Skip to main content

Special Shoot: Motorcycle

Lesson 35 from: Tabletop Product Photography

Don Giannatti

Special Shoot: Motorcycle

Lesson 35 from: Tabletop Product Photography

Don Giannatti

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

35. Special Shoot: Motorcycle

Lesson Info

Special Shoot: Motorcycle

we're going to shoot this thing we're going to you know have a lot of fun with it it's obviously not a tabletop product but we thought we'd kind of in the uh the day here with a little bit of fun with something that's very cool and the brand of this motorcycles in munich and uh sorry about that we're getting you know when I when I get a bike like this to shoot on I love to shoot motorcycles I am hoping to actually get one sometime before the end of the year but whenever I shoot him I'm always looking for details we do not have the room in this setup here here in this studio toe actually shoot the whole bike so that's not what we're going to do we're going to look for some detail shots that look pretty fun and then we're gonna light him what's the first thing we notice about this motorcycle yeah pretty much reflecting I see me I see all you guys over there I see all you guys over there it's reflecting everything we place it on a white sheet toe hopefully uh get some white reflect its to...

the bottom of it when you're shooting something this reflective what do we say earlier in the think highlights or what we do right do we need to create shadows on this motorcycle wei need to create highlights on this motorcycle motorcycle already dark we've got plenty of dark details it's going to give us all kinds of nice shadow detail what it's not going to give us is a very smooth and clean highlight along so um where's where's my video guy um can you can you get a shot of this right here because I'm okay all right I need to get all this stuff all around me over here again because I'm gonna need it um as I opened up this white card start to see the card in the motorcycle can you see the change stunning isn't it yes now we're lighting this card from behind that light is really set up to actually like the card not really liked the bike we're gonna get it'll skim across the edge of the bike ring it'll skim of that light that's just a single pro photo uh with a reflector on it nothing fancy noah modifier doll and it's raking right across here we're going to get a couple of speculators we want that we want that pizazz to the shot I will say this about pro photo uh the light that comes out of the pure reflector is some of the most gorgeous light I've ever seen it's because pro photo has that diffusion over there strobe and their modeling tube so even when it's a bear head like this it's a gorgeous light I have like norman's and norman my norman heads bear not so pretty pretty pretty hard edged light this is an absolutely gorgeous light so right off the bat we have a kind of a nice light there and no they're not a sponsor so as I come in here look at these lick with liquid highlights it's what I like to call him here they just become just the motorcycle becomes absolutely stunning here what do we get for reading john did you do the honors there and I'll pop it for you get down in there all right there that's about right that's about right um even thiss part of it the cylinder blocks which are matt we're going to really sparkle so what I want to do is do a shot before we put the card and then do a shot after we do the card and I'm just going to shoot it hand held I think we can dispense with this otherwise I'll be scooter will hear you all right so I'm gonna come in here kind of the shot I was seeing nice detail shot of us of the pipes here on when it comes up you can see the disaster that the shot iss like that way this is the motorcycle this is john hey at least you know where your assistant issue confine him at all times so let's pull the card in there john and as I come right around keep wrapping it in there to wrap it all the way there and then take it up a little bit who that's pretty that's pretty let's try it right there you got it let's try it right there that that nice better way have achieved that we look at the look at the place is here on this where we have these beautiful tones coming in on that paul we found a scratch man bummer and by the way and there's me or women that's brett right in there was it john his breath um so we do know we're gonna have to fix that so over the top now can you start to see angle of incidence angle reflection with there's anything that will show you that phenomena in use it's something that's totally round so what's happening is we're saying a white card in here this is looking very nice but the top of this uh exhaust pipe is the roof and brett leaning over holding the the the item so you can really see how we got to get some other things going on in here the other another part of it that I love is look at the fins how the finns light up great the question is do we use black across the top or white I'm going to use get good idea because I'm going to go with black the reason is if I put white everywhere then we lose the shape of the tailpipe it's no longer round it's just a white blob there the pole we found a scratch you're gonna have to let me take this back to phoenix for you get it all taken care of I'll have it back before christmas all right here we go right in their way much better is not pretty way still see somebody here who is that yeah there's john over there so we're gonna have to figure is this me I don't have a camera to my head there's the light so I guess it is that's making backwards me backwards so we gotta block this over here or at least right in here this it is me right in here so I need another white card if we could grab one real quick irene what have you come right over here and hold us in here right on this side right there's like come down into this yes right there on the red keep right into this little tiny little niche here's something put my camera through it and here we go there we wait good now we've cleaned up the shot a little bit different angle we cleaned out the shop but you don't see me anymore and look how pretty the light is all the way through we do have a speculum from that light up there we get that's a true speculate we have it there the quicker one right here the question is are they a problem for me a motorcycle's gotta have a speculum somewhere if it's all really really really smooth it's kind of lost of a natural sense to it so always try to include atleast one probably nevermore than are never