Product photography

I get lots of requests for help from people who run website or small Ebay Internet businesses. They basically want to know what equipment they need to get to do better product photography. There is a lot of competition. The big firms are able to afford to pay the prices asked by the most successful photographers. Smaller outfits try to find ways of conserving capital by doing work for themselves..

What is meant by product photography? Consumer magazines are full of photos ranging from large objects like cars, boats, houses, interior furnishings, electronic gadgets, power tools, gardening equipment, and on a smaller scale, phones, watches, clothes and bottles of perfume. There are many other categories that I've missed form this list. Trying to find one photographer who is a master at photographing all of these categories would be very difficult indeed. Photographers tend to specialise in a narrow range of activities for which they become known.

If you want to investigate whether its feasible to do some of your own photographic work I think its best to spend some time thinking about some very practical problems. Do you have enough space to devote to photographic work? Obviously its hard to generalise here but the man that sold signage for directing drivers around public car parks will need a lot bigger space than a man who sold antique Japanese swords. Space can be an expensive commodity if its underused.

Another type of customer has done some holiday photography and thinks skills can be acquired merely by spending a lot on the proper equipment. Sometimes, this may be true. I have a pen that is better than anything Shakespeare ever had but I still can't write as well. Equipment isn't everything. Throwing money at a problem isn't always going to make the skills of image building that were hard won from long years of study and experience. It is also true that technology can change radically (from analogue to digital) rendering past experience worthless almost overnight. Often salesmen have recommended photographic gear that isn't really suitable at all for the job they want to do with it. On one occasion that equipment was very good the user had changed his product range to such a degree that the soft light of fluorescent tubes wasn't incisive enough for the new products he was photographing. These were simply sheets of rough textured paper. Light tents from Ebay or trade fairs are bought enthusiastially to solve all sorts ofphotographic problems.They work okay for some very small objects though they are far from the answer to all simple photographic lighting problems.

Interior of David Turner's Stokenchurch studio where one -to -one photography courses are run

A better way to proceed would be to strengthen you knowledge base prior to investing a lot of cash in new equipment. Spend a day finding and doing practical work in the studio on one of my photographic courses. You will normally be the only student and can find out exactly what you need to know.

Portrait shoots

Portrait shoots

    * Spacious well equipped studio

    * Latest digital equipment. See your pictures appear as they are shot!

    * Unique background colour system

    * No queueing!

    * Digital upload of your photos included free.

    * Fully retouched print included in the shoot price worth £25

    * Lifestyle shoots

    * Each shoot lasts up to three hours.

    * All types of shoot catered for.

A huge range of people come to our Stokenchurch Studio for portrait sessions . Here is a list of recent activities: Birthdays,18+ parties, mother and babies, children, college alumni, friends, pictures for websites, work portraits, musicians, dancers, actors, people with their pets, family groups, partnerships, couples, model portfolios, lifestyle shoots, workshops, industrial clothing, dance groups etc.

Common to all is the need to get a powerful image of themselves. Studio photography can be  a new experience for some of my clients. The key thing is to get organized in advance. Please phone me well before the shoot to discuss what you want to do in your shoot, what the images are going to be used for, and what kind of props you might need. You might want to tear a collection of pictures from magazines to bring with you as rough examples of the sort of thing you want to do. There is plenty of space to store clothes for your shoot. You cannot bring too much with you for the shoot. You will be the a star for the day. All of the pictures are from one shoot with a  model new to studio work.

Make up and props may be important for your image. Clients have come with Harley-Davidson motorbikes, guitars, saxophones, their much loved dog, snakes, bunches of flowers, dreary clothes worn by actors for a part in a play, little black dresses, ball and party wear etc. Other clients have wanted much more formal clothes as their picture was destined to go an an office wall or website imparting a lot of information. What you need to bring depends on what sort of image you need us to create.

A portrait shoot is a real red letter day that you will not forget in a hurry. This is why many of the Studio Portrait Shoots are bought a gifts using our gift voucher system. The giver pays for the shoot and the free print. If the recipient wants additional pictures they pay for the extra prints. (see Gift Vouchers on my website www.david-turner-photography.co.uk)



  

Wedding Photography

Photographing weddings has more variety than most people realize. No two weddings are ever exactly alike, even when they are booked as the same wedding package and shot by the same photographer.

One of the weddings I did last year was for a couple who took full advantage of the extended services that I can offer my wedding clients.

Parisa and Warren visited my studio a couple of weeks after their wedding to add a series of more posed portrait pictures to their very informal wedding pictures.

Parisa was rewarded with some fine prints of her dress showing all its beautiful details, since studio lighting can be controlled in very precise ways that are impossible “on the run”. Most wedding photographers can’t offer a shoot like this simply because they don't have a studio available for them to do this more planned and considered kind of photography.

Contrast this with her being carried along Chelsea High Street by Warren just after their wedding - a completely spontaneous event that’s never happened at any other wedding I've photographed. Spare a thought for myself running after them, trying not to fall over, concentrating on making the picture, getting the exposure right, the focus sharp - all while crossing Chelsea High Street on a Saturday afternoon.

If you like what you've seen here, you can contact me, David Turner, on 01494 483887 , and we can talk about how I can make your wedding day special.