As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been focusing on shooting product photography from home during the global shut down due to Covid-19. I would love to be working with ‘real’ clients in the the flesh, but we must be smart to protect our population.
So how does a photographer stay creative during this time when your niche generally works with people? I expand my creative mind! I started to look at YouTube videos as mentioned in the DIY Photographic Ideas post to see what I could create while being stuck at home.
I decided to started to look around for unique pieces around the house and collected them. I didn’t know what was going to happen during this experimental sessions, but I was happy to get my creative juices flowing.
Some of the things I learned while photographing was:
- There is no time limit – I was working with inanimate objects. They didn’t have anywhere to be or time restrictions in the studio. Go crazy with creative ideas.
- You have control – Again, you are working with still light and objects. Try things that you might not otherwise with placing your subject. The more you play, the more you will learn thus your skill will improve.
- Experiment with light – No strobes or flashes here. With this type of product photography, I used still lights. I made sure that the head of the light was connected to a long neck with 360 degree movability. I could slightly change the direction of the light to create different shadows and highlights, hence changing the look. Play with multiple lights. Have all on or just one.
- Add some colour – Do you have gels? Try placing a gel over your light source to flood your object with diffused tones. You will see in a future post how this can give a really retro look and feel to your image.
- No stopping now – There is so much more that I can do with this simple DYI light box for product photography. In the future, I plan on working with different backgrounds, developing a composite project, further developing original lighting techniques and may work with movement.
Keep your creative mind going. I may not be working with clients but I continue to explore with different types of photography. As I continue to work in this method, I’m developing a working portfolio that may help further successes in the industry in the the future.
If you want to see more of the work, check out our Facebook or Instagram page or stay tuned for more of our blogs with more image stories.
Do you want to see me photograph something? Do you have a suggestion of how I should shoot a subject next? Share with me your thoughts! I love feedback and want to bring more creative art to our readers, followers and clients.