dueling ones you know it's got only come from one side like the sun would come from one side it can't have dueling speculators coming all over the place but I'm tempted to leave it in because I kind of like the look of it gets a little bit of a sparkle questions on this okay and I'm gonna come in right here right over the top of this through that that opening thank you right there and bring the black way over the top job right a little more right there okay there we go you can spend as much time in the studio as you want doing this kind of work with these machines because they don't go anywhere we're doing something real quick here with cards to show you the application but the reality is the reality is we would need to get another card in here for this you see this larry here you get a card for that but you noticed how we're not lighting up motorcycle were lighting up the cards the light is backlit on the motorcycle as you saw in the very first shot that we did questions at all no I have a question you get as shiny and round is that I mean they're still reflections in there do you want to try to eliminate all of them are you just trying to create one that's not objectionable you want you want teo you don't want eliminate all of them because if we do that we don't have a motorcycle anymore it's just all white there's no dimension you want to control them so that you have him where the where you want in other words the little black line down down that pipe there that's really sloppy way want a cleaner black line down that to that pipe then we have there we don't want it breaking up this this is unacceptable to make this little thing right here then where it breaks in here and comes in that's not acceptable now we're working with just what we have here if we were doing this would probably have a much bigger tent over the top with we've done that dropped this seamus when I shoot motorcycles in the studio I shoot him with site behind me hello I'm saying I'm shooting away from my sight corner I'm in the corner I'm lighting the corner in the motorcycle sitting there and all it can see is white and actually all light end up doing his flying black to create the the edges in this studio we don't have that we have and if we did it wouldn't be very interesting for you all to wash I'd be on the other side of the scene was coming out every once in a um that would be it so we have to work right within this we try a different angle okay mick try coming up is the desert nana just said what about laying on the ground and shooting upward and we're going to try that we're not gonna lay on the ground but we're gonna come down pretty close here with my trusty sixty d on live you get the shot here oh yeah right there it looks good right there guys that's pretty fun I like having all right I see that we're gonna change the angle look how pretty now how much prettier the control light is on this shot do you see that other than other than john right there and john let me I'm gonna come this way a little bit more so if you step over where bread is exactly what I'm gonna come this well a bit more and I get that all the way out there and see if I see any anybody in there do something kind of need here we go yep and because we're down that low in tow all that I think we can shake this I like that shot all right I'm gonna change it put my apple tree down to eleven I'm sorry to sixteen I was at eleven I'll come down to sixteen only because we're getting so much reflection in here go yeah that's the kind of thing that gets me really excited when I'm shooting is how clean this is a pretty this bar comes around here how this is look we can see the the the heat damage to the pipes right in here we can see it right in there we can see all of this and we've got cool angles and shapes and things that you can play with chrome looks like chrome in the whole the whole item looks like something that you want to get into and again these little things that uh these little finn's how the way they light up look at thea braided thing here we've got a great little highlights those little things pull your eye they're what you start to look at when you see the picture all the details you know so I'm gonna take some questions and I'm gonna let laurie shoot find a shot this's what happens on a lot of students get teo spontaneous you could do anything you want try to get down there find a part of the motorcycle that interests you the most and then have the guys bring those cards around and make little detail shots that really looked good to you okay okay on your next on irene charles brings up the rear killer shots yes I have a question for you from what's up doc why I have no idea uh amsterdam holland what a large octa bank instead of the reflectors be much different eliminating the hot light yes uh if I work with my octa bank it's usually behind a big scrim because again the octo bank is round and I have the big one of thie eighty inch octa bank so even though it's huge it's still at some point on that motorcycle is going to stop with me and when it stops it stops at a hard edge because it's reflecting that octa bank in the in there so if I take a scrim that's wider aiken bounce the octo bank through the scrim then you never see the edge of the octo bank fade off a motorcycle the the thing is bigger than that the octa box theeighty in shock box in really really close that would be fine but again it's the light source and I find that if I bounce the light source off the cards I get a smoother softer edge than if I use just the light itself that's great but there are some photographers who use just the light so that believe me there's a lot of guys out there that bring the boxes in that's fine that's there stop question from fuckin speed in newton juicy would you shoot this like the guitar if you wanted the whole thing like shoot it in sections you know what you ever do that our attempt that I have attempted it I have attempted it and it's a lot of work but yes I have done exactly like the guitar on the motorcycle because when I was doing it at the time I was doing it I didn't have the really big lights and I also hadn't been away from shooting cars and motor cycles for so long I was I was lighting up the car in the motorcycle I was putting the stuff on that and I had to be reminded at some point that wasn't working after many hours sitting in the dark room it was obvious something wasn't working but that's what it wass um yes I have done that and my friend ken does it with giant panoramas if you take if you take the same amount of