The Bauer Gallery was charged with giving a modern twist to a classic item. The lovable teddy bear. We decided to make a movie outlining the process so that you could follow along and see how it was done from beginning to end.
We even made a video for you to watch!
Teddy Bears 2.0
One of the most fun you can have as a product photographer is setting up the scene and knowing that what looks like a mundane room and a questionable set can end up producing something pretty awesome. That is certainly the case with this teddy bear product photography shoot. We used a variety of non-standard objects like a Diet Coke can, a floodlight as a Plexiglas stand, a table standing in as a tripod base, and probably any number of other things that are improvised during a shoot with gaffers tape and creativity.
Product Photography in Video Form :)
What type of photo is it going to be?
The first step in creating the photo for a product photography shoot is to determine what the goal of the photo is. Is it to display on the web in a shopping cart? Is it a leading image on a website meant to entice someone to purchase, or is it a product photo that’s going to go on the side of the box in a retail environment? All of these situations are going to demand a different type of photo.
- The shopping cart photo is meant to be clean, simple, and professional looking. Give the customer a large unobstructed and unmodified view of the product so that they can make the safest buying decision possible.
- For the leading photo on a website, you want something eye-catching.. Something that will keep the user on the site and entice them to learn more about your products. It can certainly be more bold than the shopping cart type photos but it has to be something thats going to play well on the web, too. Remembering your medium is always an important aspect to the shoot. Photos that are going onto newsprint have a completely different set of requirements than a photo going into a glossy magazine.
- And the final type could be the side of the product’s box in a store. Because retail boxes are almost always produced with an offset press, you must keep in mind the differing color palette that those processes use. Taking an awesome photo that is completely out of gamut for the printer is useless. Your photo could become a muddy mess when it’s time to actually make the product. This is another example of being mindful of the medium in which your photo is to be used.
The Setup
You can see the double reflection below the bear
Our photo today will be the leading page type of photo. This means that we have a maximum on creativity and a minimum on representing the product in an everyday kind of way. Because we have a little freedom, we decided to take it low key and use some colors that a typical teddy bear consumer would like. Setting up the Plexiglas to use as a black stage is an old trick I learned from the legend Dean Collins and his glorious 80′s mustache. We initially used two pieces of plex to minimize the flex but it created a double reflection so we had to ride with one and hope it didn’t bow too much.
We set the background up and quickly realized that the cloth we had so carelessly tossed aside months ago had wrinkles in it. Mix that with our hatred of ironing and it leaves us with a choice. Use the concrete wall or use a big piece of black PVC. We chose the PVC. Smooth even light would look great with the reflections. The concrete would have been a little too industrial for us.
Main light and Hair light set up
Once the main light and the hair light were setup (main light camera left and hair light behind the scene camera right and pointed back, we could work on positioning. We positioned the bear to get a catch light in both eyes as a dark eye is akin to a dead eye. And we wanted as much life in the bear as we could muster. With the positioning out of the way we just have to adjust the camera height and angle to keep any lights from reflecting off the plex and into the camera and be sure that we’re not going to catch any of the edges of the plex in the scene. It’s a tricky dance and usually requires more Plexiglas than you think. But you can see the result is a nice photo that could lead on a front page with the reflection being masked off since a horizontal image is usually desirable for the web
We hope you enjoyed the write up! And of course, if you need to have some of your products photographed, you can fill out our contact form to inquire about specifics or if you’re ready to book a shoot with us, you can fill out our booking form with your date and project details!
