camera's surface. This is a diagram of the lighting I used. Note how the soft box in the top left-hand corner was considerably brighter in order to cast a shadow (See photographs below)

Once I had figured out how to light the camera I needed to figure out how to photograph it; I was happy with the composition it was merely a case of finding the correct viewpoint/angle. Here are some of the errors in the trial and error process...

I must admit this was one of my favourite images however I decided not to use it because I kept getting a reflection in the lens. I could have retouched it later however I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it look believable. Also the Olympia logo isn't showing well so it wouldn't work well as an ad.

I felt this angle led to the image being too confusing...I felt funny when I looked at it too long. That's the beauty of this angle I guess.....

With this photograph I felt that there was too much emphasis on the lens and not the whole camera so I felt it didn't work as well as some of the others.

Finally, I was able to capture the photograph I wanted and here it is...drum roll please...

I felt this one had just ticked all the boxes, including an obvious logo and the all-important sleek and smooth look. A criticism I had was the small black lump thing on the left had side of the camera (can't quite figure out what it is now...hm...). It's quite distracting and perhaps a slight change in angle would remove it! Also looking back now I wish I had taken the photograph from a slightly lower angle to show a little less of the lens. Other than that I'm quite happy really :)

Photographing Jewellery

I found this one of the hardest styles to do well and I still think there is much to be improved. I found it difficult to get the lighting right and flatter the jewellery at the same time. They just ended up looking quite clumsy because the composition was awkward and also the fact that it was zoomed in so far made it difficult for me to make the photograph interesting...hence the clumsiness. Also I think that because I was using a 14-42mm lens (which incidentally is the only one I  have that fits my camera) it messed with perspective and I couldn't get close enough so I had to use digital zoom (ech!) and the photographs came out funny...again hence the clumsiness. Unfortunately, I had clocked onto the lens problem much later on so I haven't had a chance to do another shoot although it is definitely something I want to try again...I guess its just a case of borrowing a camera and macro lens! 

In judging the photographs, my thought process was this...I would look at the photograph from two perspectives: the photographer and the consumer. 

First I would look at the technical aspects. Is the composition good? Is the exposure good? Is it in focus? Is the lighting correct? Is there glare? Does it need editing or cropping? blah blah blah!!! There always seemed to be something I could improve on. 

Then I would try and look at the photograph objectively and ask myself "If I saw this in, say, a magazine or on TV would it want me want to buy this product?" If the answer is no, I'd wrack my brains trying to figure out why and more often than not the answer was "I dunno know....I just doesn't seduce me like it should!". This ends with me trying many different combinations of compositions, lighting and angles. 

Anyway...here are some of the photographs I have been ranting about...

My problem with this photograph is that one earring has the correct exposure whereas the earring on the left is slightly overexposed. however when I angled it like the other, the composition just didn't work as well!

With this photograph, my issue was the reflection in the ring which is something I had a  problem with A LOT! Also a little bit of glare on the left :(

 I really enjoyed taking photographs of the watch however I wasn't able to do it in a way that includes all four numbers-it just looks strange when some of them are missing...or half missing!

My main problem with this photograph was glare-the light bounced off these bracelets like CRAZY  (note to self...do not photograph anything with glitter!).But I was able to solve the problem by reducing the light on the left and adding another light on the right just to ensure that the bracelets are well lit.

Technically speaking, I really liked the composition of this photograph-it took a while to find the right position for the bracelet and the lighting and exposure were great however my problem with it would be as a consumer in the sense that the bracelet itself wasn't very 'fabulous!' however it was a very interesting piece to try.

This photograph was not one of my favourites. Mainly I think because of the composition. It looked very awkward and I found this piece perhaps the hardest to photograph because of the shape of the stones. It was difficult to extenuate the shape whilst keeping the earrings well lit as well as avoiding glare! A way to light it properly would be to use a few more low intensity lights and decrease the one already being used to give a nice even lighting brightness whilst avoiding glare.

I then looked at some professional jewellery photographs for some inspiration at which point I came across a British commercial photographer called Tony May. I looked at some of his images and I noticed he tended to use a completely white background which made the jewellery stand out more (see right)

I then decided to try not placing the jewellery on top of something and decided to combine it with this technique we were taught using another light and a biconvex lens...

Using a biconvex lens in combination with the light source produced a colour spectrum which was projected onto the white table below the subject so the effect becomes the background. As the light passes through the lens the light is refracted an the colours separate producing this effect. Even thought is technique is still very different from the very crisp and clean cut style of jewellery photography Tony May has adopted I think that the use of the biconcave lens does add a certain something special so I think it works well. However if I were to improve the photograph I would ensure that when the spectrum is projected onto the white table, it is more straight because I think it would look better than the angle it is in now. Also I would perhaps exchange the transparent plastic because it has some scratches on it.