time detail wise toe light each half of this motorcycle then you can assemble it really easy as long as you have about thirty percent overlapping then you can assemble it very easily the camera doesn't move and believe me on tripod I would never do it on a tripod it's going to move some things going to move on a camera stand great doesn't move but on tripod I've just seen things move you still fix it you know photoshopped the new ones anyway where's the cs five and above had that sort of auto anybody know what time auto line image and that'll help you a lot but if it moves significantly could be a problem your shot oh you did get a shot no yeah one more and their offspring that in there let's get that nice that's nice shot uh ok a nice little speculator at the top here right there isn't that nice well speculate coming off their room looks nice well yeah yeah it's try one one star shaped speculate now or filled her I haven't I mean I would if I if I needed to write sure if it really worked for the shot absolutely that you can you grab a little star point little star on there if it worked for the shot absolutely no question don't huh so question from v case who says first off thank you for the prize the case just one and second can you do something solar outside with sunlight et cetera shooting this matters I go if you don't have the lights if I'm outside shooting a motorcycle I'm in the shade if I'm in the shade I can use scrims and phil cards justus if I were in the sun and yes I have in fact I probably shot more motorcycles outside than inside and kind of going off that question fashion tv from singapore is wondering what kind of uh location outdoors would you prefer a bike outside and you'd be like a nature location or desert just it was just a pill in the motorcycle man if it was a big touring bike it might look good in a city if it was you know a dirt bike might make sense in the in the trailor of a pickup truck out in the desert kind of thing but you you'll find that whenever you do the shots of the motorcycles out on location the amount of lighting that's around that motorcycle is incredible okay and many times you've lit the motorcycle got the shot pulled the lighting back got a second shot of the dirty truck and everything and then composited them because if you saw the shot of the motorcycle in the back of the truck the original one there'd be white cards everywhere scrims flying against the sun and everything on then that and then you take that away the motorcycles absolutely perfect in the truck wait more questions to just all right did you get a good shot good shot you like home but that I think I like this one best but uh kind of like in this one okay yeah I was going for the coil actually that was my first interest we actually you know what you did you're using this becomes a nice compositional element here this v leading us right into this I see it more as a shot of the rear wheel the break yeah I didn't want all that but I wanted more coil that's why I was trying to go for the first one to this one was trying to push it up but what about what do you think about the way that the tail pipes are black inside should that be shown to look a little hollow and there are steps you got all the cards and that you're using their irene are you using are you doing anything in this card in the shot you're holding where you holding it there ok tip it up no always like that even more even more right there try that and get it down under the under the tailpipes there you go one more shot move over what we're gonna do is we're gonna try to give these edges of these tailpipes something to reflect right now they're reflecting uh great carpet it's gonna be a different composition of course unless you could cause you pull back towards you little just a tiny bit good thanks all right let's see if that because right now these things are just coming down and a little bit of an edge there so what would you put it another light I mean if we of course we don't have the time to do it now but would another light go on they're sure to pull that absolutely then in the end depends on which one it is yeah they should work on optical and then one more thing I want to ask a question about then is the floor the floor doesn't that's doesn't look good I mean and we're trying to avoid the idea of fix it in a photo shop later so is there something you would suggest for that we're gonna have to block off the light for that uh probably not something we would I would have time to do right now in this particular thing but yes you just simply find where that light is filtered through and blocking off okay that's one down right there by her knees yet and you still need that white car though all right right in front of her niece know the light right out of her for keeping coming up keep coming up right in their way and we're gonna get a nice right in there very well that's what I wanted I mean more I mean more time we're composition right I wanted to show that there you go okay so we've got a pro photo on a twenty two dollars a day you speed like whatever it takes I just wanted to try and get you if it's possible to get around the back to get the perspective of someone who's sitting on the bike down here uh gonna be okay well somebody say on the stand you know getting you know if you get back there I'm not sure how we can even light it from back there he said um so if I went like that can't be your right in front of the light there that would be a different would have to have it out here incredibly cool yep that's hold on the go you know take the shot and see what we got take the shot and we'll see what we could do some light and they're just kind of squat down a little but don't use this one yet there's a lovely video shot isn't it there's a photographer way back yonder there did it fire here we go all right so it looks like that's really nice shot lori yeah that's our problem right there yeah um e I'll think of something else yeah it is just not set up that particular shot sure I would have to bring our light from the side etcetera and do some different things with it I'm just gonna look around questions while they're setting up yep a question from duke in park city with your new style how would you add color gels to this shot would you I wouldn't um I don't know I don't know if I had color gels I'm making colored colored crone that's probably not when my client's gonna want um certainly not what I would want on it I might gel the back so that there was color coming from back here through the open spots that could