Product Photography
I received a call the other day asking if I did product photography. I said yes and asked what the project was. His company manufactured a product for a national brand. The national company was getting ready for a trade show and wanted to use its product prominently in its display. My client said,”I could have found someone with a nice camera to take a snapshot but knew wanted a professional photographer.” I finally asked what the product was, and it turned out to be an 18-wheel truck mud flap with the NAPA auto parts logo on it.
Creating the perfect photograph
It was a flat black rubber piece about 18 inches by 30 inches. What are the tricks to photographing a black piece of rubber? First, a small amount of dimension with highlights and shadows must be created. The rubber is a flat mat surface, but the NAPA logo is a high gloss. As a professional photographer, I must ensure the NAPA logo doesn’t have any blown-out highlights. NAPA would be mad if their logo didn’t look good. Last, the exposure needs to be the same on all sides. In other words, I don’t want one side to be light and the other to be dark. Luckily, my years of experience let me quickly create this seemingly simple photograph in the studio. The last part of the process is retouching all the manufacturer’s blemishes. When a truck travels on the highway, you can’t see all the flaws. As part of a trade show display three times its normal size, you would see every mark.
Dan can meet your deadline
Did I mention the client needed the photograph ASAP? My client dropped off the truck mud flap in the morning, and I had the photograph to him by the end of the day. He was lucky I had the time to work on it, and I am fortunate to have a new client to help with future projects. You can see more examples of my commercial photography at ClearyCreativePhoto.com
