Lessons

Lesson Info

Shoot: Hankies - Vertical

So that's their shot, which I like and I think that we've found a ah happy medium between what you originally wanted and what you what you suggested and I think we have to workable images what might be harder in this circumstance is trying to achieve a vertical shot. So I think maybe that's a challenge here let's say this is going to be a magazine application, so maybe we try to switch over and style at appropriately for a vertical that might be an additional challenge to do with this camera vertical for you. What? You work on the set? I think we should get back to questions, comments, random applause way got it all here. So with that relationship with your return here, that was pretty cool. You just take a shot. You kind of let him no, because that was really represent representative of what you're going for, absolutely and it's something. That whole scenario was exactly the way it would go down. Yeah, I get a phone call or a text how's it going, take it taken iphone, snap off the set...

up, send it, I'd get some feedback, maybe make some adjustments and move on and I think that's the beauty of being able to do things like this in the technology because that's something where an art director could be clear across the country and have a lot of input into a photo shoot that he's not therefore so our client to know that sometimes the client wants to be looped in and if it's advertising work you know the client wants to be looped in on what's happening ok, here's what's going on and we and we're right there. So so now where were we setting up our vertical? And it seems like our kids are playing really nicely together. This is a great surface. It is it's in the paint comes off okay, well, yeah, but I think after we get this shot and if we have a little bit of time, maybe we'll swap out the surface and see if we could get something that has a different feel or different mood to it. You have to do it with an outdoor. I think it depends on the client. I think if the client is on board with the whole program and it's not going to be a distraction than absolutely because if they know what they want and we're executing it and it makes it go smoothly. But sometimes you get somebody who wants to be a monkey wrench in the works and do everyone else's job and micromanaging photoshoots is probably a really bad idea, so if you're goingto trust people and pay them to do their job, you got a trust them and let them do their job that's I guess the kind ist way to say that but you know it's ah everybody wants to have input and that's fine because you know if you're paying the bills you should have input but it's good to know that up front and have the those decisions made ahead of time and then be able to meet the expectation rather than being micromanaged on on set I don't like being micromanaged on set and it makes me uncomfortable artistically then I feel stifled and I don't do my best work that way so I try to discourage that relationship yeah usually get a pretty detailed brief from the client yeah yeah we deal sure yeah I think sometimes I mean we've gone as far as having like color swatches and pallets made and say these are the colors I want to see yeah I mean sometimes it gets really detailed I find it helpful um I think sometimes when it's I could be overthought and you need to pull back on that a little bit but sometimes when you get just the right amount of art direction it makes everything go really smooth that the shot you head up the other day the steak on the slab was that the wasabi mustard on top it was like I know it was like a rub like some some of that was pretty conceptual yeah, that was that was they gave me the freedom to do it. And you? That was on that stone, that paving stone I rented that weighed a ton, and we had a couple of them. And the assistant that had to bring those in that day was none too pleased with me. And he had to return them to sew. He earned his money that day. Okay, I think we're trying to find the angle. I see it, but I, um maybe it's time to swap out the surface. You know what I mean? Because I think that that edge frame edges really distracting for me. So now I mean, we have about fifteen minutes, toe work on this and try to get that vertical shot, but I really think we should switch out the surface to something smoother, but I like the direction that we're going a little darker now, because we already did the light and bright, so little darker would be cool. We get any questions about what's happening here, about specifically, about textile photography or something. We can maybe kind of direct them into one one person asked about, like you usually special tools like starch and things that like for working with textiles or wires. Yes, modeling wire is something I always keep in the studio because you could if you really want to try to stretch something out or make it hang in a certain way we actually have some under there and if it was appropriate right now to use it well we could okay that was one of the things I asked for was modeling wire and grana and a proper pliers to use with that so you can cut wire that's one of those really helpful things that you know the way we rig things up with the fishing line yesterday and that kind of stuff well that little artsy arts and crafts kind of approach to things and I think that's in product photography especially it's it's one of those things that happens old time great we have a couple of directive things recipe renovator suggests what about putting them on the cute pedestal or alana said maybe use one of the pieces of fabric as if it were a tablecloth you know the one about the pedestal was when I was thinking about too so that was that's a good suggestion so let's see what we get here and let them work it out and I mean we could interject a couple of props into that blown out you're noto walking from back here there is ok we're really pushing it here bob's wearing all black and