be kind of cool especially not you you mention my new style I might gel the back kind of a or a real hot orange red and let it come through the holes that air gap ng there and flair I'm loving flare so I might actually do that but probably a multiple exposure a shot for this side to get the the chrome and et cetera and then a second exposure to get the orange flare coming from the back and then combining them in photo shop because I wouldn't want that I wouldn't I would want to control that orange flair not have it just come out here and spill back into micro that answer the next question from jin is from malaysia if you had any thoughts on backlighting the bike if perspective called for it yes you khun every every spot in that motorcycle where there's a hole like you could have light coming back through it and you also have to be very aware of seeing through it but the holes in the motorcycle what's on the other side we brought it in really really nice and close to the wall back there so you can see the wall that's not working it all guys so why is this not working here let's go to were at sixteen yeah goto eleven or amps go to eleven right sure working so eh question um from a coal miner in minnesota if you could just talk to ana camera stand is the camera laying on the pedestal or have camera mount or strapped the camera stan actually house just like a tripod head on it so on mind I've got a nice ball head at the end of it it's kind of like a t who's this problem uh coal miner coal mining coal miner it's like it's like a tree you got a big toll vertical stand and then you've got a team out in the middle and the team out goes up and down really easily its guts on a weighted it's like on a counterweight you can loosen you couldjust vary just gently nudge it up or nudge it down very balanced on then the arm that comes out that's where the camera goes and then I've got a little stand on a little tray that holds my laptop for shooting tethered and another tray that holds a lot of little tools and stuff and of course the cozy for my corona those custom way doing alright that's not working right right off the bat that's not working we've got to stop that shot right there and go and grab the big diffuser and get the diffuser over this right here so we don't get that mess right here see that that's your angle now that speculum is too much it's killing your shot we got to take that down put the diffuser over it open it up open it up a stop and stay where you are maybe stop and a half pop you okay dialling back okay change yes while they're doing that well one more yeah questions from matthew is and jill davidson both are wondering how you would handle model and reflections if the art director wanted a model how would you have one into this shop if our director one of the model into the shot um wow first you like the motorcycle then you fit the model in and make sure for me I make sure that none of the light that I'm going to have to then add to the model is going to affect my motorcycle negatively but first I like the motorcycle then I like the model because I can work the model within the light that I created for the bike I can work her into that and you know posing and everything but if I try to light her first and then the motorcycle you know there may be a tradeoff involved at some point building that shot right it can't be the motorcycle so the tradeoff might be she can't be looking this way she has to be looking this way yeah shooting you know shooting pretty girls and bikinis next two motorcycles it's it's it's so rare no one no one has never seen it you know what your time guiding filled it wants okay well you can sure certainly see way outta hand and watch um can we get it in getting closer bring that scream all the way down here we don't care where the scrim is let's get it right down gently put it on on the motorcycles let it sit around on the bike there you go troops fall in oh e you could see lori we'll bring that up we'll bring that right up to the there you go and see laurie we might want to fly something over there with that white was you see how painstaking it is are they getting the idea shooting a motorcycle isn't wheeling it into the into the place and sticking a light on it no matter what you read sometimes on forums it's not that easy it's tricky if sis this is ah got curves and stuff everywhere and we've looked how we've cleaned everything up except that one little corner we're gonna have to move on but we may have to well let's listen before we move on let's put it out there we need a white board is what we need right we just need one more white board do we have one four bites too big that probably isn't doing anything is it we need to put that in that square and you see where this is that's that corner over there it's right over here bring it right all the way down into here keep yeah there you go now don't block the light you keep coming down right about there looks like just about there's try that it's gonna be way better because actually I can see the corner and everything so we kind of know where it's going to be come back out of here yes I understand shit while you're there they're just shoot the two two things should there's you're really graphic shot bring that sorry about that you can do it differently sure they down on your belly like a reptile right yes what shooting outside and you have the sky in mind and politics and all that I mean would you would you recommend maybe getting like one of those easy up tents no I use I've you silk I love that shot I even like john's edition uh um another reason to wear black in the studio if I'm if I'm ill do silt just going at it you can run set silks from video cos they're huge yeah twelve foot silk so you just hang up put him up and just drape it over let the sun hit the self the silk becomes a giant white source yes we're even a breeze where you hanging the silk on then you can use stands or are they actually make silk holders that will do it but I'll use stands or pvc pipe some stands with pvc and whole bbc bbc goes right on top of stand in a super clamp on top of it okay it's it's there is not going to work okay while they're working down here you got something yeah digital purposes is wondering what about using a white shark curtner white final that reflects the light to wrap the motorcycle in instead of phone boards would that be easier at all in the senate yes it would be easier not necessarily if you're doing the motorcycle especially doing the full motorcycle that's exactly what we use in the studio we actually have two silks that air that air cut down and made well just stretch him out and that's what we'll light it with we don't have those here so we're going with boards but many times I'll use one silk and a couple of boards to go around if you want to tent it if you want to create a tent around it that's something you could do is well and then cut a hole for your lens to go through then you have like a all white motorcycle it's all highlights right it's all speculative right then you have to fly in the black cards toe actually create the black shapes so that the motorcycle looks like a motorcycle how would you make that left that seems too flat to me how would you give it more shadow will replace that with one yeah sure get it right up next to her lens on when you do cut the hole in the on the the shower curtain is probably gonna be someplace on the motorcycle where you're going to see it it's going to be there so to asks the way that this appears that it's quite painstaking to shoot a motorcycle out would it be possible for one photographer to get the job done alone yes I do it all the time alone again and go back to that you know it's I'm there I got my music playing I've got all my stands and cards and I it for me it's very zen like it really is kind of photo meditation when I'm doing this stuff I do it by myself all the time yes if I was doing it for a client who was there never I've never had a motorcycle client drop the motorcycle off and say I want to stay and shoot because they've done it once you get it once they have done it and sat there for four and a half hours while you're monkeying with cards and stuff before you get the first shot they don't want to do it again they're happy to drop it off you have a nice day we'll pick it up later so when your bidding these things you have to you have to bid who the black card looks great way that one before in this one side by side please but the one before was always also with the black car which I really liked but I just wondering how we could have like a speculum to the one before really that one I don't like the competition off soon what is it you want to do one before had the black car just one one yeah you wanted to I don't know I suspect you know what let's make it a bit more sparkly well if you're adding a black card you're taking a speculator away you don't wantto blackheart and we can put one from a different so I like the shadow at the top shadow oh yeah but I like the darkness in the molding at that it's up here yeah okay but just to have something you want to kick it down from the top job yeah something just remember it's going to say you're going to see it you're going to see the gammy like so probably up a little bit height wise okay don't if that makes sense to booth ah and yes and the other the other answers yes you could actually use strips of silver of chrome as long as that chrome saw your main light you might actually get little poppy edges of chrome you could really play with it from this much question from as is uh could we use a gold reflector you're going to see the gold right that's and that and that becomes back to is that if that's what you want sure you certainly could but you'll see the gold it'll warm it while you look you're seeing you know she's hiding behind the tiny little slit of space and we're still picking up a peach in it I mean is it's reflects it's like shooting a mirror if it can see you you're in the shop and ninety nine times out of one hundred concealed especially something like a motorcycle or a car that's you know like like what's the holdup well rounded car karmann ghia remember the karmann ghia had to shoot a car mcgee a long time ago restored karmann ghia man never again he wanted that pure highlight on the top of the car cars only about one twelve feet long cars not very long at all we had to have lights actually eighteen feet on the other side because that car just rolled off even if you're shooting half the bike can you shoot with a longer lens to get yourself back out of the house you back out if you back out on the thing you're going to start to pick up here your stuff no every motorcycles shot that's out there you're going to see where the photographer shot it from him if you pick up a motorcycle uh catalog the kind that starts with age for the kind of starts with the you'll see those you'll see where the tire was shot it from and he's probably weren't wearing all black or she's wearing all black in the shot and you don't really see it where they've touched it out now in photoshopped sure and that's exactly what I saw in that williams sonoma catalog right down in the corner was this guy he's holding the shutter release and he's looking out the pans as he's taking the shot think about that for a second will you please think about it for a second he's shooting it on a four by five camera with a shutter release he's taking pictures of pots and he's looking at the pots why why is in looking at the pasta talk about creatures of habit right way just like oh we got a look at what we take the pots aren't going anywhere get the hell out of there and shoot it over here pots aren't moving is my favorite thing is when I watch the photographer charles is you're gonna follow me who's going to follow me on this all right mike everything is when you see if the timing's got the meter and he wants to take a meter of charles and the sun's behind me right charles is over there so they'll take their meter and they'll go oh get a meter reading of charleston and walked back over here the sun changed between me and charles or could you just not take the meeting go click right same way hit in the back of me hitting charles and yet they'll walk right over to take a meter reading just like looking at the pants on they're shooting who's next questions harry bull's eyes wondering could you use a polarizing filter to cut down on the speculum yes you can you can use polarizing filters but when you use the polarizing filter on it every little scratch on that chrome is going to come through now because we're going to cut down the speculum on the crone with with me we don't necessarily want to do that so the answer is yes you can do it you can cut it down but once you cut it down doesn't look like a motorcycle shot anymore you know weaken I see heads nodding over there john's going like this paul is going like this balls of tarver as well dulling spray yeah you're what you always wanted I want to have them motorcycle owner leave the building before you start dulling spray up his motors like wood used hairspray