standing in the direct line of light but it's because I'm trying to cut down the top trying you know what I don't like? Styling yeah I think right off the bat thie way these have folded and displayed isn't doing anything for it so we had a couple of suggestions one that came in off the internet and it actually match something I was thinking about was to maybe bring this into it and do something a little different I'm kind of wrecking the set here but maybe maybe do something like this and display them on there and try to shoot them in a vertical I'm just just don't kill the messenger and they're also chime in on the triangle they liked that feels more like a handkerchief the triangle so they're they're green with bob the internet loves bob okay, so back to frank you have tried triangles because now we're working with the surface that actually has triangle so maybe if we shoot it we get him going in a triangle pattern right off the corner and then shoot it may be a little bit further over the top that might be an interesting way to do it or fanned a little bit or something something something something so big one standing here who is that that made that suggestion recipe about the pedestal I believe recipe renovator recipe renovator of course it's the food person who loves to cake pedestal right and recipe renovator in all caps says yes exclamation exclamation I have the same instinct as andrew I can quit now well, I wouldn't quit until we figure out if that's gonna work because then we'd both be looking for a job, right? Okay, I like the idea of hanging them off the edge like that that's kind of nice horizontal but it's gonna be interesting to see how you go to the well maybe spin, sweetie and I mean maybe rotated out yes and then right down that way from maybe a little higher angle but I'm not really interjecting any of my opinions at all in this oh, I'll raise it for him that's what you have the apple box for put it so I mean, is this one of those I mean, you feeling like this is an example of something that is really difficult to shoot both both horizontally and vertically? I mean, you think you'll work it out or is it you think that this is so much better suited to shoot in one plane rather than the other? Okay, let's, hear your great suggestion straight in the vertical. I want to see a straight overhead, detailed shot of just the bee's coming down. You know what you mean like overlapping v's like kind of like that very symmetrical, just down all right, well, let's stay no background, nothing just cropping straight in on the fabric so just like the fabrice overlapping one another like something like that yes it's just like the bee with the patterns coming down and just letting cropping and super tight over top okay but it could have you know let him know what they're doing let them have their way we'll let them do their thing so hanging well the pedestal did something but it didn't become a prop but what it did was it became a something that kind of changed the dynamic of the fabrics the fabrics looked like a kind of naturally kind of falling a little bit um if you're going to do it that way I mean maybe it's just all black in the background rather than the stone and not letting the we'll take that shot and then we'll take this stone out and see if just black on black with that kind of coming across might be a really nice kind of product shot yeah let's see we're trying to pick up some more of those edges or your yeah I think I need to move back yeah I like it I still would rather all this see it like this black is really nice and black I would like to see that in here too I mean just means but anybody else feel that way have a consensus that's too rude not to reflect this just leave that well you don't need you don't need the whole surface he just basically need this other card right here we had a great but I think this that goes like gravy was great oh, you think this is going to be black or I don't know, okay? Or maybe do that yeah, that might be okay. One more clip this one's got a little well made a little black box that's a nice slow shutter heard that, okay? And, you know, I don't like you like you don't even like before it even came into frame. Okay, well, I think that you're on a track here. I don't I don't necessarily think that you're doing the wrong thing here. You do have to remember you're still trying to shoot a vertical and everything is moving horizontally, so maybe a subtle shift, right? And maybe just to cut a swath through here, baby, the other idea came from danielle that maybe we can on I have to take one of these and see if that helps and if not, maybe she khun style the napkins the way I mean the handkerchiefs steve and I agree with bob in my heart um maybe you could come up and put them in the way that you thought would work. So is that the new shot? No, okay, although we've got the top of the c I don't mind that at all I see that what you mean about the top and that means that the last two on your left side are not represented in this shot so you can move them to the top and that way would cover the you might be able to cover the fact that like that so now we're covering up the pedestal to my dismay but anna into the internet just what was this renovation so finish renovations oh okay, I see a camera I already I like it. Yeah, it has a continuity now that the color on black popping the natural kind of way they're falling off the edge of that pedestal so the pedestal really worked out not in the way we thought it might, but it definitely helped and this gives us a really adequate kind of vertical plane shot for these, so we had that really nice horizontal couple of different options and you see that we had maybe what? We probably pulled maybe five or six different shots out of this, what forty minutes that we've been shooting this that are completely usable in both vertical and the horizontal. So if you want to try your idea, why don't we do one more shot here? And then we could talk a little bit about how we're going to wrap this up ask you yes, that one orange not can handle way don't see the end of it because that bother you at all no it's okay? Because it just kind of gives me the idea that you know, because I don't see all of this one either just cause I don't see the point it's fine, I think I think you could work both ways and if you want to pull back and get another shot in the same frame and then be able to decide afterwards but I mean as as it goes right there I really like that and I mean, imagine art director jim imagine that with all that black space for type on maybe an ad or some kind of it, right? Yeah. It's perfectly designed for ah vertical page in a magazine for an advertisement or for some type of text to be written over that about a story about textiles or to be used for a placement page for etsy or one of the other cell you know, south sites? Yeah, if I was going to make any correction to it, yeah, I'd probably want that that far right corner of that orange so that it would give me a little bit lee more of cropping in the black ok, we talked about that. Yeah, yeah, way would probably back up get that shot as well. You have the option to choose and in editing yeah, what have you ever throw it? When have you ever seen when your product shots and it was cropped and you were like yes is what you don't even have to finish the question yes, I've been upset with a lot of ways that my stuff had been laid out in different formats three years and that's one thing you don't have a lot of control over yeah, particularly in publishing you really have no control over that at all and sometimes the way of book is laid out because they didn't know how they were going to lay it out before you shot it there's pictures of the crops in all different crazy ways that are not not the way you intended them so yes, absolutely you don't even have to like you knew I was good well, I am psychic. Yeah, of course yeah. So do you let the art director know for future reference or do you just like I had I had? Ah, I was disappointed with the way entire book was laid out and before I signed on to do another one, I made it known that I was really uncomfortable with the way the pictures were displayed in the first in the first one so that maybe we can have a discussion about that beforehand because some of the most beautiful pictures in that book were ruined with just gigantic type in really awkward places it was really, really bizarre and, uh the there was some agreement there there was some agreement with what I was saying so you know okay, so this this is this's danielle's thought on what she wanted to see you and used you laid them out the way you want it I would have done them flat dunn was putting them up on a slope so that will be interesting to see if they're laying its flat I mean, really what I was thinking was just super tight and crops imagine if you opened the magazine and on this side it's just this super tight detailed shot of all these points of the fabrics picking up the okay the patterns and the you know, the playful colors because they think that's what's really fantastic about this product. Sure yeah. So closer tighter even tighter than that, right? Well or maybe something just light on the bottom so that your not losing the crew what do you mean by light on the bottom see how there's it's because it's on a black back oh, you mean that or maybe put another one down there get so crowded completely into the fabric? Yeah, not that it's just fabric okay, guys, we want just fabric we're getting there, okay? Cards sliding I'm just warning you I'm the clock's ticking again so by this time goes fast when we're working hard, right let's see on dh color you like that better with the white at the bottom or would you rather be crossed in even tighter and what do you think yeah just the fabric and now it's on a slant so you're thinking chevron yeah that's exactly what okay now I know you know she wants a chevron and she doesn't want anything but fabric in the shot so we're talking about a cut right through here she wants the points and she wants the points lined up to come right down to the middle of the strange she's very particular she's a very very particular art director we're not going to fill up the bottom because it's a triangle point we'll miss that that's okay it's okay to say what's okay okay say zoom in so you crop out the bottom ok or making a narrower frame what you mean by narrow just just crop in from the two sides all right well I think we've got the concept down if you want to try to get one on one what one or two more and then we can wrap it up I think we gave this client threat plenty of options for their anything they want to use here so here you go grandma you go grandma it was granny though wasn't great, right? Sorry here some you know a granny arts right so wait calling it a day all right so let's give a hand tio collier wait definitely got q did that one shot that I really want to see, and I think we got a really nice result on and I think that they took on the challenge of trying to figure out howto handle something that is notoriously difficult and folded, you know, folded fabrics of really hard to photograph. I think they did a nice job in both the vertical and the horizontal plane got plenty of images there to work with both light and dark, so they covered the range, and I think a client would be thrilled with that. So, yeah, I really love the way they worked through the children's clothing because there was definitely some challenges early on, but they just kind of kept at it, and and we're adamant with what they were doing is great work. Well, I think also the idea of using a mixed light situation on dh that's a pretty advanced things. So I think hopefully, you know, some of the things that we put into play here contributed to helping make that picture so there's a lot of moving parts in that in that, not even before we turn the fan on right, exactly.