because you can remove it with water but dulling spray now we're not gonna spray bike with that but you can and it changes what what is the dulling spray change the efficiency of the chrome right so now it's not a very efficient surface it's a much less efficient surface so that highlight doesn't brake instantly to the non highlight correct it breaks it breaks smoothly over so guess what it's not chrome anymore exactly look frame is that silver dull silver oh nice here look here's john wait a minute what did we discover here paul we discovered a drip in your paint man take it back yeah you don't want it you don't want it now way gonna come up with this come up they get like that how about how about how about a card right in front of her guys to get this so it was a card right in front of her elbows keep going while they're shooting here this question is with respect to the commercial market how often do motorcycle clients ask for detail shots for a catalogue has compared what they hold bike and so time is a matter of fact you'll shoot one full motorcycle shoot for every ten detail shots you spend most your time doing the detail shots because the details the overall motorcycle shot is kind of this that's the possess that's the special stuff but she also want to show what's special about the bike how the hand grip works or the neat detail in the in the foot great the same with cars you spend more time doing details of the cars then the full car shot the full car shot maybe the killer shot that might be the one that really takes all the time because of the techniques involved but you'll spend mohr total time shooting the parts and it's a great way to build your book talking about portfolios needing to solve problems shooting a motorcycle's solving a problem let's say your buddy doesn't have ah two thousand three that looks this good but they've got a nice motorcycle and the handlebar grips looked really good that part of the motorcycle looks really good sounds like a time for details shot for may to me having bringing over to your garage backyards start using your scrims your your screams and get a cool shot you know when you get that shot that first shot looks great you just feel terrific about it and you start wanting to doom or what do you think I kind of need it it's kind of a powerful shot of the motorcycle yeah very nice look we even picked up the little details of the the tags up in here okay he won't take one more snap and then turn it over to charles are two key so I think I'm done okay going back to the filters and cut down on the speculum jitters wondering uh how often you use or do not use the filter the polarizing filter I probably could count on one hand how many times I've used it because I build my highlights I don't want to get rid of my highlights there have been times when I've had to use it on uh I don't think I've ever used it on a motorcycle I used it on a carbon frame bike mountain bike carbon frame mountain bike because no matter what we did the color of the bike and the color of the writing would just disappear with the light I can remember this and I had to cut my speculum back because we needed to see the label see the brand you know when you're shooting this stuff they want to see the brand we don't see the brand but they want to see the brand yeah and that was one time that I can actually remember using was a carbon frame really cool bike we had a a picture of a girl holding it over her head that was pretty cool but we had the shot on her shoulder and I had to use the polarizing filter no matter what I did I couldn't see the writing or or the bike didn't look good either way a question from tammy bogus strong denmark could you just remind us what lens are you using what's that could you just remind us what just using wu that looks like my new portfolio right there see for me that's a keeper we're using the uh twenty to thirty five l two point l two point eight l glass from way way long time ago lends its my old old lands um and by the way it cannot be fixed I broke it about two years ago was over it joey's a tempe camera for six months before they really actually called me and said come get it it's a paperweight because when you take the lens apart there's that one gasket at the back that they don't make that gasket anymore can stop making that gasket ah long time ago they finally found the gasket in a camera shop in portugal so they had the thirty five cent gasket fedex over here for forty eight dollars so they fixed my lens and said next time don't bring it I love it but you know it's time for a change something else question is from malaysia is curious you mentioned about water water spray on the bikes chrome what would be the intent there to create more texture and highlights water spray on the chrome did you mention water spray on the forum at all no it was the other day I think so if you put water if you sprayed it with waters has been in the rain is going to give it texture you're gonna have all the raindrops which could be you know I kind of need if you're showing something that was you know all new waterproof fuel pump or something along those lines those lines you would spray it with water I would use three three quarter three percent three forced water one fourth glycerin so that the water drops would hit form and stay for the for a while for me to get the shot uh and then you have to really clean it up have to clean up with windex or something cause the glitz room's a little greasy so another question from a fashion tv singapore if someone give you an old dirty bike and wanted it shot as is to show its age I would love that do we still clean up the whole bike before shooting or would you polish certain areas and if yes which areas of the bike and why you're asking the wrong person you have to ask the client right if they have an old dirty bike and they want it brought in you have to sit with him what do you want to do because we can either clean it up or leave it as is or do any variation thereof but it it would seem to me that the client would let you know what to do I don't do anything without checking with the client that's the same thing with you know I would get questions when I'm doing people workshops like questions well do how much retouching to do on the on the woman's face you do as much as you have discussed it with them all I don't want I can't discuss that you better you have to I mean you know if she's upset because she's you know eighty three and you you need to know if she's if she wants to look like she's eighty three or she wants to look like she's twenty to have to ask so yeah will davis reed is wondering to get the writers perspective of shot would it work to aim the light at the back slash wall blinds to make the big light source for the speculators and then use the phil cars to bring the light back you know when I do the writers shot the the I called the speedometer shot do the speedometer shot you've got a big light on this side and a big light on this side slightly behind the writer so you've got all that filled in and then a above them you've got a card that's angle so it picks up this light and fills it in and then you remove as necessary that's the thing start big removed as necessary reduce it down to the shot you want if you don't reduce it down you never know how far you could have gone right you got to get you fill it all way up and then take out what you want you never know how far you can go until you've done it very fun charles is that you shot like a kid nice use a speculum all the way through that waiter site but I actually like it it kind of gives it a almost softer but powerful field nice angle cool angle all right on charles is going to come in right I see what he's going to come in really close there and while he's setting up his shot any questions I'm sure we got a bunch like that right there what reasons not like prime lenses they give me a better flyer than zooms presumes have so many elements that really like simple crime so a couple of folks of that including coal miner from st peter minnesota have asked about using a tilt shift lens in this scenario and then coal miner also asks do you know beforehand you want to use a tilt chef lens or is it in the middle of a composition that you realize you need it sometimes you look at the layouts and you know and yes coal miner tilt shift lens is great because you can actually create your reflections and then shift the lens so that your cameras no longer in the in the relationship of the reflections and catch the shot very much like we did with the shoes and the bottles earlier yes absolutely but I usually looking at a layout we're looking at a concept and I'll hit on an idea if I don't have a layout when hit on an idea I must say the art director what if we get down kind of low and shoot up this way ok that's great if that's my idea got to be able to pull it through pull it off right do I know what that point if I really need a tilt shift or not maybe not that's why I've got one in the bag but it usually just comes together from that other times when I say I mean when you said that I instantly I saw a shot in my head of of ah ah nice motorcycle really cool h kind of motorcycle up against an old barn ok and I wanted to get the whole barn so that tilt shift lens would allow me to get the motorcycle and the barn without any key stoning of the barn in my I want to shoot that picture he's some saying the barn goes straight up because I've able to take my camera even though I'm low to the barn and chilled shift the lens up and then put the motorcycle at the bottom of my image the top of the barn at the top of the image and keep the camera vertical absolutely one hundred eighty degrees from it and I know I lost somebody without that's as this is wondering what about shooting parts of the motorcycle in motion for example shooting the wheels you can't light it you'd have to you know created something with lights went along with the motorcycle so I won't say you can't we do it in video all the time you can it's just going to be you know probably heart hot lights right not with strobes yeah but you could do that you could create a a rig we have a rig that goes on the motorcycle right out here where you can mount a five d mark two on it and as you drive the motorcycle whatever you do with that the cameras right on the motor of the motorcycle and you get this great you know you're right on the bike so you could do that but that's you know regular light not not strobes if you want to create strobes strobing motion then you use a combination of strobes to freeze it and hard lights with a little bit of a shutter drag to get the drag on the to get the spokes moving a little bit and when I'm shot not motorcycle wheels would have shot bicycle wheels in motion you don't move you're not spinning them you're just moving them really slow and that will get you that blur so do we have the next shot up there yeah we have a beautiful shot charles did nice shot much fun it is to shoot the stuff uh what if we could get like a collage of the the shots that we did upon their shots that the students did that would be kinda cool excuse me kind of cool so what we're doing that question from studio k w m in bismarck if you are using a strong light such as an alien be sixteen hundred would you ever bounce light off a wall rather than direct lighting it for this shot absolutely I was saying earlier when I'm shooting motorcycle my studio probably I'm bounced all the lights are on the wall behind me and I'm in the cove rather than shooting against the cove I'm in the cove shooting away from um the motorcycle that was just in the studio before I came here had five lights in it all were very big hot lights five lights in the shot not one of them was aimed at the motorcycle every single one of them was aimed at something away and actual battle matter of fact right here we're not really lighting the motorcycle with thiss thing the very first shot we did we didn't get any motorcycle we just got a big black front of it we're aiming that towards where the cards would pay so we're actually lighting the cards here way yeah all right he's not pretty sort of motorcycle shots make a nice collage for a yeah there you go you got all kinds of different views of the motorcycle with kind of a simple lighting setup but it's not simple when you go in and you try to light the motorcycle we're lighting the cards the cards were then being reflected into the motorcycle and I think that's the most important thing that we can we can look at it thank you very much for for putting those up thank you guys good job good job and I threw that right on them they didn't know they were going to have to do that so that was great okay uh we have bread if you and john could figure that shot out over there while we chat a little bit over here we can kill that light uh and probably pushed this monitor back if we uh do that let's give a shout out again teo paul sports who's also you call seattle photographer later polls actually do a wheelie right down through the middle of the studio down the ramp will be fun

Class Materials

bonus material with enrollment

Basics of Subject Centric Light.pdf
Simple Tabletop Tools.pdf
Introduction to Tabletop Photography.pdf
Product vs Still Life.pdf
Introduction to Tabletop Lighting.pdf
The Challenge of Shiny Objects.pdf
A Sensible Approach to Gear.pdf
The Business Side.pdf
ProductPhotographyWorkbook.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

mc
 

THere are some courses in CL i think of as not covering a to z but covering -z to z. THis is one of those courses. The value proposition is over the top. The instricutor: Don Giannatti is so experienced he's a relaxed in his knowledge and practiced in cutting to the chase to provide answers to really good questions about set ups for product photos (vs. art/ still-life). The topics: complete workflow from first principles in order to understand what we're trying to achieve with table top work, Don Giannatti makes it clear that we're using light deliberately to give shape to an object. Example insight: using a white card (or black) reflector is not the same as using a silver/gold reflector. The latter create a new light source; the former shape the light that's there. Can imagine the arguments but the demo brings the points home. Or how about NOT using umbrellas for product shots. Or for "drop and pop" product shots, how to do that without umbrellas and tents "that's 50 dollars a shot right there" says Giannatti. Example tool demo: one of the joys of this course is that such an expert does most of the class using readily makable tools like scrims from shower curtains and baking paper. The specialist tools like a modifier on a flash is well within the range of an aspiring commerial table top photographer. And Meaningful Demos LIGHTING/composition what are some of the most challenging and compelling things to shoot when building a portfolio/photographic experience? Can you shoot shiny stuff - like bottles and jewlery. PHOTOSHOP making photoshop unpretencious and accessible, Giannatti presents examples of how to fix bits of a shot, as well as - and this one is worth the price of admission - how to put together a composite of a guitar product shot if you only have one limited sized light to light the whole thing. We also see where highlights can be added - and how. Some basic knowledge of Photoshop layering, masking and brushes would be good to have, but one can work back from seeing it applied into those basic skills. BUSINESS We start with light giving shape to objects as a demonstrable principle, move into how to use light structurally for bringing out something fantastic about that product - that as Giannatti points out - puts bread on someone's table, so respect. From these demos we go from light and camera to post to produce the finished image. Now what? or how have a product that needs shooting? That's the business of product photography. In these excellent sections on Business, Giannatti details the heuristics of hard graft to get gigs: where to look for contacts, frequency of approach, engaging with social media (you don't have to, he says, but effectively, it's gonna cost ya). "Doing just these few things you're already way ahead of your competition." I can believe it: they are many of them tedious, but can also well believe they are what pay off. COURSE BONUSES JUST FOR SIGNING UP - for those who subscribed to a live broadcast, all the slides were provided in advance (you can see this offer on class materials) Now that's classy. What other CL courses have done that: given something to participants who just show an interest to sign up? (It's that gift thing kevin kubota talks about in his workshop on photography business - makes one want to work with that person: pay them for the value they create, eh?) TRUST/VALUE Instructor Personality Throughout each part what's delightful is just the EXPERIENCE of this instructor. He's put together a thoughtful course from light to lighting to parts to gear to post to business. There's immediate trust: plainly this man has made a living from what he's talking about, and has addressed almost any immaginable scenario. There's a great demo towards the end of the course of working with students to take shots. The value to folks watching is to see how he helps us all think about how to problem solve (the mantra for the course) to find the shot - to use light card after lightcard to wrap the light to bring out the countours of the material. Even when he says "that's just not working" - there's not a sense of the people shooting having failed - but an opportunity to think about what's been learned - to keep working the problem. There's a whole lot of HOW in that interaction that is highly valuable. Thanks to the participants in the workshop to be so willing too to do that work. This is the kind of course you leave feeling like ok, i can do this - or at least i have the tools and some knowhow now about them to start to work these problems, to start to create value in these kinds of shots. I am already just from being here a better photographer now. Related CL Course: This course feels like a terrific complement to Andrew Scrivani's Food Photography. And no wonder: both take place in small areas and use light in similar ways. A contrast is that in editorial food photography - scrivani's domain - there's a focus on skills to work with what's there; in table top/product, one can enhane - knowing how to do that effectively/believably is where the skills - learning to see that - come in for this kind of work in partiular . If tabletop/product photography is a space you wish to explore, or you just want to be able to practice working with light in the small, and see how to bring you will be delighted with this -z to z deep dive introduction.

a Creativelive Student
 

By chance I stumbled accross Don Giannattis’s Website and his creativeLIVE selection of videos. I was impressed by the material presented and decided to purchase the course for adopting some of his methods and concepts of light control in table top photography. The course covers a wide field, from building your own lighting tools to guidelines for getting in the product photography business. Emphasis is put on understanding light control related to the specifics of the object, discussing the how and why of the creative process. Insistence and patience were demonstrated to be prerequisites for achieving the desired quality of the pictures. I liked to follow the course, because Don Giannattis’s makes an excellent instructor. He has a clear concept, a wonderful sense of humor, and he is very flexible when listening and responding to questions of participants. I really liked this course and recommend it to all beginners in table top photography. William

a Creativelive Student
 

What an amazing workshop. Don holds nothing back, taking us from start to finish in a manner that will allow anyone doing this workshop (and I mean DOING) to go out and do product photography. What's more, Don is not pushing a bunch of expensive gear as the key to making good photos - he makes it accessible to those starting out with a low budget. I could feel Don's good-will toward beginning photographers in the way he conducted this workshop and that is deeply appreciated. It makes him a good teacher. I bought this course and his Lighting Essentials workshop and consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to learn from him.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES