1. Practical Product PhotographyIntroduction| 00:00 | (Music playing)
| | 00:04 | Wow! Would you look at all of this stuff? Hi!
| | 00:07 | I'm Dane Howard and this is
Product Photography for E-Commerce.
| | 00:11 | Now, this isn't just a photo class.
| | 00:13 | This is about having you behave
and think like a trusted seller.
| | 00:17 | We will talk about equipment, like
point-and-shoot cameras, digital SLRs,
| | 00:21 | choosing the right lens, and even
getting some really great tripods and
| | 00:25 | equipments like lighting
setups, really, really simple.
| | 00:28 | Now, this is something that you can do.
| | 00:30 | That's a huge theme in this whole title.
| | 00:33 | We'll make our own photo tents for
something under $10 all the way on up to
| | 00:37 | something really, really professional.
| | 00:39 | And you know what? The quality of
the light is going to come through.
| | 00:42 | You're going to be amazed at your shots.
| | 00:44 | You're going to learn photo techniques that
are going to get you past the 360 degree view.
| | 00:48 | We're going to cover products, large
and small and everything in between,
| | 00:51 | ranging from coins, jewelry, toys, automotives,
| | 00:57 | we're going to cover the whole thing.
| | 00:58 | We'll even cover little things like the
iPhone here, and the role that plays in
| | 01:02 | today's connected age.
| | 01:03 | Well, I'm really excited to talk to you
about Product Photography for E-Commerce.
| | 01:07 | Let's get going.
| | 01:08 | Let's get shooting.
| | 01:09 | Let's start right now.
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2. Selecting a CameraPoint-and-shoot photography| 00:00 | Now obviously, you're going to need a
digital camera for e-commerce photography,
| | 00:04 | and chances are, you already have one.
| | 00:06 | But maybe you're thinking about
upgrading or maybe you aren't sure what features
| | 00:11 | are important for product photography.
| | 00:13 | Let's focus on those features now.
| | 00:14 | There are two basic kinds of cameras,
point-and-shoot and digital SLR.
| | 00:19 | Point-and-shoot cameras are less
expensive and they are great for a lot of
| | 00:23 | e-commerce photography.
| | 00:25 | There are a lot of differences between
point-and-shoot cameras and digital SLRs,
| | 00:29 | but the biggest difference is the lens.
| | 00:31 | A point-and-shoot camera has
one lens and you can't change it.
| | 00:35 | With a digital SLR, you can buy separate
lenses like a telephoto lens or a macro
| | 00:40 | lens or taking distant shots, all of
these things are really important for
| | 00:45 | closeups in getting close
to your product photography.
| | 00:48 | One thing you don't really have to pay
much attention to is megapixels, how
| | 00:52 | much resolution your camera has.
| | 00:55 | Your photos are going to end up on
the web where the resolution is really low.
| | 00:59 | So, any current camera on the market
today will have plenty of resolution for you.
| | 01:03 | So, what features should you pay attention to?
| | 01:06 | Well, you're going to be
photographing small things.
| | 01:09 | A macro is really important.
| | 01:11 | It lets you get nice and
close up to what you're shooting.
| | 01:14 | We'll do this little bit later on, but
we'll ask you to take some closeups of
| | 01:18 | some coins and some other small objects.
| | 01:21 | Most point-and-shoot cameras
have a built-in macro feature.
| | 01:24 | To turn it on, you just press the
button that has the flower icon on it.
| | 01:27 | Now the interface will give you some
visual feedback and it'll show that icon
| | 01:31 | on the screen itself.
| | 01:33 | This lets you know that you're shooting macro.
| | 01:35 | Now if you're shooting big things like cars
or furniture, a zoom lens can be a big help.
| | 01:40 | By zooming in or out, you can frame your shot
without actually having to move around a lot.
| | 01:45 | All point-and-shoot cameras have a
zoom capability and you can buy them
| | 01:49 | for a digital SLR too. Now, here's a tip.
| | 01:52 | Most point-and-shoot cameras have
two kinds of zoom: optical and digital.
| | 01:58 | Generally, you want to avoid digital zooming.
| | 02:00 | It doesn't give you very sharp results.
| | 02:02 | For the sharpest image,
always use optical zooming.
| | 02:06 | Now, if you're buying a new camera,
look at the optical zoom ratio.
| | 02:10 | That indicates wide and how
close the zoom lets you get.
| | 02:14 | Now, for example, a 6:1 ratio gives
you more range between wide angle and
| | 02:20 | telephoto than a 3:1 ratio.
| | 02:22 | No matter what kind of camera you buy,
you might want to attach a tripod so that
| | 02:27 | it's really easy to have a nice steady
and consistent framing from shot to shot.
| | 02:32 | Just about every camera has a tripod
socket on the bottom, but make sure. I'll
| | 02:38 | show you some examples of some
cool tripods later on in this course.
| | 02:40 | So, those are some basic things to look
for and compare when you're picking a camera.
| | 02:46 | Here are few tips that will help you get
a better quality no matter what kind of
| | 02:50 | camera you have and no matter what
kind of products you're photographing.
| | 02:53 | Tip number one, turn off your camera's flash.
| | 02:56 | The lighting from a built-in flash is
harsh looking and you can't control things
| | 03:00 | like shadows and reflections, besides,
I'm going to show you much better ways to
| | 03:04 | get great lighting in your product photography.
| | 03:07 | On most point-and-shoot cameras, you can
turn off the flash by pressing a button
| | 03:11 | that has a lightning bolt on it.
| | 03:12 | You'll know that it's off, because there's
usually a slash through the lightning bolt itself.
| | 03:16 | Tip number two, learn how to
adjust your camera's white balance.
| | 03:20 | This is setting that lets you adjust the
colors in your cameras to make sure the
| | 03:23 | photos are accurate.
| | 03:25 | That's really important when you're
photographing products that you want to sell online.
| | 03:29 | Now depending on the lighting you use, you
might not have to change your white balance.
| | 03:34 | But if your colors look wrong, it's
probably because your white balance setting
| | 03:37 | doesn't quite match the lighting you're using.
| | 03:40 | So, check your camera's manual and
read up on adjusting the white balance.
| | 03:43 | It isn't hard to do and it
can make a big difference.
| | 03:47 | Finally, tip number three.
| | 03:49 | You should learn how to
adjust your camera's ISO setting.
| | 03:51 | This controls the camera's light
sensitivity and that gives you a lot of control
| | 03:56 | over your exposures.
| | 03:58 | With a high ISO setting, like 800 or
1000, you can take shots in really dim
| | 04:02 | light, but there's a trade-off.
| | 04:04 | The photos may look a bit grainy or noisy.
| | 04:07 | On the other hand, with a low ISO
setting like a 100 or 200, you get maximum
| | 04:13 | sharpness from your camera.
| | 04:14 | These low settings are ones to use when
you've got a nice, bright light, sunshine,
| | 04:20 | or diffused light and of
course, you're using a tripod.
| | 04:23 | Okay, so how do you adjust the ISO?
| | 04:25 | Well, it depends on the camera.
| | 04:28 | Higher-end cameras give you a dial that
allows you to make it really convenient.
| | 04:32 | On other cameras, you might
have to go into a menu and make the
| | 04:35 | adjustment manually.
| | 04:36 | Either way, it isn't hard and
adjusting the ISO is a great way to match the
| | 04:41 | brightness of the light
compared to the work you have.
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| Digital SLRs and lenses | 00:00 | Every digital camera has an Auto Focus feature.
| | 00:03 | So focusing on your product isn't
something you usually need to think about.
| | 00:07 | But if you have a digital SLR or even
a more advanced point-and-shoot camera,
| | 00:12 | there is a focus-related tip to keep in mind.
| | 00:16 | It's called the Depth of Field.
| | 00:17 | Take a look at these two
photos on the same object.
| | 00:20 | You notice any difference?
| | 00:22 | The photo on the left has
a bigger depth of field.
| | 00:26 | The area that's in focus is larger
than it is in the photo on the right.
| | 00:31 | Now, that's the depth of field.
| | 00:33 | It refers to the range of
distance that's in sharp focus.
| | 00:37 | So, what does this has to
do with product photography?
| | 00:39 | Well, sometimes you might want a
large depth of field, like this shot.
| | 00:43 | For example, if you're selling an
antique or you want the entire item to be
| | 00:47 | sharp and clear, buyers can have an
accurate picture of what its condition.
| | 00:51 | But other times you might
want a more artistic look.
| | 00:54 | Maybe you're selling handmade jewelry
or you want a photo that has some kind of
| | 00:57 | romantic, emotional feel to it.
| | 01:00 | Well, it's a good time for
a shallow depth of field.
| | 01:03 | This allows one particular part of the
product to be in focus and the rest is in
| | 01:07 | a nice, soft out of focus.
| | 01:09 | This creates a really nice sense of
placement and how you can control where the eye goes.
| | 01:14 | So how do you control depth of field?
| | 01:16 | By adjusting your camera's exposure controls.
| | 01:19 | The secret here is to control the aperture.
| | 01:22 | That's the setting that controls
how much light the lens lets through.
| | 01:25 | It's kind of like the iris of your eye.
| | 01:28 | Let's see how to get the shallow depth of field.
| | 01:30 | Now, to start, switch your
camera into Aperture Priority mode.
| | 01:34 | In this mode, you can adjust the
aperture setting and then the camera fingers
| | 01:38 | out the right speed of the shutter.
| | 01:40 | Next, adjust your aperture.
| | 01:41 | A low number like 1.8 or 3.5 is what you want.
| | 01:46 | That's what gives you a
nice shallow depth of field.
| | 01:49 | That's what they call selective focus.
| | 01:52 | That's the only part that's
going to be in sharp detailed focus.
| | 01:55 | Now you'll want to experiment
with your specific camera and lens.
| | 01:59 | Every combination is slightly a bit
different and every lens produces a slightly
| | 02:03 | different type, or range of selective focus.
| | 02:07 | But the rule is the same,
no matter what it's for.
| | 02:10 | For shallow depth of field,
use a low aperture setting.
| | 02:12 | On the other hand, when you want a
large depth of field, you want to use a very
| | 02:17 | large number on your aperture, like 11 or 16.
| | 02:20 | One more tip, the longer the focal
length of your lens, the more control you
| | 02:24 | have over the depth of field.
| | 02:26 | For example, if you have a zoom lens,
try zooming in, set the lens closer to
| | 02:31 | its telephoto setting.
| | 02:33 | You'll have more control over the depth of
field than if you had it over wide angle.
| | 02:38 | This is just the attribute of the lens itself.
| | 02:40 | The closer you zoom in, the narrow
the depth of field. Keep that in mind.
| | 02:45 | Now, all of this works
best with digital SLR cameras.
| | 02:48 | The lenses on point-and-shoot
cameras are often too small to give you
| | 02:51 | good selective focus.
| | 02:53 | Still, if you have a higher-end point-
and-shoot, you might be able to get some
| | 02:57 | great results, if you use
its telephoto lens setting.
| | 03:00 | Every camera and lens combination is different.
| | 03:03 | So you want to experiment
with the equipment you have.
| | 03:05 | But here's the bottom line.
| | 03:07 | You can control as much that your
product is in focus, just by adjusting the
| | 03:11 | depth of field. A shallower depth of
field gives an artful look and a large depth
| | 03:15 | of field makes everything sharp.
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| Additional equipment| 00:00 | Okay, we've talked about still cameras,
but what else might you put in your bag?
| | 00:04 | Well, you may not have any of this
stuff, but here's just a few things that
| | 00:08 | you might think about.
| | 00:09 | Now, first of all,
there's a category of tripods.
| | 00:12 | You're going to want the camera to be still.
| | 00:14 | There's a lot of different shapes and sizes,
but let me tell you about some of my favorites.
| | 00:18 | This is called a Gorillapod.
| | 00:18 | What I love about this, not only is it
small, but the joints are really flexible
| | 00:22 | and I can make quick adjustments.
| | 00:24 | The second type of thing you want
to think about is audio recording.
| | 00:27 | Wait, audio recording
for e-commerce photography?
| | 00:31 | Well, sure, think about anything
that might make noise or might move.
| | 00:35 | You want to be able to
essentially add dimension to that.
| | 00:37 | Now the iPhone is great now, because
it's got an application called Voice Memo.
| | 00:40 | So you can quickly just record an audio file.
| | 00:43 | Or there is a more professional grade here that
allows you to directly record to an MP3 format.
| | 00:48 | Now, same thing with video.
| | 00:50 | You don't even think about video, but
video might be used for anything that has
| | 00:53 | a really great motion or that might
turn or you want to show a fitment, let's
| | 00:57 | say, on some clothing on your model.
| | 00:59 | So, this is a regular consumer HD camera.
| | 01:02 | I also carry an HD Flip camera and the HD
Flip camera is pretty great, no cables
| | 01:08 | necessary, shoots HD format.
Sometimes I get a really great little piece of
| | 01:13 | video directly in my Flip camera.
| | 01:15 | Now, this little guy here.
| | 01:16 | It's really helpful.
| | 01:17 | This is a little USB connection and I
can take all of my media cards and I can
| | 01:22 | slip it right into this little guy here.
| | 01:23 | Now, why do I have this?
| | 01:25 | This is really helpful because I
don't have to carry all of the different
| | 01:28 | cables around with me.
| | 01:30 | I keep that in my pocket and I can shuttle
the media back and forth, super helpful.
| | 01:34 | Now the last thing you see here is a
lazy Susan that's actually got little
| | 01:38 | degree increments on it.
| | 01:39 | Well, this is helpful when you have a
shot that's set up. Let's say you're
| | 01:42 | going to shoot multiple
things in the same angle.
| | 01:45 | It's really helpful to kind of
deconstruct your shots in this way, so that you
| | 01:48 | can shoot, turn, shoot and turn.
| | 01:50 | This is really helpful.
| | 01:52 | Now again, you may not have all of the
stuff in your bag, but just think about
| | 01:56 | something based on what you shoot.
| | 01:57 | This would be really helpful
addition to your e-commerce photography.
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3. Ten Quick Tips for Shooting ProductsKeeping it simple| 00:00 | I wanted to share with you ten
tips for commerce photography that are
| | 00:03 | extremely helpful for me.
| | 00:05 | Number one, keep it simple.
| | 00:07 | Now, this has everything to do with not
only the lighting, but how you actually
| | 00:10 | stage and set up your shots.
| | 00:12 | This is not only just for a single shot itself,
but as a cohesive unit and visual language.
| | 00:17 | You can see here that it all begins to
pay off. Whether you set something up,
| | 00:21 | and it relates to the
background-foreground relationship,
| | 00:25 | think about the simplicity of just how
that might read to e-commerce and as it's
| | 00:29 | translated to the web.
| | 00:31 | Your lighting and your backdrop is so important.
| | 00:33 | You may want to move quickly, but you
want to just do that extra little effort
| | 00:36 | to set it aside, light it
appropriately and draw them in.
| | 00:40 | You can see here just by the little
square, it's so critical just to draw them
| | 00:44 | in, to something that is
simple and elegantly lit.
| | 00:47 | Now, this applies to everything from the
standpoint of how you light it, how you
| | 00:51 | organize it, Tip number one, keep it simple.
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| Angles, triangles, and cropping| 00:00 | Tip number two, working with
angles, triangles and cropping.
| | 00:03 | This has a lot to do with composition,
but let's deconstruct a couple of the few
| | 00:07 | things that have worked.
| | 00:08 | You can see just by this shot here,
it's shot from a little bit from an angle.
| | 00:12 | Look at the nice, selective focus.
| | 00:13 | This is almost inviting
you in to this object, itself.
| | 00:16 | As you move closer, notice
what's happening here with the angle.
| | 00:20 | I've gotten really close and I'm
seeing some of that detailed, itself.
| | 00:23 | Compositionally, you want
to think about triangles.
| | 00:26 | You want to think about what it means
to actually compose something so that you
| | 00:29 | have this magical relationship.
| | 00:31 | As that translates to e-commerce, you can
see that this is a really nice thumbnail.
| | 00:35 | Think about things as composed within a square.
| | 00:38 | Most e-commerce will pull you in into some
index as it relates to a square thumbnail.
| | 00:45 | Now notice how this doesn't work as well.
| | 00:48 | Now you want to stay away from
something like this, because it's less inviting.
| | 00:51 | Think about the triangle as a nice composition.
| | 00:54 | The friendliness between it is also very important.
| | 00:57 | You can see that there's three nice
triangles going on here, not only with
| | 01:00 | the fish, but how they're touching.
| | 01:02 | Keep that in mind.
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| Getting great close-ups using macro| 00:00 | Tip number three is all
about great closeups using Macro.
| | 00:04 | Remember that flower icon we used?
| | 00:05 | It turns out, your camera
has this functionality already.
| | 00:09 | Look at the great detail we're getting,
look at the wonderful texture that's presented.
| | 00:13 | By getting close to the object itself,
you provide the level of detail that your
| | 00:17 | buyers are going to need.
| | 00:19 | Same thing with coin photography,
look how close we can get to it.
| | 00:23 | This adjustment in the camera allows
the lens to put into clarity the types
| | 00:27 | of things you're inviting.
| | 00:29 | Now look at this top view here. Look
how lovely the texture is coming across!
| | 00:33 | You're right there on top of the actual
product, whether this be a top-down view
| | 00:38 | or a side view, keep this in mind and use Macro.
| | 00:42 | It's a great simple tip.
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| Adding context with backgrounds| 00:00 | One of my favorite tips is tip number four.
How do you bring context using backdrops?
| | 00:05 | Now, a product photography shot
doesn't always have to be against white.
| | 00:08 | You can bring a style.
| | 00:10 | You can bring a flavor directly
to the shot itself, whether that's
| | 00:14 | playfulness, like in these shots here,
or something more functional that shows
| | 00:18 | a size relationship.
| | 00:19 | The importance of context in backdrop
brings size, relationship and character to
| | 00:24 | your product photography.
| | 00:26 | Now this can be enormously fun and you
can bring your own style just as these
| | 00:30 | cameras have their own style, almost as
if they've turned into humanistic kind
| | 00:34 | of robots right in front of you.
| | 00:36 | Have fun with this, tip number four,
using context and backgrounds.
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| Using live models| 00:00 | Tip number five, very important,
use live models whenever possible.
| | 00:05 | The human-ness behind your product
is going to come to life, especially
| | 00:09 | shoes and accessories. How you style it,
| | 00:12 | how you could imagine your buyers seeing the
products on them is very, very critical.
| | 00:18 | This human quality and the
relationship between the product shot on the right
| | 00:22 | and the one on the live model
on the left is very critical.
| | 00:25 | You can take this to any stylistic
direction you want, but the juxtaposition
| | 00:29 | between the two types of
shots is very important.
| | 00:33 | You may use the product shot to draw
them in, but the one that puts it on the
| | 00:37 | live model will bring it home.
| | 00:39 | This is very critically important for jewelry,
anything that touches the side of the human.
| | 00:45 | This could be something that's
stylistic and documentary and fun, but the idea
| | 00:49 | here is what's most important.
| | 00:51 | Even if the anonymity of the actual
model is disclosed here, you can see just
| | 00:56 | with this shot here I can crop into
it and I still have this sense of wear.
| | 01:00 | And bring this into your Product
Photography Shots, not only just on the models
| | 01:05 | themselves, but as you start to put
all kinds of photography together.
| | 01:09 | You may lead with a beautiful shot
here, but the most important thing to
| | 01:13 | build trust with your buyers is to show the
juxtaposition against a real human model here.
| | 01:18 | In this case, size is one of the most critical
aspects of having a human next to this product.
| | 01:25 | Tip number five, use live
models whenever possible.
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| Using diffused, natural light| 00:00 | Tip number six is using
diffused light whenever possible.
| | 00:05 | The idea here is quality of the light,
particular as it relates to the diffusion,
| | 00:09 | no hard shadows, no hard specular highlights.
| | 00:13 | This is going to be really important
as you get into a nice first read on how
| | 00:16 | the light behaves and dances
around your products themselves.
| | 00:19 | As this translates, you are going to
look for a couple of things. On items that
| | 00:23 | are more matte-like,
| | 00:24 | you are going to see a natural
color and real nice, soft shadows.
| | 00:27 | On things that are shiny, you are
going to look for the reflection in the
| | 00:30 | specular highlights.
| | 00:31 | Now, when this translates to ecommerce
and on the web, it's going to get smaller
| | 00:36 | and you may be really glad that you
have nice even light across your products.
| | 00:41 | This is what will draw them in and
this will be the first read as it
| | 00:44 | translates to ecommerce.
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| Turning off the flash| 00:00 | Tip number seven, turning off the flash.
| | 00:03 | This can be summed up in two quick images.
| | 00:05 | Number one, turn off the flash,
the light, highlights, the specular
| | 00:10 | highlights are way too hot here, and
rarely is any product going to look
| | 00:14 | great from front, bleached-out light.
| | 00:16 | A little extra effort and a little
simple staging will allow you to diffuse and
| | 00:21 | blanket the light across the product themselves.
| | 00:23 | It's going to be a far more becoming shot.
| | 00:26 | Tip number seven, please turn off the flash.
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| Using a quick setup and tear down| 00:00 | A very important tip is tip number
eight, quick setup and teardown.
| | 00:05 | The reason this is a tip is that
it is important in order for you to
| | 00:09 | shoot photography faster,
| | 00:11 | you want to be able to get
over the hump of setting it up.
| | 00:14 | If you don't do it lot, you want a
quick setup, just like a light box that you
| | 00:17 | can open up, lay down the
product and quickly teardown.
| | 00:21 | Each and every one of these has just a
couple minutes setup, so you want to
| | 00:25 | be able to properly put your items
inside of the bag, pull them out, set them
| | 00:29 | up and also tear down.
| | 00:31 | It shouldn't feel like a big huge
burden to create product photography.
| | 00:35 | Even something like this, that you may
want to shoot over and over again,
| | 00:40 | can have a simple, simple setup.
| | 00:42 | Keep this in mind when you deconstruct
the idea of shooting photography and the
| | 00:46 | equipment you might use.
| | 00:48 | Tip number eight, quick setup, quick teardown.
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| Shooting multiple images| 00:00 | Tip number nine is very
important, shooting multiple images.
| | 00:04 | You've done all the hard work already,
which is setting it up, bringing out the
| | 00:08 | product, getting the right lighting.
All you need to do is shoot away.
| | 00:12 | Walking around the object will begin
to allow you to see multiple images all
| | 00:18 | for the continuity of it.
| | 00:19 | They will look great because
the lighting is consistent.
| | 00:23 | You may also discover that as you begin
to stage the object themselves, you may
| | 00:27 | tell a better story about what the product does.
| | 00:30 | For in this case, the little, tiny SD card,
we know where it goes on the computer, we
| | 00:35 | know what kind of format it takes
and we can better disclose the product.
| | 00:39 | Now, this works over all kinds of
different types of products, from clothing,
| | 00:45 | shoes and accessories.
| | 00:46 | You want to keep shooting, because you
want to move towards a direction that you
| | 00:50 | like, whether that's working with the
model and extracting exactly what you want
| | 00:54 | out of it, shooting multiple images
will allow you to evolve and to shape the
| | 00:59 | work that you're doing.
| | 01:00 | Tip number nine, shoot multiple images.
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| Keeping it human| 00:01 | Let's talk about tip
number ten, keeping it human.
| | 00:04 | Now the most important thing here is
that all products are used by people.
| | 00:08 | And when you think about the human-ness
that's behind a product, you begin to think
| | 00:11 | about the sensitivities on how it might be used.
| | 00:15 | The idea here is that this human quality
behind all of the products really gets
| | 00:19 | your mindset around not just
showing it, but also how it might be used.
| | 00:24 | And whether that ranges from
playfulness to even something that is really,
| | 00:28 | really intimate, just like these pop-tarts
disclose maybe what type of product it is.
| | 00:34 | Now, I wouldn't recommend putting
felt inside of a toaster, but the human
| | 00:38 | quality behind this is really, really lovely.
| | 00:40 | Keep this in mind, tip number 10, keep it human.
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|
4. DIY Photo StudiosYou CAN do this!| 00:01 | Now, product photography
shouldn't be intimidating.
| | 00:04 | The quality of the light
is the most important thing.
| | 00:06 | And I have in front of me three
different types of photo tents, ranging from one
| | 00:10 | that you can make only by yourself in a
few minutes, for under $10, to one that
| | 00:15 | you can buy and haul around with you,
to one that is actually unfolds right in
| | 00:20 | front of your eyes and fit
into something just like this.
| | 00:23 | Now, the most important thing that
we'll talk about is the ease of use, the
| | 00:27 | types of products you'd
shoot, and the cost factor.
| | 00:30 | This is the most important thing.
| | 00:32 | All contained inside of the quality of light.
| | 00:36 | With just a few lights and an easy set
up, you'll be able to do the same thing
| | 00:40 | and we'll deconstruct,
demystify the product photography.
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| Build it yourself for $10| 00:00 | The Do-It-Yourself photo tent, made out of a
cardboard box, is a force to be reckoned with.
| | 00:04 | I mean, look at the quality of the light
in this thing, and don't let this fool you.
| | 00:08 | You can get some great shots in it.
| | 00:09 | $6 cost to goods, and 15 minutes, just to
make something like this, should be great.
| | 00:14 | Now, over the next couple of minutes we
are going to make one of these, so let's
| | 00:17 | check it out and look at just the
materials it requires to set this up. Come on.
| | 00:23 | The supply list is pretty
easy for one of these things.
| | 00:26 | First, grab yourself a cardboard box.
| | 00:28 | The size is going to correspond to
the size of your photo tent, so just
| | 00:31 | be mindful of that.
| | 00:32 | You are going to need enough
supplies and the papers in the backdrop
| | 00:35 | should correspond to it.
| | 00:36 | Now, the papers themselves
should be white or black.
| | 00:39 | You might grab a couple.
| | 00:40 | Now third, straightedge,
measuring tape, whatever works.
| | 00:44 | You're going to have to cut
some holes in these things.
| | 00:45 | So, think about that.
| | 00:47 | Covering the holes is going to need some muslin.
| | 00:48 | You just want to cover it with
muslin, easy to do, straightforward.
| | 00:52 | Get yourself some tape and
utility knife or scissors.
| | 00:57 | Utility knife, these are
very sharp, be super careful.
| | 01:00 | Now the next thing we are going to do is
we are going to set up the back of the box.
| | 01:03 | I am going to grab some of these velcro.
| | 01:05 | Let's do that right now.
| | 01:08 | Now, one of the first things you want to
think about when opening this up is you
| | 01:12 | are going to reassemble the
box itself, many, many times.
| | 01:15 | You're going to open it and close it.
| | 01:17 | Now, what's great about this box is
that it gets to go from the open position
| | 01:22 | to the close position, so I am going to start
getting started right now, and fold this up.
| | 01:26 | Okay, when you're done with this step
, you should have something looking
| | 01:29 | just about like this and if you
choose to use the velcro, it's really nice
| | 01:32 | that everything aligns.
| | 01:34 | A good little tip is that you take the
velcro itself, don't take the sticky part
| | 01:37 | off yet and align it
with the piece you just cut.
| | 01:40 | Then peel off the stickiness and then
when you push the two pieces together, you
| | 01:44 | are guaranteed that they will line up.
| | 01:46 | Now, choose which part is going
to be your top and your sides.
| | 01:50 | Now, the next step we are going to do,
step two, is cut the holes in
| | 01:53 | the sides themselves.
| | 01:54 | I am going to have this top
right now be one of the sides.
| | 01:58 | And on the other side, it would be
the other side of the photo tent.
| | 02:00 | So, get out your utility
knife and your straightedge.
| | 02:03 | Now, this is not an exact science.
| | 02:04 | You can basically cut into a little
window around the perimeter, but always
| | 02:10 | leave two to three inches around the side. Why?
| | 02:12 | Because that will keep the
structural integrity of the box itself.
| | 02:16 | Because you don't want it to wear out too fast.
| | 02:18 | So, measure it up, mark little
indications if you'd like and just start your cuts.
| | 02:25 | Okay.
| | 02:25 | Now when you are done with second hole,
you should have a hole on either side.
| | 02:29 | But don't throw away these pieces yet.
The reason is because they're a great
| | 02:32 | template to lay on the muslin as you cut it out.
| | 02:35 | You'll want to label those for sure.
| | 02:37 | So, now that we have our box, we will
want to choose what are top is going to be.
| | 02:41 | Now, the box is pretty much equal now.
| | 02:44 | What we want to do is create a
hinged door out the top, one of these.
| | 02:48 | Now the flexibility of a
hinge door is really great.
| | 02:51 | Step one would be that you can
actually take your camera and shoot a
| | 02:55 | product from the top.
| | 02:56 | Another helpful hint is that you can
reach in and replace products without
| | 03:00 | having to mess with your set up, and
there's always the third choice, which is
| | 03:04 | laying muslin over the top
and shooting a light through it.
| | 03:06 | So, you have light sources from all three sides.
| | 03:08 | So, what we are going to do is we are
going to make a little smaller hole this time.
| | 03:13 | This time, grab your straightedge
and your knife and pull in, instead of
| | 03:17 | two-and-a-half inches, pull in just
about around three inches or so and mark
| | 03:22 | that off all the way around. Okay.
| | 03:25 | Now, when you're done with this, you
should have a nice cut hole all the way.
| | 03:29 | Don't be afraid to cut the entire hole
out, because you're going to put it right
| | 03:32 | back in its place and then lay a
piece of tape, right over the top.
| | 03:35 | This gives you a really nice hinge.
| | 03:37 | Now, it's just finishing the pulltab.
| | 03:39 | To do that, get yourself a
piece of tape, put it on the inside.
| | 03:42 | It's going to be white or black tape,
fold it around and attach it just a little
| | 03:46 | bit, but give yourself just
enough to double back over itself.
| | 03:50 | This will give yourself a nice little pulltab.
| | 03:53 | Place it back in there and you are ready to go.
| | 03:55 | Now the next step is to actually
put this aside and cut the muslin.
| | 04:00 | Now, this is why we kept the templates.
| | 04:01 | This is going to be my first one right here.
| | 04:03 | Pull our your muslin. Now, this can be
any cloth or anything that will diffuse
| | 04:08 | light really beautifully.
| | 04:10 | So, lay this on top of your cloth just
like this. Leave about one-and-a-half to
| | 04:15 | two inches, because we are
going to tape this from the inside.
| | 04:19 | Once you have done that you can start cutting.
| | 04:20 | Okay, now I have just done the first muslin.
| | 04:24 | Now, I have done it from
the inside for two reasons.
| | 04:26 | Now, if you've got a white tape, this
is a great place to use it because most
| | 04:30 | of the light is going to bounce off the inside,
and this is where you are going to be shooting.
| | 04:33 | Now, on the outside, it could and
should look like this, mainly because you've
| | 04:37 | got a nice tight surface and the
light is going to pass through here.
| | 04:40 | Also it's helpful when you flatten
the box and store it, there is less
| | 04:43 | chance that you are going to get a lot
of debris and the curtain dirty there.
| | 04:47 | So, let's do the second one.
| | 04:49 | Now, the second one, I have just laid
on the table here, and what we are going
| | 04:52 | to do is just lay down a piece of
tape on either side and that will put a
| | 04:57 | halfway mark between there, and give some
stickiness when we go and tape it on the inside.
| | 05:01 | Now, let's do the second one.
| | 05:08 | Okay, now put both muslins in and your box
should look something like this, right here.
| | 05:14 | Now the last step is pretty darn easy.
| | 05:16 | You measure and precut your piece of paper.
| | 05:19 | Now this transition paper can be white,
black, just about any kind that you
| | 05:22 | want, make sure it's dust free and pretty clear.
| | 05:24 | I have attached a piece of tape at
the top. Slide that in gently and attach
| | 05:29 | it to the very top.
| | 05:30 | You can adjust the height later.
| | 05:32 | Put this right in there, give it a
little bit of a tug and you will start to see
| | 05:36 | the transition take place.
| | 05:38 | Now, the next step is to start shooting.
| | 05:40 | I am going to get my camera equipment
and my little tripod and a product, and
| | 05:44 | we'll be right back. Wow!
| | 05:48 | That's looking great.
| | 05:48 | You would never even know
you are inside of a box.
| | 05:50 | Now, for under 30 minutes
and $10, can you beat that?
| | 05:54 | I mean, it doesn't matter
what it looks on the outside.
| | 05:57 | It's what it looks like on the inside.
| | 05:59 | Now let's get inside the
camera, and let's take some shots.
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| Build it yourself for $30 | 00:01 | So, I have got a product to shoot
and I don't have that much time.
| | 00:04 | I don't want to set up all this other stuff.
| | 00:07 | It just seems so laborious.
| | 00:09 | My gear, what's in here?
| | 00:10 | You know, what I love about this solution
is that, this becomes the photo tent itself.
| | 00:15 | It's got a nice frosted side.
| | 00:16 | In fact, I could set up in no time, I
bet you I can set up in under maybe
| | 00:20 | five minutes. On your mark, get set, go!
| | 00:23 | (Music playing)
| | 00:44 | Yeah, that's what I am talking about.
I am telling you, this set up is great.
| | 00:48 | Having the container as the backdrop really
adds to this, because I can quickly set up.
| | 00:54 | Now what did I just set up?
| | 00:55 | I have three light stands, three hoods.
| | 00:58 | I've got a little bit of muslin that I
can drape over the sides if my lights
| | 01:01 | are little too hot.
| | 01:02 | I keep a couple of
backdrops and of course, some tape.
| | 01:06 | This is your little rigging machine right
here and pretty much you can get up and running.
| | 01:09 | Well, if this doesn't look like much,
don't let that worry, the shots speak
| | 01:13 | for themselves.
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| Using the EZCube ($100) | 00:01 | I just set up this photo tent, and it's great.
| | 00:03 | This is a one of those 30 inch by 30 inch.
Now, you can get a lot of these online.
| | 00:06 | I got this one at TableTop Studios.
| | 00:08 | Now, one of the things I really like
about it, it's a nylon tent, completely
| | 00:12 | translucent, so anywhere I move the lights,
the light quality is going to be great.
| | 00:16 | Well, a couple of things that's great
about these ideas is that they come in
| | 00:19 | all different sizes.
| | 00:20 | It was pretty hard to choose a
different size, but the idea here is you want
| | 00:25 | flexibility on all the
different products you shoot.
| | 00:27 | You don't want something too big and
you don't want something too small.
| | 00:30 | This one seemed to work for me.
| | 00:31 | Now, here's another one.
| | 00:33 | What's great about it is they go flat
and they come right out to a nice size.
| | 00:37 | This makes storage really easy
and you can see it's really light.
| | 00:41 | Now, there is a couple of features of
this that I want to mention for sure.
| | 00:44 | So, from the top, first of all, there is a
zipper, the zipper allows you to access the top.
| | 00:51 | When you are accessing the top,
you can shoot like through there.
| | 00:54 | You can even stand on a ladder and
shoot your camera down through there, which
| | 00:57 | is really wonderful.
| | 00:58 | Now, I have these clips.
| | 01:00 | The clips are great because they allow all
these different rigging mechanisms up here.
| | 01:04 | I can snap on a backdrop, I
can take these rivets here.
| | 01:08 | There are rivets that run along the
side and the rivets allow for rigging of
| | 01:12 | like wire or fishing line
and I can hang things from it.
| | 01:16 | Well, why would I want to do that?
| | 01:17 | Well, if I hang something from
the top, it removes all the shadows.
| | 01:21 | So, I can shoot in from this side.
| | 01:23 | Now whether that be lights, all
this access is really fantastic.
| | 01:27 | Well, what else do we have?
| | 01:28 | Now towards the front, this is your
primary shooting surface and you want to
| | 01:33 | make sure that you have lot of backdrops.
| | 01:34 | They come with all kinds.
| | 01:35 | Now, you can make these.
| | 01:37 | You can have textured paper.
| | 01:38 | You can have reflective paper,
all kinds of different types.
| | 01:41 | I usually keep a white and a black in my bag.
| | 01:44 | Now, another thing that you want to
think about is what you're shooting and how
| | 01:48 | the reflections come out of this.
| | 01:50 | Now, we're in a studio
with lots and lots of lights.
| | 01:52 | So, those lights are
reflecting off of the material here.
| | 01:56 | If you want to shade that, you have this.
| | 01:58 | This is a really nice front surface,
this front surface can velcro beautifully
| | 02:03 | onto the front itself.
| | 02:05 | Now, what's great about it is
there's a zipper, right in the middle here.
| | 02:11 | Now the zipper allows you to get just
the configuration of your camera itself
| | 02:16 | and poke a little lens through
there, reducing all the reflections.
| | 02:20 | Now, inside there, all the
light qualities are the same.
| | 02:23 | So, when you set up those type of
shots and tear down, the shooting
| | 02:27 | environment is fantastic.
| | 02:28 | So, look into the photo tent.
| | 02:30 | Now it's a little bit more
expensive than some of the other options or
| | 02:33 | something you might make yourself,
but the trade-off, if you do a lot of
| | 02:36 | shooting, it should be great.
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|
5. Lighting Your StudioEquipment choices and price ranges | 00:00 | Let's talk about lighting equipment.
| | 00:02 | Lighting equipment is going
to be a pretty easy setup.
| | 00:04 | You're not going to hear me talk
about strobes, or flashes, or any of those
| | 00:07 | types of things.
| | 00:08 | When I think about lighting equipment,
I think small, compact, easy to set up,
| | 00:11 | directional, really flexible setup.
| | 00:13 | Let's talk about the three main
things you want to think about.
| | 00:16 | First is a directional hood.
| | 00:18 | The directional hoods that I
have here do the job great.
| | 00:21 | They basically allow me to position
and point the light wherever I want.
| | 00:25 | These are a little bit higher end.
| | 00:26 | You can get them online. I got these
at TableTop Studios. They have nice setups,
| | 00:29 | two or three.
| | 00:31 | Just about any set up you'll have
inside of any photo cube, you'll have a left
| | 00:34 | and a right and maybe a top, depending
on the type of product you are shooting.
| | 00:38 | This type of hood is on the cheaper end.
| | 00:40 | I got this at a hardware store.
| | 00:41 | It's just a couple bucks.
| | 00:42 | It does the job great.
| | 00:43 | Now the second thing is what
attaches to the light itself.
| | 00:47 | You may want a tripod, which
is great, or a little clamp.
| | 00:51 | One of my favorites are one of
these type of guys right here, small,
| | 00:54 | compact, light tripod.
| | 00:56 | It has got the nice little
attachment and when it grows, it can grow even
| | 00:59 | above my head, which is really
helpful for all the different setups, table
| | 01:03 | sizes, et cetera.
| | 01:04 | Now, let's talk a little bit
about the light temperature itself.
| | 01:08 | We are not going to get into much
science, except just get daylight bulbs.
| | 01:12 | You can pick these up at any hardware
store and this is a 30 Watt bulb, 125 Watt
| | 01:18 | equivalent in the tungsten side
and it puts out about 2000 lumens.
| | 01:21 | So, these things are pretty remarkable.
| | 01:23 | Pick yourself up a couple of those.
| | 01:24 | You can see the color temperature here.
| | 01:27 | Now, notice one more thing you might
want in your bag, one of these bad boys.
| | 01:31 | This is a reflector. This
is a piece of foam core.
| | 01:33 | One of the things that you want to do
is think about bouncing the light off.
| | 01:36 | If you look at this side of my face
here, imagine this was diffused through
| | 01:39 | a nice screen.
| | 01:40 | Watch what happens when I move this closer.
| | 01:43 | It gets brighter.
| | 01:44 | This is really helpful when you're
outside, underneath a tree, and you just want
| | 01:47 | to bounce some quick light off of something.
| | 01:49 | You don't have to use any lights at all.
| | 01:50 | So, that's going to be super cool.
| | 01:52 | Now, the next thing, which is really
nice for shooting tiny, glass objects or
| | 01:56 | whatever, is the light box,
just take a look at that.
| | 01:58 | Now, the light table is really great
thing to have if you shoot a lot of pottery
| | 02:02 | or glass, because it lights from the bottom.
| | 02:05 | Now, imagine that the lights come down
a little bit and now look what it does
| | 02:09 | to this glass.
| | 02:10 | Take a look at some of the
specular highlights, look at how the light
| | 02:13 | passes through it.
| | 02:14 | Not only is the light box great at
reducing shadows, but it allows translucency
| | 02:19 | and a lot of the light
to pass through an object.
| | 02:20 | This is really, really cool!
| | 02:22 | Now, whatever you put into your bag,
whether it be a light box, a hood, daylight
| | 02:26 | bulbs, whatever it might be, a couple
of things I think of. Cost, I think of
| | 02:31 | something that will also be
quick to set up, quick to tear down.
| | 02:34 | So, whatever you put in, I can just
take it and go on a moments notice and
| | 02:38 | set it up.
| | 02:39 | So, use some of these techniques when
choosing some of your lighting equipment
| | 02:43 | and have fun with some of the
product photography that you choose.
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| Positioning and assembly | 00:01 | Now you are lighting setup, with any
photo tent, is going to be basically the
| | 00:04 | same thing.
| | 00:04 | You are going to have the light on
the right and a light on the left.
| | 00:07 | Now the optional light can be
something here on the top or even the back, but
| | 00:11 | it's really up to you.
| | 00:12 | Let's get started and see
what this looks like right now.
| | 00:16 | Basically, like in the beginning of
this, but this is the next step where we
| | 00:19 | make the gross adjustments.
| | 00:20 | You can see just by moving the left and right.
| | 00:23 | You can see how this
changes the specular highlight.
| | 00:25 | Well, when you go into gross
adjustments, you may want someone to help you,
| | 00:30 | because you are going to make a
movement and come back, make a movement and
| | 00:32 | come back.
| | 00:33 | You may want to some of the trade offs.
| | 00:34 | Well, that's going to be important.
| | 00:35 | So one little trick that I do is is
sometimes I just put my camera to the video
| | 00:40 | mode and I hit Record.
| | 00:41 | Hitting Record allows me then to make
all the lighting adjustments in real time,
| | 00:45 | stop the camera and then play it back to myself.
| | 00:48 | I am not going to do that right now,
but what I am going to is I am going to
| | 00:51 | set up a backlight.
| | 00:52 | Now this is something that you may want
to do in certain shots, because once you
| | 00:56 | have got a great diffusion light
tent, this is nice little technique.
| | 00:59 | In order to do this, I am going to take
that lid off, put the tripod a little bit
| | 01:03 | to the side here, turn on the light.
| | 01:05 | Now one of the things you are going
to see, or if you would have seen in the
| | 01:08 | playback of your camera, is a
lot of these little trade offs.
| | 01:11 | You can see just by moving it and I can
move it further back, move it forward.
| | 01:17 | You can see the hotspot right there.
| | 01:18 | What I am after is that nice little
flood of light coming underneath the
| | 01:22 | actual pieces themselves.
| | 01:24 | I set this up a little bit
beforehand and I really liked that.
| | 01:27 | Now the last little thing that you
want to think about is your highlights.
| | 01:32 | We are in a big studio here with
lots of specular highlights and I want
| | 01:34 | to remove those.
| | 01:35 | There are two ways to do that.
| | 01:37 | Number one, just remember that diffusion shield.
| | 01:40 | You can put that on, unzip the
zipper and shoot through the little slit.
| | 01:43 | That's helpful.
| | 01:44 | The second step, if you can, is
just to turn off all the lights.
| | 01:47 | Lucky for me, mine is on a clapper.
| | 01:50 | Hey, how does that look?
| | 01:51 | That's pretty great.
| | 01:53 | Already, you can start to move into
some of your fine-tune adjustments.
| | 01:56 | Let's take a look at this on the left-
hand side and just by moving that, I can
| | 02:00 | start to see how things are playing off.
| | 02:03 | I just about like it right there and
what I am going to do, I think,
| | 02:07 | is I am going to start shooting.
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6. Shooting Details That MatterShooting like a trusted seller | 00:00 | Now, if you're like me, and if you
bought anything online, you've probably
| | 00:04 | received something and when it came,
it wasn't exactly what you expected.
| | 00:08 | I know that I have gotten things that
have been the wrong size, wrong color.
| | 00:11 | In fact, there are a lot of things
that I would have benefited from from just a
| | 00:15 | little bit more information.
| | 00:16 | Well, the next couple of techniques I
am going to show you how to think like
| | 00:19 | a trusted seller.
| | 00:20 | How to think about putting a little
additional information in there that helps
| | 00:23 | the relationship between you, your
buyer, and the products you sell.
| | 00:27 | Let's take a look at those right now.
| | 00:28 | Now there are a lot of things that
your buyer can say. This is something that
| | 00:33 | you don't want to hear from them.
| | 00:34 | That's not what I thought I was getting.
| | 00:37 | Now let's think a little bit about
what it's like to be a trusted seller.
| | 00:41 | Now, when you are shooting
photography for e-commerce, you want to think
| | 00:45 | about couple of things.
| | 00:46 | Now let's think of a buyer that's
trying to search for a painting.
| | 00:49 | They find one, they like one and
they actually start to move into it.
| | 00:54 | You've provided great detail.
| | 00:55 | You've provided great size, but you know
what, context is much better than size.
| | 01:00 | When you put it in context, you
actually visually describe 8x16.
| | 01:04 | You put it in the context. This is much better.
| | 01:07 | For example, here's another thing
they might be thinking, "Ah, this would be
| | 01:10 | "a great coaster."
| | 01:11 | Well, this shot, in addition to
this one, will help put it in the context.
| | 01:16 | It's actually the size of a bowl.
| | 01:18 | So let's think a little bit about
this one, a purse, this is lovely, what a
| | 01:22 | great shot, but when you put it in
context, you give a better visual
| | 01:26 | description of how this might be seen
and you put this buyer into the context
| | 01:31 | of what they might be owning.
| | 01:32 | So, think about this.
| | 01:34 | Even handmade goods, this may be a baby
doll blanket or it might be play food.
| | 01:41 | Use this to your advantage to help act
and behave to visually describe the item
| | 01:45 | and think about your buyers a little bit more.
| | 01:47 | This will increase your satisfaction
scores and it will also increase the trust
| | 01:52 | that buyers have with you.
| | 01:54 | And this goes for new or used items.
| | 01:56 | In fact, if you've got something that's
visually worn, instead of trying to hide
| | 01:59 | it, kind of bring attention to it,
because this is going to pay off.
| | 02:03 | Someone may be looking for something
with a little bit of character, maybe the
| | 02:07 | price will go down, but you know what,
later on that will pay off, because
| | 02:10 | they will trust you more and if you
want to repeat buyers, this is going to
| | 02:14 | really help you.
| | 02:15 | So, visually describe your items
and think like a trusted seller.
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| Establishing trust with audio| 00:02 | I remember this toy.
| | 00:03 | In fact, I remember that it's an antique.
| | 00:05 | I remember that it's motion and in
particular, it's audio that it made had
| | 00:09 | particular value to it.
| | 00:10 | It's old.
| | 00:11 | It's antique, but how do I portray that?
| | 00:13 | I can shoot it, I can visually
depict it really beautifully, but the most
| | 00:17 | important aspects of its value have
to do with the sound and the motion.
| | 00:20 | So, that's going to be an important
part on this trust relationship between
| | 00:23 | the buyer and seller.
| | 00:25 | And I don't want to field a lot of
questions as if it's, does it still work?
| | 00:27 | Or any of that.
| | 00:28 | Well, there are some techniques I can show you.
| | 00:30 | Let's take a look.
| | 00:31 | Now, you can describe a product in many
different ways. We talked about visually
| | 00:36 | describing it, but what about adding
this dimension of motion and sound?
| | 00:40 | Let's talk about what we just saw with the toy.
| | 00:42 | Now, with this particular shot,
we're getting really close to it.
| | 00:45 | We're showing wonderful detailed shots.
| | 00:48 | We're showing from the
top-down in great, selective focus.
| | 00:50 | In fact, we have a broad shot that
allows us to see the full product.
| | 00:55 | So far, we're doing a great job.
| | 00:56 | This takes it even further.
| | 00:58 | This allows us to see the thing in motion.
| | 01:00 | Well, we know that this particular
make and model actually raises the value.
| | 01:04 | Now we can do something even more.
| | 01:06 | We've got the setup, our iPhone may be
in our pocket. With just couple of clicks
| | 01:11 | of a button, we can record it.
| | 01:12 | Let's hear what it sounds like.
| | 01:13 | Doesn't that sound great?
| | 01:17 | Can't you see that thing moving and you hear it?
| | 01:20 | The voice box still works.
| | 01:22 | We've just added value.
| | 01:23 | We've just told it in a
completely different form in audio.
| | 01:27 | Now, sure, I could have put that
in text, but now you can hear it.
| | 01:31 | You can actually feel the product.
| | 01:33 | It has a little bit more life to it.
| | 01:35 | Now, let's talk about this espresso maker.
Great frontal shot, great detail, but
| | 01:41 | now we can start to think
about how it might work.
| | 01:43 | Well, I bring out my iPhone
and I can take a shot like this.
| | 01:47 | I can actually show the capsule is going in.
| | 01:49 | Now even though it's lower resolution,
you are still visually disclosing it.
| | 01:54 | But let's talk about the sound of it.
| | 01:56 | With the capsules, we can
actually go in and listen to it.
| | 02:02 | Hear that?
| | 02:04 | It's a great quiet motor.
| | 02:05 | You can imagine this brewing an espresso.
| | 02:08 | This was actually fun to shoot,
because I got a little shot of the espresso
| | 02:11 | while shooting this.
| | 02:12 | These types of things help build better
trust with your products and also help
| | 02:17 | disclose something in a way that also
brings higher value and takes it a little
| | 02:23 | bit farther.
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| Beyond the 360 view | 00:00 | You know, it's really important to
cover a product from all angles, not only
| | 00:04 | just literally with the camera, but
it's important to bring dimensionality
| | 00:07 | to the product itself.
| | 00:09 | Well, going beyond just the 360 view,
it's really important to give it added
| | 00:12 | dimension on how a product might be used.
| | 00:14 | Now, let me show you some
techniques on how to do that right now.
| | 00:20 | Okay, when we think about covering a
product from all angles, you have to think
| | 00:23 | about not just the front, the side and
the back. Think about how the product
| | 00:27 | works. Think about when it's on, when it's
off, when it's in the hands of a buyer,
| | 00:31 | or a user.
| | 00:32 | Now that could be a simple as turning
on the camera, just to show what it looks
| | 00:36 | like when it's on, or in fact, it could
actually mean, a product like this, which
| | 00:40 | is an SD Card Reader.
| | 00:41 | Well can you tell that it's an SD card reader?
| | 00:44 | I can't. Well there's a few
things you can do to stage it.
| | 00:47 | Just because it's package this way,
doesn't mean that this is the way
| | 00:50 | you should show it.
| | 00:51 | Well, why not put an SD card next to it.
| | 00:53 | That would help.
| | 00:55 | Well, why not take the cap off. This
would help out a lot just to showing the
| | 00:59 | functionality of it.
| | 01:00 | Well there's one more thing I can do.
An important part of this product is that
| | 01:04 | the card fits inside of it.
| | 01:05 | Now, this could be my introductory shot.
| | 01:08 | I have already shown how the product can
be used and it's already a better shot.
| | 01:11 | Well, we you can take it farther.
| | 01:13 | Let's actually put it inside the laptop,
very important contextual shot. Now
| | 01:18 | you start to transcend its use.
| | 01:19 | Now, if I tip the camera just a
little bit more, you can start to see the
| | 01:23 | important blue light that goes on.
| | 01:25 | I would have never gotten this if
I hadn't put it into the computer.
| | 01:28 | Use this technique and start to think
about how the products that you sell,
| | 01:32 | start to transcend into their use.
Your buyers are going to thank
| | 01:35 | you for it.
| | 01:36 | Now, another combination is you how
you combine the 360 shot with its use.
| | 01:41 | This will be a great type of technique.
| | 01:43 | Now, you can take it even further. You
can take this type of technique and give
| | 01:48 | your products character, literally.
| | 01:50 | Now, the Brownie camera I showed you a
few minutes ago, what a great character.
| | 01:54 | But does this shot do it service?
| | 01:56 | I don't think so.
| | 01:57 | What about this one?
| | 01:58 | Well, not only did the flash go off, but
it's not very, it's not staged well.
| | 02:02 | Well, just a little extra effort and you
can get to a regular product shot or you
| | 02:06 | could take it that much further and I
love these shots, take a look at what
| | 02:10 | they've literally done.
| | 02:11 | They've turned them into a
little bit of collector's pieces.
| | 02:14 | You could imagine this sitting on a shelf.
| | 02:16 | You could imagine this sitting on
someone's, you know, backdrop or next to
| | 02:20 | their desk and these do a fantastic
job of just bringing that era into this
| | 02:25 | little, cute, little camera and so your
buyers are going to appreciate this, just
| | 02:29 | by giving that dimensionality and
that human touch to this product.
| | 02:32 | You can use these techniques on
just about anything that you shoot.
| | 02:36 | So, keep that in mind to go beyond the
360 view and show a dimensional and human
| | 02:41 | quality behind your products.
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|
|
7. Shooting Small ObjectsTips and tricks | 00:01 | You know, shooting small objects is no
small affair, but the nice thing is that
| | 00:04 | your environment is really small.
| | 00:07 | Get closer to the objects, the
mistakes could look even bigger, because you're
| | 00:10 | really, really close to them.
| | 00:11 | Well, few things and a few tips to keep in mind.
| | 00:15 | Now, you're going to want some lights,
first of all, multi-directional, I also
| | 00:19 | have a light table here, which is also helpful.
| | 00:21 | On hand, you might want to keep a
flat piece of white or black paper.
| | 00:25 | Now, the set-up is pretty straightforward.
| | 00:27 | This is any object that you may
want to shoot from the top down.
| | 00:30 | Now what kind of objects are we talking about?
| | 00:32 | Small little toys, maybe you have some
jewelry, I have some bracelets here,
| | 00:37 | necklaces and even some coins.
| | 00:39 | Now, this type of setup is really
helpful because you can basically drop them
| | 00:43 | right on here but you may be asking
"Where's the tripod? Where's the camera?"
| | 00:47 | Well, first of all, diffusion of the light.
| | 00:51 | This looks like a trash can, doesn't it?
| | 00:52 | Well, if you cut the bottom out, you
have a really good diffusion hood that you
| | 00:56 | can go right on top of the
object and shoot down through the top.
| | 01:00 | Now the other things,
| | 01:01 | you can get really creative with this.
| | 01:02 | Any diffused light, basically, that you
can shoot through is really very helpful.
| | 01:06 | This is an old laundry detergent
container and again, you can use, here's one, a milk
| | 01:11 | container, probably the cheapest.
| | 01:12 | Now, don't let this fool you.
| | 01:14 | You put this right on the top. The
light qualities inside of here are
| | 01:17 | really great.
| | 01:18 | Now, allowing me to just turn on the
camera and going to Macro mode, now remember
| | 01:23 | that's that little flower icon, I can
shoot and make all my adjustments just by
| | 01:28 | resting on top of here. Shooting
pretty fast, I'll get some great shots.
| | 01:31 | Now, these are just a few of the
techniques we're going to go into. These are fantastic
| | 01:35 | little setups, diffusion of the light,
the light quality and Macro setting.
| | 01:39 | That's all you have to remember.
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| Coins | 00:01 | You know, shooting a coin can take you on a
little bit of a journey across settings,
| | 00:05 | backdrops and even lighting
directions itself, but the good news you don't
| | 00:10 | have to travel very far.
| | 00:11 | Well, I shot this little guy a few
moments ago and it's copper-colored. There's a
| | 00:17 | couple of unique things about it.
| | 00:18 | So let me just tell you a little bit
about the journey I took to adjust some
| | 00:22 | settings to get the shots I wanted.
| | 00:24 | First of all, I put it on the light box.
Second, I grabbed one of my diffusers.
| | 00:29 | This allows me to set up a nice
environment around the coin. Third, I grabbed my
| | 00:33 | camera and I'll put in Macro mode.
| | 00:35 | Second, I'm shooting in manual.
| | 00:37 | This thing allows me to adjust the
shutter speed accordingly, as I'm shooting.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to set that right on top of there.
| | 00:43 | Next, I grab the lighting and this
allows me to go in and adjust the type
| | 00:47 | of location.
| | 00:48 | Now, every coin is different, every
coin has a little bit of relief on it.
| | 00:51 | This allows that relief to play off the
rim of the light here and I can shoot as
| | 00:57 | I go, adjusting for shutter
speed and everything in real time.
| | 01:01 | Now I repeated that across different
backgrounds and I did that about over about
| | 01:06 | seven minutes, which was great, and it
didn't take me very much time at all and
| | 01:09 | each time I adjusted the camera
and the lighting settings as I went.
| | 01:13 | Well let's take a look at some of the shots now.
| | 01:14 | All right, now you can fire off a lot
of shots really, really quickly in just
| | 01:19 | a couple minutes.
| | 01:20 | Let's talk about some of the ones along
our journey to get to the one we liked.
| | 01:24 | Now, this first one is on a flat piece of paper.
| | 01:26 | You can tell that it's got
the shadow up at the top.
| | 01:29 | Where's the light source coming from?
| | 01:31 | From the bottom.
| | 01:32 | You can tell from the rim
light on the bottom here.
| | 01:34 | Well next, let's move the
light a little bit to the left.
| | 01:37 | Well, one of the things I start to
noticing was that the detail is mostly on the
| | 01:41 | front of the face and also as I'm
adjusting for the different shutter speeds,
| | 01:45 | I'm getting some color shifting, but one
of the things that's really important is
| | 01:48 | making sure that it matches
the color of what I'm seeing.
| | 01:51 | This doesn't do it for me.
| | 01:53 | Well, this is starting to
achieve the lighting, which is great.
| | 01:56 | You can see here that the lighting
from the front is lit like a portrait,
| | 01:59 | which is really wonderful.
| | 02:00 | So, I'm starting to think to myself,
"Light the coin like I would light the portrait."
| | 02:05 | Now, but the colors are not quite there,
so let's take a look at the black ones.
| | 02:09 | Now this one's way off base.
| | 02:10 | Doesn't even look like the same coin, does it?
| | 02:13 | We go from here to here.
| | 02:16 | It's all over the place. I think I
remember the light accidentally hit up above,
| | 02:20 | when shinning down. You can
see what glare does to the coin.
| | 02:23 | This is not a gold coin,
this is, like, way off base here.
| | 02:27 | Again, the lighting from the
back, a little bit too dark.
| | 02:31 | Now, by adjusting just a few other
things, you can see that I've fixed on some
| | 02:35 | lighting on the right.
| | 02:36 | I've got some nice detail in the hair
and all of the pieces are starting to
| | 02:40 | come together.
| | 02:41 | Now I have a little bit of
clean up work to do around the black.
| | 02:44 | So, just remember to clean off all of
your surfaces really, really well and this
| | 02:47 | is something that you can start to
hone in on, but not bad for about seven
| | 02:51 | minutes worth of the work here.
| | 02:52 | So, keep these things in mind.
| | 02:54 | Now remember, when you do the coins, the
collector is going to really, really
| | 02:57 | get you on two things.
| | 02:58 | Is it accurately depicting the actual coin?
| | 03:01 | Is the information all in place?
| | 03:03 | and are you depicting the
relief really, really well?
| | 03:06 | Keep those things in mind
and you should be just right.
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| Jewelry | 00:01 | You know, shooting jewelry
can be creative and dynamic.
| | 00:03 | There's so many things going on.
| | 00:05 | You've got the read of the jewelry,
you've got the shot itself and
| | 00:08 | the craftsmanship.
| | 00:09 | So, let's talk a little bit about
some of the setups and choices you have.
| | 00:13 | Well, still, you can grab one of the
light diffusers and you can still shoot a lot
| | 00:17 | of jewelries, top-down.
| | 00:18 | You can repeat a lot of the same techniques.
| | 00:20 | You've got the white backdrop, the
black one and even the light table. All those
| | 00:24 | will work really great.
| | 00:25 | Another thing you might want to
consider, if you shoot a lot of jewelry, is
| | 00:28 | getting a mannequin or something that
you can repeat the shot over and over.
| | 00:31 | You can shoot directly into the tent itself.
| | 00:34 | Now another shot that you may
consider is the hanging shot.
| | 00:37 | You can rig in with a little fishing
line from the top, and what you benefit
| | 00:40 | from is when it hangs, you actually
get a lot of the shadows removed but you
| | 00:45 | also get the benefit of how gravity
behaves on the piece itself. Think about
| | 00:48 | this for earrings, or necklaces, in particular.
| | 00:51 | Now, the style of the piece is
really going to be important.
| | 00:55 | Now, this is the craftsmanship, but more
in particular, it's going to have to do
| | 00:58 | with how you present yourself online.
| | 01:01 | Now when you're shooting a lot of deep
inventory, a lot of necklaces, a lot of
| | 01:04 | bracelets, you want them
all those to be consistent.
| | 01:07 | So as you present the
pieces, they look great online.
| | 01:10 | Let's see how that translates over here.
| | 01:13 | Jewelry is such an intimate product.
| | 01:15 | You can take it in so many creative directions.
| | 01:17 | You can consider the source of the
jewelry itself and take it into a style that
| | 01:21 | is very much your own, whether it be the
starkness within the studio or something
| | 01:24 | more stylist onside the wood.
| | 01:26 | The continuity of the your jewelry
itself will transcend not just this purchase
| | 01:31 | but repeat purchases and you're buyers
are going to be wanting a relationship
| | 01:35 | with the product themselves and also with you.
| | 01:38 | Now think about that. Think about
repeat buyers coming back into a style and so
| | 01:42 | this is a really important
signature, a visual signature.
| | 01:46 | As you move across great shots,
you're going to want to think about how you
| | 01:49 | use props, even human props, on a way
to draw them into the types of jewelry
| | 01:55 | you have.
| | 01:56 | Now imagine the buyers, the buyers
are going to want to imagine themselves in it.
| | 01:59 | You have to think about these
types of things as you move into more
| | 02:03 | human connection.
| | 02:05 | It's such an intimate prop. Have fun
with this, even if it gets down to the
| | 02:09 | intimacy of hands, the touch of
something that's physically yielded from
| | 02:14 | the crafts of silver and metal and
platinum and gold and when it comes
| | 02:19 | together you'll know it.
| | 02:20 | You'll know when all comes together, visually.
| | 02:22 | The color, the aesthetic, the
craftsmanship will all come across beautifully.
| | 02:26 | Use this for your jewelry
shots and your shots will shine.
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| Collectibles and toys| 00:00 | Shooting toys can be a lot of fun.
| | 00:02 | A couple of things that think about,
though, is that amount of effort that you
| | 00:06 | put into it and what you get out
of it is going to be most critical.
| | 00:09 | That's every trade-off of any type of seller.
| | 00:12 | Now, you've all seen an image like
this and this is really what they call the 'Lot'.
| | 00:17 | This is just a collection of toys that
are usually dumped out onto the floor.
| | 00:21 | This is the easiest thing to do.
| | 00:22 | You might see this.
| | 00:23 | Well, a little extra effort put into
the shots will get you and your buyers
| | 00:30 | drawn into the shots a lot more.
| | 00:32 | Now, let's talk about this shot right here.
| | 00:35 | The time it took just to lay them out
was, you know, not that big of a trade-off.
| | 00:39 | What you really want to do is think
about a consistent shot that you can repeat
| | 00:43 | over and over for the same
amount of time it took to create this.
| | 00:46 | Let's talk about that.
| | 00:47 | Here's a pretty typical shot.
| | 00:49 | A photo tent allows me to set up a
light on the left and a light on the right.
| | 00:52 | Once I've done this, I can set a mark and
set the PEZ dispenser on each and every
| | 00:56 | single one of them in the exact same spot.
| | 00:58 | I have the aperture wide open, which
gives me a really nice selective focus.
| | 01:02 | And I can get the color.
| | 01:03 | I can get this really nice
effect on every single shot.
| | 01:06 | I don't have to change my
settings and I can just bang these out.
| | 01:09 | Well, depending on how deep your
inventory is, this is going to trade off
| | 01:13 | amazingly well when you start to see
them all lined up and your buyers will
| | 01:17 | absolute benefit from seeing the
detail and all the individuality.
| | 01:22 | Now, look how far we've come.
| | 01:23 | This is a fantastic shot and you can
do something like this just to check the
| | 01:28 | consistency by going into Photoshop,
going into their Automate feature and
| | 01:31 | viewing the Contact Sheet.
| | 01:33 | This is very helpful when lining up a
bunch of inventory that you might have and
| | 01:37 | there's an opportunity with toys that
just about any other product is not really
| | 01:41 | going to have and that's the sense of play.
| | 01:43 | Now imagine a piece of furniture.
| | 01:45 | You are going to want put it in the
context, or in an environment where it may
| | 01:48 | be experienced.
| | 01:50 | Well with the toys, this is
a little bit more freedom.
| | 01:52 | You can take it outside and a shot
like this goes underneath the actual tree,
| | 01:57 | in the shade.
| | 01:59 | Remove some of this direct sunlight.
| | 02:00 | You're going to get a really nice
selective focus shot like this or perhaps
| | 02:04 | you're going to actually set
up a little extra little thing.
| | 02:07 | Put the characters next to each other.
| | 02:08 | This can be a lot of fun.
| | 02:10 | You may have a collector that's
thinking "What year is it? What's the quality
| | 02:14 | "of the item?" Or you may have a mom or
dad that's trying to get a type of toy
| | 02:17 | for little Tommy.
| | 02:18 | So, think about this as you
kind of set things up in the sense of
| | 02:22 | play and you can always get
this great sense of detail.
| | 02:25 | Here you've got something
that speaks to a collector.
| | 02:27 | You can put the make, the model, the
quality, all that can be in there in the
| | 02:31 | context of something that is it a
quick, little five minute shoot
| | 02:34 | outside underneath a tree.
| | 02:35 | Now the details that matter are going
to be most important to draw them even
| | 02:39 | closer to your products.
| | 02:41 | So like with the doll, like this, you
are going to want a pull out just at the
| | 02:45 | details that matter like the dress
or you want to pull up the hair or the
| | 02:49 | make, or the model.
| | 02:50 | So, this is really critical and like
always, just like this little, tiny dog,
| | 02:55 | put little things in context, like we
remember, put the little things that
| | 02:58 | help portray the size.
| | 03:00 | So, use these techniques to actually
start to paint a nice picture of a sense of
| | 03:05 | play for the toys that you shoot.
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|
|
8. Shooting Medium-Sized ObjectsClothing, shoes, and accessories| 00:00 | I wanted to spend a few moments
talking about clothing for E-Commerce.
| | 00:03 | Now the most exciting thing about
clothing is that it's a personal relationship
| | 00:07 | of how someone might imagine
themselves in the garments themselves.
| | 00:11 | A few things I offer up to think about.
| | 00:13 | The imagination of a buyer is very important.
| | 00:16 | You want to suspend that
imagination so they start to see themselves in
| | 00:19 | the clothes themselves.
| | 00:20 | The cohesive look and feel is not
only important across your line but the
| | 00:24 | cohesive look as how it's
presented in the E-Commerce result set.
| | 00:28 | You are lineup in the results at
itself is critical as you compare and
| | 00:32 | contrast against other sellers and
other types of garments that are in
| | 00:36 | the result set.
| | 00:37 | We will talk a little bit about that.
| | 00:40 | I'd say, probably, the most
important part is the human connection part.
| | 00:43 | This is where you want to photograph
the items in such a way so that they come
| | 00:47 | across as they can be worn.
| | 00:49 | People are going to imagine a
lifestyle of themselves in your garments and
| | 00:52 | in your clothes.
| | 00:53 | You have to have this come across.
| | 00:55 | Let's get started.
| | 00:56 | Now let's take any general commerce
site you usually start with a search, may
| | 01:00 | start with the browse path.
| | 01:02 | In this scenario, we are
going to search for a scarf.
| | 01:04 | Now I am going to basically
generalize the type of results that you'd see.
| | 01:08 | Now let's talk about that.
| | 01:10 | With any result set you may have
a first read, what is that hook?
| | 01:14 | Now one of the trade-offs to think
about in each one of these is how they are
| | 01:18 | shot and how they're compared
against other shots in that search result.
| | 01:22 | Here you've got a garment that on a
live model, that's consistently lit.
| | 01:27 | There's also one that's against a
mannequin and then you've got something that is
| | 01:31 | just folded.
| | 01:32 | Now depending on the site that you
are on and depending on the type of
| | 01:36 | merchandise that you have in your store,
you have the opportunity to establish
| | 01:40 | a look.
| | 01:41 | If they've purchased from you before,
and you always present your scarves or
| | 01:47 | your garments in this
configuration, you'll want that continuity.
| | 01:51 | They'll have no idea that this may be
your garment at first read, if they've
| | 01:55 | purchased from you before.
| | 01:57 | This is the very beginning of what I
call the first look or first read into
| | 02:01 | your garment itself.
| | 02:02 | Let's go ahead and pretend that we are
going to click on this one right here.
| | 02:05 | Now this is a generalized detailed view.
| | 02:08 | This detailed view is really
where you've pulled them in.
| | 02:10 | You are giving them information.
| | 02:12 | Now the next step, most likely, is
going to be that they want to get closer
| | 02:15 | to it.
| | 02:16 | They want to see maybe the fabric.
They want to see these details.
| | 02:19 | Here is a very typical type of
experience that they may receive, an overlay.
| | 02:24 | The overlay to a gallery, depending
how it goes, is a reinforcement of
| | 02:28 | your first read.
| | 02:30 | Now the most important parts are
over here in your gallery on what you are
| | 02:33 | going to show next.
| | 02:34 | Let's talk about that.
| | 02:36 | What you are seeing is the
diversification of the live model.
| | 02:39 | You are starting to see
it used in a lifestyle way.
| | 02:42 | Notice the cropping. This square
cropping fits the template really beautifully.
| | 02:47 | This is a great shot, but also notice
that within an automated system it's going
| | 02:51 | to crop to the width here in the
aspect ratio and notice the space down here,
| | 02:56 | keep that in mind when you're shooting.
| | 02:58 | Again, great shot, vertical orientation.
This shows off the model and the scarf
| | 03:04 | really beautifully and I can imagine
this type of shot doing really well.
| | 03:08 | Vertical orientation,
there is some open space here.
| | 03:11 | Just keep that in mind. Every commerce
site moves its way into an automated way.
| | 03:16 | You want to think about that
with regard to aspect ratio.
| | 03:19 | Now, your style is going to
come across really lovely.
| | 03:22 | Depending on your setup, you can have
an indoor point of view, or really an
| | 03:25 | outdoor point of view, each is fine.
| | 03:28 | You want to think about that in
terms of shots that you have over
| | 03:31 | continuity over time.
| | 03:33 | Now what is continuity?
| | 03:34 | Continuity is about the light.
| | 03:37 | It's about the model, and
the angles by which you shoot.
| | 03:41 | All those are critical for your style
as you start to accessorize and move
| | 03:45 | past that initial image.
| | 03:48 | This topic is all about contextualizing
your work next to each other and in the
| | 03:53 | E-Commerce site itself.
| | 03:55 | Now I did a couple of these things on purpose.
| | 03:57 | You will start to see that when these
images came in, they get automatically
| | 04:01 | put into squares.
| | 04:02 | I enlarged them so you could see them.
| | 04:04 | The other thing you'll notice is the
continuity between the images themselves.
| | 04:09 | Anything that's out of place
is immediately shown up here.
| | 04:12 | This is a nice configuration where
you have one shoe overlaid on the other.
| | 04:16 | That's great for flats, but it's
not going to work so great for boots.
| | 04:20 | When you start to put these types of
things next to each other, you want the
| | 04:24 | general visual direction all to be cohesive.
| | 04:27 | That's how this works pretty well
and matches the boots down below.
| | 04:31 | This is pointing in a
completely different direction.
| | 04:34 | It's also clipping off the toes and the heels.
| | 04:37 | Keep this in mind and it's very
important that you don't look at your
| | 04:41 | photographs just by themselves.
| | 04:43 | You need to constantly
put them next to each other.
| | 04:45 | Now even though these were shot all
within the photo tent, the photo tent itself
| | 04:50 | had a little wrinkle underneath it.
| | 04:52 | Now ,this didn't require any touch-up work.
| | 04:55 | This is just a color correction where
you try to blow out some of the white.
| | 04:58 | That would have taken extra time.
| | 05:00 | Now I am going to suggest that there
is no rules in E-Commerce photography
| | 05:03 | right now.
| | 05:04 | Whatever draws you in, whatever is
the type of style. I see professional
| | 05:08 | companies de-constructing their shots.
| | 05:10 | I see some companies that are
moving more towards traditional
| | 05:13 | E-Commerce photography.
| | 05:15 | It's all about continuity.
| | 05:17 | It's all about context and style.
| | 05:19 | Let's go to the next one.
| | 05:21 | Now these have different aspect ratios
and they are raised against a backdrop.
| | 05:27 | Now this is a completely
different type of look-and-feel.
| | 05:30 | You may upload your foot into this E-
Commerce engine and it will totally turn
| | 05:34 | into something different.
| | 05:35 | This is critical because as you are
floating things against this white, look at
| | 05:39 | the nuances between the color.
| | 05:41 | This is not a pure white.
| | 05:42 | This is not a pure white.
| | 05:44 | This is not a pure white.
| | 05:45 | You start to see all this
discontinuity. Maybe things are shot correctly,
| | 05:49 | everything is pointing to the lower
right, but there's clipping and there's
| | 05:53 | actually some artifacts that are going
on here. Very, very important when you
| | 05:57 | start to put some of these
things next to each other.
| | 05:59 | Now here's something
that's a little more breathable.
| | 06:02 | This actually was
brought into Photoshop as well.
| | 06:05 | Not only was this color corrected and
lightened, you can start to see that some
| | 06:08 | of the shadows were removed and
some of those wrinkles were removed.
| | 06:11 | As you move visually, there is continuity.
| | 06:14 | This is more of what we see on the web.
| | 06:17 | Now as soon as we fade in some of the
artifacts, you can see the benefit of
| | 06:20 | the system.
| | 06:21 | There is no angled or line
elements surrounding the pieces.
| | 06:25 | It's all against a white background.
| | 06:27 | This is more in line of what
we'd come to expect in E-Commerce.
| | 06:30 | Now depending where you are going to
upload these to, as soon as you have an
| | 06:34 | image that doesn't have a white
background, it's going to stick out like a sore
| | 06:37 | thumb, good, bad, or otherwise.
| | 06:40 | You have to think about the
products themselves and drawing them into
| | 06:43 | the details.
| | 06:44 | They may be distracted by the background
and not these cool laces or some of the
| | 06:48 | details that you see here.
| | 06:50 | Let's go to the next example here
where a format is actually redefined by the
| | 06:55 | presentation layer itself.
| | 06:56 | What do we see?
| | 06:57 | A bunch of great dresses.
| | 06:59 | Now one of the aspects was keep it human.
| | 07:01 | Well, I would say this actually
delivers on this because it actually dresses
| | 07:05 | up the mannequin really lovely and it
really participates in how the dress falls
| | 07:09 | on the figure.
| | 07:10 | Now I'm not distracted by the model or
the smile or any of the other things, I
| | 07:15 | am looking exactly at all
the different items themselves.
| | 07:19 | Now watch what happens when I do this.
| | 07:21 | I fade in some arrows left and right.
| | 07:22 | Well, all of a sudden, what's implied
is that there is more left or right.
| | 07:27 | This is a great view where cropping,
planning and web experience is all brought
| | 07:33 | together, where there's continuity and
comparison built into this very viewer.
| | 07:37 | Where might this be?
| | 07:38 | Well, this could be anywhere on
the web, but this is showcasing some
| | 07:41 | really lovely pieces.
| | 07:43 | Now let's slightly represent it a
little differently where it's smaller, maybe
| | 07:47 | in HTML, but I totally benefit from
just having this vertical format here.
| | 07:52 | Look how many I can fit on the page.
I can quickly accessorize, and I can go
| | 07:55 | down and see what's going on here.
| | 07:58 | Let's take it one step further.
| | 08:00 | If we go in and think about all the
different things that will be important for
| | 08:04 | comparing dresses, we may want to
think about getting closer to it.
| | 08:07 | As I move closer into it, this
is common practice on the web.
| | 08:11 | If I shoot one great shot but I have
great resolution, I may be able to zoom
| | 08:16 | around the particular garment
and see all the nice details.
| | 08:19 | I can see the seams, I can see the
color, all the stitching, and that
| | 08:25 | is critical.
| | 08:26 | That's on this particular image.
| | 08:28 | Now your next shots as they relate
to lifestyle might be some of these
| | 08:32 | additional shots that you see in the gallery.
| | 08:34 | Keep this in mind.
| | 08:36 | One great shot can take you a long way.
| | 08:40 | Let's talk a little bit more about style.
| | 08:42 | Here we've got an indoor shot, very
clean lines and we've got it draped
| | 08:46 | beautifully and we've got a really
nice shot that allows us to be almost
| | 08:50 | accessorized into an outfit.
| | 08:52 | Now, as soon as I fade in some E-
Commerce pieces, look what begins to happen.
| | 08:56 | I've got the great title of the dress.
| | 08:59 | I've got a simple description, and
this really nice language that you're
| | 09:03 | starting to see online, 'Shop this look'.
| | 09:05 | As you constantly think about your
shoots, think about what's implied here.
| | 09:10 | You've done one particular set
up, you know that's your hook.
| | 09:13 | Then you've got your consistent
model that you can quickly move into a
| | 09:17 | gallery scenario where you could start
to imagine different types of outfits
| | 09:22 | going on with this dress.
| | 09:23 | Use this to your advantage.
| | 09:25 | You want to be able to coordinate
and collect the items from one model to
| | 09:30 | the next.
| | 09:31 | Now think about this as a really clean
way to accessorize and to juxtapose the
| | 09:36 | garment to the style image.
Visually, things look great. The lighting is
| | 09:40 | consistent, I love it.
| | 09:42 | Next shot.
| | 09:43 | Same set up, different presentation.
| | 09:47 | This is to what I see here
a completely different idea.
| | 09:50 | This is where you've got a really clean
garment, but when it's presented against
| | 09:54 | this notebook, you start to
see things a little differently.
| | 09:58 | Look at how this may have an effect on
the deconstruction of the garment itself.
| | 10:02 | Is it handmade?
| | 10:03 | Who is it made by?
| | 10:05 | And this is the type of thing where you
have complete freedom on how you shoot
| | 10:09 | and then possibly present your work.
| | 10:11 | Use this to your advantage and
take this a little bit farther.
| | 10:15 | Now let's summarize a few
things we just talked about.
| | 10:18 | Clothing, shoes, and accessories have
absolutely a lot to do with imagination
| | 10:21 | of the buyer.
| | 10:22 | They need to see themselves
in the cloths and imagine that.
| | 10:25 | You have to bring a
cohesive look to all of your shots.
| | 10:28 | Now this is cohesiveness not only in
putting together a brand in a point of
| | 10:33 | view, it has a lot to do
with seeing it altogether.
| | 10:37 | That brings your work into context.
| | 10:39 | The context is critical.
| | 10:40 | You want to be starting to visualize and
pre-visualize your work in a result set
| | 10:44 | as well as the detail
views and bring it altogether.
| | 10:48 | Those are just a few things to think
about when shooting clothing, shoes,
| | 10:51 | and accessories.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Glass and transparency | 00:00 | Shooting glass and transparent objects
is a little less forgiving than some of
| | 00:04 | the other products you may shoot.
| | 00:05 | I mean just look at some of the
things that are going on here.
| | 00:07 | I have got light background.
| | 00:10 | I have got dark background.
| | 00:11 | I have got a bottom light.
| | 00:13 | This form can be seen seven different ways.
| | 00:15 | Now sometimes the process of removal
is just as important as what you add to
| | 00:20 | a particular set.
| | 00:21 | Now when you handle glass, everything
is going to show, so when you actually
| | 00:25 | pick it up and move it, this is going
to be really important because every
| | 00:29 | little detail and every
little dust will actually show.
| | 00:32 | Well, let's talk about the process of
actually shooting this because I am going
| | 00:35 | to tell you some of the decisions I made.
| | 00:38 | Now a couple of different objects
here, from green glass to clear to
| | 00:41 | different shapes.
| | 00:42 | You want to think about a couple of things.
| | 00:44 | First of all, what lenses are in your bag?
| | 00:46 | I had two.
| | 00:47 | I had a fixed lens 50 mm and an 18-200 zoom.
| | 00:51 | Well, we'll illustrate the
differences between them.
| | 00:53 | The first thing here is I want to
think about removing this transition here.
| | 00:57 | That's a pretty sharp transition
between the light and the dark.
| | 01:01 | So I wanted to make sure that when I
shot something 1.8, I knew that my focal
| | 01:06 | length is going to be right about here.
| | 01:07 | Just to illustrate it, I pulled one of
the flowers in the foreground, knowing
| | 01:11 | that it was not going to be in focus.
| | 01:13 | Well, with that set up, I started to shoot.
| | 01:15 | This is my very first shot, a
little bit on the light side.
| | 01:18 | So, I increased the shutter speed. By
letting less light into the camera,
| | 01:22 | you can see that my shot
is starting to get darker.
| | 01:25 | Well there is something now going on, context.
I don't know how big those
| | 01:29 | flowers are but I want to know if the
buyer wants to know, "Well, can I put
| | 01:33 | "flowers in this vase?"
| | 01:34 | Well, look at how they would probably look.
| | 01:36 | This is just a tiny little vase.
| | 01:38 | So this is the direction I
was starting to head with this.
| | 01:40 | Well, next I had a square perfume bottle.
| | 01:43 | And something to think about is that
you probably don't want to shoot it
| | 01:47 | straight on and also, by removing some
of the transition here, I lifted the
| | 01:52 | camera up and shot it from an angle, and
you can start to see that I am starting
| | 01:56 | to get a shot that's more like what I'd
see in an advertisement and then what's
| | 02:00 | in focus is right here on the corner.
| | 02:03 | Again, I am shooting my 50 mm right around 1.4.
| | 02:07 | Now, let's tell the story about this little guy.
| | 02:11 | I started off with the bottom light
table on. This is my first, initial set up.
| | 02:16 | This is basically my first shot.
| | 02:18 | Some reflection is going on here and
then I quickly moved and removed the light
| | 02:23 | table just to see what that would look like.
| | 02:25 | Now you know the specular highlights
are very different in this shot from
| | 02:28 | what you see here.
| | 02:29 | That really has to do with the diffusion,
the diffusion that's going on through
| | 02:33 | the light tent itself.
| | 02:35 | I added a flower back in and I am
moving in the right direction, but there's one
| | 02:39 | problem. The lights behind me in
the studio were actually creating some
| | 02:44 | reflections I didn't like.
| | 02:46 | So how do you remove those?
| | 02:47 | We turn-off those lights.
| | 02:48 | Don't worry.
| | 02:49 | You've got plenty of light inside the
tent and I don't want to think that a
| | 02:52 | buyer thinks that this is a blemish
or a flaw in the actual vase itself.
| | 02:56 | Well, next, you know you can see that
this is setup that provided the last shot
| | 03:01 | and I'm okay, but don't be
satisfied with what you have here.
| | 03:05 | I'd switched out to my 18 x 200 and I
am shooting at about F4 so everything
| | 03:10 | inside the photo tent is in focus.
| | 03:12 | This is about the shot that I'm getting now.
| | 03:14 | You know, it's evolving.
| | 03:16 | It's going pretty well.
| | 03:18 | But there's one more thing I want to try.
| | 03:20 | Always think about the background.
| | 03:22 | You know in this set up right here,
you can see that I just quickly tacked
| | 03:24 | it up.
| | 03:25 | It was super quick.
| | 03:26 | It took me about 30 seconds just and
already, I knew that I was going to
| | 03:30 | like the shot.
| | 03:31 | So, I did a quick reset and
this is my very first shot.
| | 03:35 | Pretty good exposure, I put the flower
back in and I have got my final shot.
| | 03:39 | Now this whole process took for about,
you know, seven minutes to do and I was
| | 03:43 | really glad that I
explored some of those things.
| | 03:46 | Now look at the difference
between this shot and what you see here.
| | 03:50 | The combination of a dark background,
the diffused lighting, the contextual
| | 03:55 | piece of the flower in there provide a
much better shot than where we started.
| | 03:59 | Use some of these techniques to really
evolve and meander your way towards the
| | 04:04 | right glass shot that you're looking for.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
9. Shooting Large Objects and Real EstateShooting larger stuff | 00:00 | You know, there will come a time when
you have to shoot a product that's larger
| | 00:04 | than the environment that you can control.
| | 00:06 | So far, we've been talking about
things you can easily put in photo tent.
| | 00:09 | You can light them but what happens
if you've to shoot a large piece of
| | 00:12 | furniture, or a bike, or maybe even a car?
| | 00:14 | Well, shooting larger stuff is and can be
kind of tricky if you want to do it practically.
| | 00:20 | Now, start with this shot.
| | 00:21 | This was shot in a really nice studio.
| | 00:23 | I got this out of the Electra Bike catalog.
| | 00:25 | It's lovely, but this type of shot
will be really hard to reproduce.
| | 00:30 | Instead, I got on my bike and drove
around the neighborhood a little bit and
| | 00:35 | replicated a shot that was more lifestyle,
more something that I could be happy with.
| | 00:39 | So, I found an alley on a like non-
sunny day and so there's no direct sunlight.
| | 00:47 | So, the diffused light is
ingredient number one.
| | 00:50 | Secondly, I shot it in such a way that I
could play out my own style, so I don't
| | 00:55 | have a lot of bikes to shoot but
if I did, I found a nice location.
| | 00:59 | Now the details that matter here, I brought
with me just one camera body and one lens.
| | 01:05 | The lens I chose was the 50 mm 1.4.
| | 01:06 | Now remember, that's a wide-open lens,
so I know that I can get some really
| | 01:11 | nice selective focus.
| | 01:13 | Well, I know they shoot bikes like this
because I was looking through the catalog.
| | 01:16 | Well, secondly, I just started walking
around the bike and I started shooting it.
| | 01:20 | Now, with furniture, with cars, all this
is going to be the same, I am starting
| | 01:23 | to put the bike in context a little bit.
| | 01:26 | I wasn't so happy with this first shot.
| | 01:28 | Not only not a very becoming shot of
the seat but you know, there's not of that
| | 01:34 | great selective focus, so I kept shooting.
| | 01:37 | I came across something like this.
| | 01:39 | I like this much better.
| | 01:40 | Notice how it shows off all of the
contrast stitching, puts the emphasis
| | 01:44 | directly on the seat itself.
Now I've got my detail shot.
| | 01:48 | Next, the handlebars.
| | 01:49 | There is some really nice details on
the handlebars itself, but this doesn't
| | 01:52 | necessarily do it for me.
| | 01:55 | Instead, I just kept shooting.
| | 01:57 | I opened up the aperture really wide and
I've got exactly what I want, much more
| | 02:01 | of a selective focus and now I have the
detail and I am putting the eye exactly
| | 02:06 | where I want them to.
| | 02:08 | Next is the handlebars.
| | 02:09 | As I walked around, I was trying to
think about really creative way to
| | 02:12 | shooting the handlebars.
| | 02:14 | This bike is really comfortable to ride.
| | 02:16 | So I want to show that. I want to show
how bent the handlebars are and this is
| | 02:21 | a really lovely shot.
| | 02:22 | I can shoot over the seat and in the
background, I see some of the fence, some
| | 02:26 | of the urban environment.
| | 02:27 | Well, that's part of my style.
| | 02:29 | All these shots were shot at the same
time in a consistent lighting, so they are
| | 02:32 | all going to go together.
| | 02:35 | Next, let's talk a little bit about
shooting something bigger like a car.
| | 02:38 | Now shooting a car is
sometimes pretty difficult.
| | 02:41 | Here's a couple of shots of the Infiniti G35.
| | 02:43 | Now as we go into this, look at some of
the interior shots, look at the details.
| | 02:49 | This was shot in direct sunlight.
| | 02:51 | Look at how this video was used to
actually show how light enters the cabin.
| | 02:55 | What a really nice detail.
| | 02:57 | An important aspect of this
particular make and model is the keyless start.
| | 03:02 | Notice how the video shows that really lovely.
| | 03:05 | Now there's all the
details that you can imagine.
| | 03:07 | This is a high priced item and if
you're selling something like on eBay Motors,
| | 03:11 | they're going to require
that you have 20, 25 shots.
| | 03:15 | So, use this to the benefit of actually
describing the vehicle on a really lovely way.
| | 03:20 | Notice on the trunk shot, how you can
actually go impressive, look at how they did that.
| | 03:25 | With the key in your pocket, you
can actually open up the trunk.
| | 03:28 | All these provide really lovely,
little details that matter about the car
| | 03:32 | and one of my favorite shots here is
actually the voice over of the owner in
| | 03:37 | the rear view mirror.
| | 03:39 | Such a great use of the medium.
| | 03:41 | You know, sometimes you get a shot
back and you're just not happy with it.
| | 03:44 | Like this shot in particular, the backdrop
is just totally competing with the car itself.
| | 03:50 | Well, instead of having to re-
shoot, that's not very practical.
| | 03:53 | Instead, I took it into Photoshop and
I visually traced the object itself.
| | 03:57 | Now I'm not suggesting that you go in and
Photoshop your images because that
| | 04:02 | wouldn't be very trustworthy if you are
starting to affect the actual product,
| | 04:05 | but you can go in and visually push
out a background or make an object pop.
| | 04:10 | That's perfectly within reason.
| | 04:12 | In this case, I ended up on a couple
of different variations and settled on
| | 04:16 | this one, because I felt just by
removing those leaves and pushing the backdrop
| | 04:20 | a little bit out, it allowed the
product to pop a little bit and this was the
| | 04:24 | most practical thing, and this
is really what it's all about.
| | 04:27 | The ability for you to use the tools
that you have, whether they are in your bag
| | 04:31 | or in your skills like Photoshop so
that you can make your products get better
| | 04:35 | visibility and get higher
value for something like this.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Real estate curb appeal| 00:01 | Dane Howard: I wanted to talk a little bit
about real estate photography.
| | 00:04 | Now how does this relate to ecommerce
photography? What's one of the largest two
| | 00:07 | good items out there on the Web?
| | 00:09 | Whether you're selling a house, renting
your apartment, the most important part
| | 00:12 | of showcasing it well will translate
to literally thousands and thousands of
| | 00:17 | dollars, if you photograph it well.
| | 00:19 | I am no expert in this regard at
all, but I know someone that is.
| | 00:23 | I have a trusted agent friend that has
helped sell houses, and helped me buy mine.
| | 00:28 | Her name is Mary Pope-Handy and I've asked
her to help me with a few of these items.
| | 00:32 | Now, the first is all about curb appeal.
| | 00:35 | Curb appeal with any type of the
house is one of the most important shots.
| | 00:38 | Here are a few words from Mary as she has
helped us with some of these ideas.
| | 00:43 | Mary Pope-Handy: When photographing the front of the house,
there are a whole bunch of things to remember.
| | 00:46 | This is probably the single most
important thing when you sell a home, because
| | 00:51 | if people don't feel that it's attractive
from the outside, they may never come inside.
| | 00:55 | And that's probably true on the MLS too.
I see the stats all the time, and the
| | 00:58 | number one picture that people look
at is the exterior front of the home.
| | 01:02 | So, what you want to do is create
something appealing and inviting, not too
| | 01:07 | distracting and you want them to
really see the home as something that they
| | 01:11 | could see themselves in.
| | 01:13 | So, you want to depersonalize
it just like you were the house.
| | 01:16 | You don't want to have giant pictures
of yourself in the home when you are
| | 01:20 | taking pictures of it.
| | 01:21 | You want to have no car in the driveway.
| | 01:24 | If the driveway is super-shiny and
reflective because it's the middle of the
| | 01:28 | day, you might even consider wetting
down the driveway, so that it's more muted
| | 01:32 | and doesn't draw as much attention.
| | 01:35 | When you're photographing the home, it
looks best if you can see the front door
| | 01:39 | and the windows pretty much unobstructed.
| | 01:41 | So, if there are large hedges, and I
have seen homes like this in my own
| | 01:44 | neighborhood, where hedges are
growing halfway up the window.
| | 01:48 | You want to trim them back.
| | 01:50 | You'd like to have a little bit of
color going up to the front walkway.
| | 01:53 | So maybe some potted
flowers if there is not a planter.
| | 01:56 | Something pleasant near the garage.
| | 01:59 | If the house has a big, giant white
door to the garage and the rest of the
| | 02:04 | house is a darker color, the eye is going to
be drawn to that whiteness of the garage door.
| | 02:10 | And that's not really going to be
very helpful, because we don't want
| | 02:13 | people looking at the house and
seeing so much the garage and the driveway,
| | 02:18 | we want their eye drawn to the front
door, the windows, the front porch,
| | 02:22 | the front landscaping.
| | 02:24 | So if that garage door is a white or a
bright color that contrasts sharply with
| | 02:30 | the house, I'd say mute it out.
| | 02:31 | That's money well spent.
| | 02:33 | Then I would try to get pictures of the
home away from the driveway and garage
| | 02:38 | if that's possible, just so that
that's kind of minimized in the picture.
| | 02:42 | One of the cardinal sins I see as
homes where it looks like what you are
| | 02:45 | selling is a garage.
| | 02:46 | Dane Howard: Well, it was very important that Mary
just explained to us was the idea of the
| | 02:52 | first read, the curb appeal.
| | 02:54 | From this particular shot, you can see
a number of things are kind of countered
| | 02:57 | to what she was actually inviting us to do.
| | 03:00 | Some of the things that I observed in
just walking around with her were some of
| | 03:04 | the things about
depersonalizing it, about big white spaces.
| | 03:08 | All these things are really helpful.
| | 03:10 | Again, think about pulling
back from the house itself.
| | 03:13 | Here, this actually has a fence, which is
very important to the attributes of the house.
| | 03:18 | So, you want to juxtapose this
particular shot here with this one here.
| | 03:22 | How is it set off of the street?
| | 03:24 | Is it more secure, less secure?
| | 03:26 | Am I going to have to open up
this gate and close it all the time?
| | 03:29 | Now again she said,
don't have the cars in there.
| | 03:32 | Some of these things are
very critical and important.
| | 03:34 | I will invite you to look at this image
itself, the time of year or the time of
| | 03:39 | light might be really important to
allow someone to imagine themselves.
| | 03:42 | So as you think about curb appeal,
let's listen to Mary and let's see what else
| | 03:46 | she might have to say.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Living spaces| 00:01 | Dane Howard: Next, let's talk about inside of
the house itself, living spaces.
| | 00:05 | I have asked Mary to walk with us
and talk to us about what she's seeing.
| | 00:10 | Mary Pope-Handy: Okay. So I am looking at
the living room and it's early in the morning.
| | 00:13 | So, the lighting is not too
strong in this room right now.
| | 00:16 | So, it could be improved if the
lighting were a little bit brighter.
| | 00:19 | The room shows a little dark, because
the colors are muted and there is only one
| | 00:23 | window, one small window
in the direction of the sun.
| | 00:26 | As I look at the room, there is
not very much I would change for
| | 00:29 | actually photographing it.
| | 00:31 | There are a couple of little
distractions that I would remove.
| | 00:34 | I see a white coaster, which against the
dark brown background kind of jumps out.
| | 00:39 | So, I would hide that.
| | 00:39 | I see a few cords for computers or
electronic devices near the couch and on the desk.
| | 00:46 | The mouse, I would probably remove
those, and aside from fluffing the pillows,
| | 00:50 | that's probably all I would do for this room.
| | 00:52 | Mary gives us some great tips here.
| | 00:55 | You can see already I have some
actionable items to start to attack here.
| | 00:59 | She's starting to see some
things that may distract.
| | 01:01 | Now when you stage any particular room, you
can see that the lighting is very important.
| | 01:06 | Now in some cases, I can remember thinking,
"Should the flash be on or should the flash be off?"
| | 01:12 | Now again, you want to think about the
natural light of what this room really is
| | 01:16 | telling us right here, and if I move
one step to the right, what I see as well.
| | 01:21 | Now as you start to have the
juxtaposition of these different types of images,
| | 01:25 | think about what's going on right here
with the light and I see a lot of great
| | 01:28 | detail, compared to this one
where it seems pretty dark.
| | 01:31 | So, I really like the
advice that she's giving us.
| | 01:34 | Now let's think about this particular shot.
| | 01:37 | Look at how natural light is used.
| | 01:39 | I'm standing right on the step, and I am
looking through the foyer into the living room.
| | 01:43 | This is a really nice shot that
helps give an understanding of how this
| | 01:48 | particular opening of this site is looking,
| | 01:51 | and what is happening here in this
home. If I take just three or four steps
| | 01:55 | forward, I get a shot like this.
| | 01:57 | What a great, inviting way to
think about the living room.
| | 02:00 | Now let's go over into the dining
room itself and look back the other way.
| | 02:05 | Look at how beautiful the light coming
in to this living room begins to play out.
| | 02:10 | This is starting to be a really
nice shot that we can work with.
| | 02:14 | Now that we are standing in the
dining room, let's talk a little bit about
| | 02:17 | dining room shots themselves.
| | 02:19 | I have asked Mary to walk us through
some of the things she thinks about when
| | 02:23 | photographing dining rooms.
| | 02:24 | Mary Pope-Handy: Dining rooms are often kind
of a clutter magnet, because people tend to take all
| | 02:30 | of their nicest finery and put
it in the hutch if there is one.
| | 02:34 | So one of the first dangers about
photographing a dining room I'd want to alert
| | 02:38 | you to is if the hutch is going to
show, make sure it's not overstuffed.
| | 02:43 | That's probably the one most normal
problem that I see in dining room photography.
| | 02:48 | The other thing is if your home is for
sale and you want to take a picture of
| | 02:52 | the dining room, you want to make sure
it's just as uncluttered as can be, so
| | 02:56 | the focus is really the space around the table.
| | 02:59 | You want to show that there is room
to entertain and have your family and
| | 03:02 | friends in without feeling like they are
going to bump into an awful lot of extra stuff.
| | 03:07 | So if you're selling your home, make
sure there's plenty of walk-around room so
| | 03:12 | that the people looking at the home
can really picture themselves there.
| | 03:15 | Now, when you take pictures of the
dining room, another thing to worry about is
| | 03:20 | extra clutter on surfaces other than the table.
| | 03:24 | So my suggestion, generally, would be if
you do have a low hutch, get it down to
| | 03:29 | one or two items and if you have any
other furniture in the room and in this
| | 03:33 | case, there is a piano, I'd probably
suggest for moving everything except one
| | 03:37 | item, just so that you don't end up
with people saying, "Oh, what's that on
| | 03:41 | "that piece of furniture," because viewers of
pictures are very, very easily distracted.
| | 03:47 | Lighting, of course, is extremely important.
| | 03:49 | Always allow yourself the opportunity
to come back at various times of the
| | 03:53 | day rather than say it has to be done this
one time, under these lighting circumstances.
| | 03:59 | So if you can allow yourself, the
permission to come back at various times with
| | 04:04 | different kind of lighting
conditions, that's a good idea.
| | 04:06 | Dane Howard: Mary has got some great tips
in photographing dining rooms.
| | 04:10 | Now let's look at this last shot here and
how all this is starting to come together.
| | 04:15 | As we pull back from that original shot,
you can see that we're looking from the
| | 04:18 | dining room into the living room. The
natural light is playing to our advantage,
| | 04:22 | and we start to see all
these things coming together.
| | 04:25 | I have some nice room
between the chair and the back.
| | 04:29 | I've removed a lot of the clutter
and the light seems to be pouring in
| | 04:32 | really beautifully.
| | 04:33 | This is the type of shot that
Mary was actually speaking about.
| | 04:36 | Now, keep this in mind when shooting
interiors on some of the most sought-after
| | 04:41 | images themselves, the ones that
really bring you in to sell your home.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Panoramas| 00:01 | I wanted to say a few words about panoramas.
| | 00:03 | The more I spoke with Mary, the more I
understood that the wide open space and
| | 00:07 | the panoramic view was critical.
| | 00:10 | Let's talk about some of the
things where you might want to use that.
| | 00:12 | I found myself in a home looking
across this particular dining area.
| | 00:16 | Now, we are on a wide-screen monitor,
so already, we are in a wide format.
| | 00:21 | But as I moved left and right and
looked at some of the shots I was putting
| | 00:24 | together, I quickly put
together this type of panorama.
| | 00:28 | Now, I did not go into Photoshop,
I did not color correct this.
| | 00:31 | All I did was place three of the
shots I had together, next to them and look
| | 00:36 | what a difference this makes.
| | 00:37 | A panoramic view can absolutely change
the perception of a particular room, and
| | 00:42 | even though it's not perfectly correct,
any buyer is going to understand the
| | 00:45 | benefit of this type of room in
relationship to the kitchen itself.
| | 00:50 | Panoramas are critical. Just because
you are standing there and don't have
| | 00:54 | a panoramic point-of-view, believe me,
moving left to right and panning as
| | 00:59 | you shoot is critical.
| | 01:00 | Because even if it's rough like this,
you are going to want to benefit and your
| | 01:04 | buyer is going to benefit
from this kind of vista.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Kitchen spaces| 00:01 | I have asked Mary to walk us through a kitchen.
| | 00:03 | Now a kitchen is so
critical to the sale of the home.
| | 00:05 | It's where people spend a lot of time.
| | 00:08 | Mary please walk us through some the
things you think about.
| | 00:11 | Mary Pope-Handy: Getting the details is also a very
important element of photographing a kitchen,
| | 00:15 | because knowing that there is a stove
is not the same thing as knowing that
| | 00:18 | there is a five burner gas stove or
a professional quality Wolf range or
| | 00:23 | something like that.
| | 00:24 | So, I would always suggest making sure
the stove and cooking surfaces are clean
| | 00:28 | and then taking a picture so you
can demonstrate what's in the kitchen.
| | 00:33 | A big general pan of the kitchen may
not really capture that as well as
| | 00:37 | showing the specifics.
| | 00:39 | So, in this case, there is a nice
double oven. It looks like one might be a
| | 00:43 | microwave or convection, I am
not sure, plus a warming drawer.
| | 00:46 | So, I would make sure to get a shot
of that and maybe also include
| | 00:49 | this side by side built-in KitchenAid freezer
fridge combination, because they are beautiful.
| | 00:55 | Dane Howard: Mary has some amazing points here about
kitchens that I learned a lot about just
| | 00:59 | in listening to her and walking around with her.
| | 01:01 | Most importantly here, I can see some
graininess in the image itself, I didn't
| | 01:06 | shoot with the flash on, I was trying to get
the natural light, but I shot it at about 800 ISO.
| | 01:10 | So, some of that graininess came through.
| | 01:13 | Now, contrast set against this image here.
| | 01:14 | You can start to see that this is a
different type of kitchen, but there's
| | 01:18 | more of this vista view.
| | 01:19 | Now, if I just step back two steps and
move one to the right, you can start to
| | 01:24 | see what I'm getting here and this is
something that I imagine Mary was talking
| | 01:28 | about, removing a lot of the clutter, the
pieces that are there are focal points.
| | 01:33 | There is a warmness in the light. There
is also a warmness in the openness, even
| | 01:37 | just having that door open invites you outside.
| | 01:40 | All of these things coming together
will invite people into this really
| | 01:43 | important room, the kitchen.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Tall spaces| 00:00 | Next, I invited Mary to talk to
us a little bit about tall spaces.
| | 00:03 | Now the tall spaces are that amazing
feeling you get when you walk into a room.
| | 00:08 | A lot of houses have this great quality
where you have all the space above you.
| | 00:12 | I said, "Mary, how do you
actually pull that off in a photograph?"
| | 00:14 | Here what she had to say.
| | 00:16 | Mary Pope-Handy: So, when you have got something
fabulous on the ceiling, like a vaulted ceiling,
| | 00:20 | or wood beam ceiling, or something like that,
| | 00:22 | and you really want it to show in the
pictures, I try a couple of different things.
| | 00:26 | One is, I would try simply getting down
low and shooting high, so that you can
| | 00:31 | kind of see the varied ceiling textures
or whatever it is you have got going on,
| | 00:35 | whether you have got skylights,
or sun tunnels, or wood beams.
| | 00:39 | And another thing is I would try to
get a stitching program, so that you can
| | 00:43 | stitch a pan from floor to ceiling.
| | 00:46 | And another option is to
simply use a wide-angle lens.
| | 00:50 | Although, those can distort pictures,
they can be really helpful for rooms like
| | 00:55 | a small bathroom, so that you get more
than just a vanity and in this case, you
| | 00:59 | can see how much space there
really is from floor to ceiling.
| | 01:02 | Dane Howard: The most amazing thing about walking
around with a real estate agent, who is
| | 01:06 | extremely talented and has done this for a
living, is you will learn a lot along the way.
| | 01:10 | As I'm just sitting here,
I'm learning a lot with her.
| | 01:13 | So, as she's talking, I'm
starting to adjust my movements.
| | 01:16 | I turned vertically, I started to walk
around the room, and I started to know
| | 01:19 | something and watch
something as I am hearing her talk.
| | 01:23 | Now just by turning the camera
vertical, I get some of this height.
| | 01:27 | And just by walking, I
started to realize something.
| | 01:30 | Now, take a look at these two shots
next to each other, which seems higher?
| | 01:35 | To me, the one on the right seems higher,
only because I am adjusting my angle
| | 01:40 | and you can see here, look at the
ceiling lines. These appear more flat, whereas
| | 01:46 | these go straight up.
| | 01:48 | I've realized just by adjusting my
camera angle, there are seemingly more height
| | 01:55 | in this second shot, and I
really liked what she was saying here.
| | 01:58 | So, keep that in mind when you start to
think about really lofted ceilings and
| | 02:02 | to recapture that space, that 'ahh'
feeling when you walk into a room.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Special features| 00:00 | One of the things I wanted to talk
about and I learned as I walked through
| | 00:04 | homes with Mary Pope-Handy is
that every home has special features.
| | 00:09 | Now, to create an intimacy with any
house you want to showcase these off.
| | 00:13 | And to photograph them may
be that much more important.
| | 00:17 | In this particular house, there is a
really beautiful red, red bathroom.
| | 00:21 | And as I heard her talk about certain
bathrooms, the characteristics of it
| | 00:25 | started to come really, really important.
| | 00:27 | So, in this case, I chose to showcase
the mirror and the candle happened to
| | 00:31 | be on, and the light.
| | 00:33 | And a very important thing that I
would've never thought about is to make sure
| | 00:37 | that the toilet seat is down.
| | 00:38 | It sounds funny and trivial,
but she said it's amazing.
| | 00:42 | Clean surfaces, clean lines and toilet down.
| | 00:47 | Next, I started to think about some of
the attributes of this house that I was
| | 00:50 | shooting and I start to realized
that some of the details mattered.
| | 00:54 | The composition of this photograph,
as well as the detail, you can start to
| | 00:58 | see a couple things.
| | 00:59 | New paint, new roof and
really nice new fixtures.
| | 01:04 | Subtle, but important.
| | 01:06 | In the other house, it had a great garage.
| | 01:08 | How often do you see a picture of a garage?
| | 01:11 | Well, they're usually messy and really
cluttered. This one happened to be really clean.
| | 01:15 | The story of this? Clean, efficient
storage. The owner here had actually done
| | 01:19 | some extra work and made
this garage into another room.
| | 01:23 | This adds to the floor plan.
| | 01:25 | It adds to the overall square
footage and the usable space.
| | 01:28 | And when I moved around within this
garage, I just realized how amazing it would
| | 01:32 | be to have a cool garage like this.
| | 01:34 | And the idea here is that you want
your buyers to imagine a lifestyle.
| | 01:38 | How they can imagine themselves living
in this house and how they might behave
| | 01:42 | in rooms like this.
| | 01:44 | And when things are clean, it shows a
way to be in a lifestyle that you're
| | 01:49 | imagining them inside the space.
| | 01:50 | So, keep that in mind and showcase the
special, special features as you walk
| | 01:55 | around any particular house.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Real estate photography overview| 00:00 | It's amazing when you sit with a
professional and you learn about their world,
| | 00:04 | and with Mary Pope-Handy, that's
what I learned is I learned how to shoot
| | 00:07 | real-estate photography
better than I had before.
| | 00:10 | Some of the things I learned:
the curb appeal is one of the most
| | 00:13 | important outside images.
| | 00:15 | It's those that draw the buyers in.
| | 00:17 | If you can try to substitute kind of the
garage or showcase it less, think about that.
| | 00:22 | The Full View of the house,
very critically important.
| | 00:25 | Particularly as you think about inside spaces
like the kitchen, and where people live a lot.
| | 00:30 | Other things like height, depth, and
color, how do you showcase the things that
| | 00:34 | are really specific about a particular
house and how do you get the shots? Try
| | 00:38 | to replace some of those images if you
were to walk through the house itself.
| | 00:42 | Then lastly, the special
features. Every house has them.
| | 00:46 | How do you look for them? How do you find them?
| | 00:48 | So, that the character of the
place actually comes through.
| | 00:51 | These are all super helpful and I have
to thank Mary Pope-Handy for helping us,
| | 00:55 | and walking us through
better real-estate photography.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
10. Quick Photo Editing Tips for ProductsCropping and adjusting | 00:00 | In the spirit of practical ecommerce
photography, I want to spend some moments
| | 00:04 | around cropping and
adjusting the imagery itself.
| | 00:07 | Your expectation should be that you
should absolutely plan on adjusting your
| | 00:12 | images once they get into computer.
| | 00:15 | No one is that good to be able to shoot
and go right up to the web commerce directly.
| | 00:20 | So I want you to plan for spending some
time inside of programs like Photoshop,
| | 00:25 | I'm going to show you Picasa,
and a new one called Picnik.
| | 00:29 | Let's get started right now.
| | 00:31 | So here I am inside of Photoshop CS4.
| | 00:34 | One of the things I first wanted to
illustrate when you think about cropping or
| | 00:37 | adjusting, the image on the camera
may look completely different on screen.
| | 00:41 | So one of the first things you want
to do is first discern is this going to
| | 00:44 | be something that's going to take a lot of
time, or if you want to quickly bang through it?
| | 00:48 | Now, this image, I can immediately tell
you that I'm going to crop and then adjust.
| | 00:52 | Reason is that I can bring this
marquee right around here and I can tell you
| | 00:56 | that I can crop into it really nicely.
| | 00:58 | Now, if this curve had brought anything
inside, I might have to retouch, because
| | 01:03 | that is actually something
that I have an issue with.
| | 01:06 | But here I can go in and I can go
and begin to crop this right away.
| | 01:10 | If I bring some of the marquee around, I
then can go up to Image, and I can crop this.
| | 01:14 | One important issue inside Photoshop
is that you want to be able to crop out
| | 01:19 | anything that you don't want to retouch.
| | 01:20 | Now the second part is the color of this itself.
| | 01:24 | I would like this to be
punched up a little bit more.
| | 01:26 | Again, I shot this with my iPhone.
| | 01:28 | So, not the best color
balance going right into the camera.
| | 01:31 | So let's go ahead, and I'm
going to go to adjust Levels.
| | 01:34 | On a PC, I'm going to hit Ctrl+L, on the Mac,
| | 01:37 | it's open-Apple+L. I'm going
to bring up the Levels itself.
| | 01:41 | Now, one of the things that you can
do is go directly into the Levels and
| | 01:44 | adjust them uniformly.
| | 01:46 | Now this is going to
brighten the entire object itself.
| | 01:50 | Later when we talk about
retouching, we'll go into individual
| | 01:53 | selection mechanisms.
| | 01:54 | Here I can adjust the Levels and go
directly into this and lighten up the
| | 01:58 | background and brighten up the pieces directly.
| | 02:01 | This is really helpful.
| | 02:02 | I've done a quick adjustment.
| | 02:03 | I'm ready to save out.
| | 02:05 | That is probably the quickest Level
adjustment you could probably do inside of Photoshop.
| | 02:09 | Next, we're going to go over to Picasa.
| | 02:12 | Inside Picasa, you can see that
I have the same image opened up.
| | 02:16 | Now, Picasa is a free program by Google.
| | 02:19 | Now, this allows me to go in to the image
itself and I'm going to perform the same function.
| | 02:23 | Well, one of the first things I
want to do is go over the Crop tool.
| | 02:27 | By selecting Crop, I can drag my
mouse right over here and click-and-hold.
| | 02:31 | By doing so, I have an
approximate crop that I can adjust the edges
| | 02:37 | directly into here.
| | 02:39 | Once I like it, go ahead and apply it.
| | 02:41 | I like to apply the crops first and
then do my color adjustments later.
| | 02:45 | Next, I'm going to go into the Tuning menu.
| | 02:47 | Going to Tuning menu, they don't have
Levels, but they do give you some controls
| | 02:51 | over the Fill and the Highlights, independently.
| | 02:53 | This is pretty nice in order for
me to lighten up the background.
| | 02:57 | If in the process of doing this you
feel that the color shift is too saturated,
| | 03:02 | you can always go to the Effects
and go down here to Saturation.
| | 03:05 | I do this quite a lot and I de-
saturate just enough, so it looks like
| | 03:09 | the original product.
| | 03:10 | Go ahead and Apply.
| | 03:12 | That's a simple adjustment.
| | 03:14 | Let me show you a third.
| | 03:16 | This is a new service called Picnik.
| | 03:17 | It's an online application.
| | 03:20 | Here I'm at picnik.com and you can
go ahead and create a free account.
| | 03:24 | Under the free account, they put
advertising and you can also upgrade.
| | 03:27 | If you're trying it out for the first
time, I just want to bring some attention
| | 03:30 | that happens in a browser.
| | 03:32 | I'm going to go to View, Full Screen
just to demonstrate that there is more
| | 03:36 | on the screen here.
| | 03:38 | There's a lot of ways to
connect to your photographs.
| | 03:40 | Now, a lot of times, some of your
photographs may be up on Flickr or Picasa Web
| | 03:44 | Albums, there's quite a few
services that they support, even Facebook.
| | 03:48 | You can see that you can pull in photos here.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to go ahead and upload my photographs.
| | 03:53 | Here's that one photograph that we just had.
| | 03:55 | I'm going to go ahead and
upload it directly into the service.
| | 03:58 | You can see that I have some
immediate access to it right away.
| | 04:02 | Now look, this is all inside of a browser.
| | 04:04 | So one of the things I want to do again is crop.
| | 04:08 | You can see that the theme is
starting to take place here.
| | 04:10 | I can immediately start to drag the crop, and
do the same technique as I was doing before.
| | 04:17 | You can see that's happening up
here and I go ahead and hit OK.
| | 04:20 | The next thing I want to
do is adjust the Exposure.
| | 04:22 | Here I've got little different controls here.
| | 04:24 | I can adjust the Lightness and the
Contrast, and pretty much bring up the
| | 04:28 | lightness as I'm doing it.
| | 04:30 | If you want to move into the
Advanced Controls, you can.
| | 04:33 | You can see here that there's quite a
bit of things going on here similar to
| | 04:36 | what you saw in Picasa.
| | 04:37 | As I bring this down, I can get
it just the way I want and hit OK.
| | 04:41 | Those are three methods on how
you can quickly adjust in three
| | 04:46 | different programs.
| | 04:47 | Keep it to cropping, keep it to the
Levels adjustment, and you'll have some
| | 04:50 | pretty good images right away.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Retouching| 00:00 | The next thing we're going
to talk about is retouching.
| | 00:02 | Now we've talked about cropping and
adjustment of the image, but retouching is a
| | 00:08 | different beast and here's why.
| | 00:10 | Retouching is different because if
you think about what you're going to
| | 00:14 | isolate inside of the image itself,
think about how you might crop it, and
| | 00:19 | whatever is inside of that crop, if
you don't like what you see, you're going
| | 00:23 | to have to do some retouching.
| | 00:24 | Now this is something that you can do
that you can't do just in Auto Correction.
| | 00:30 | That means you're going to have to paint
on top of an image or isolate some part
| | 00:34 | of the image to actually
reduce, blow out or paint over it.
| | 00:38 | Now you can see here, I am just going
to isolate the area that I want here.
| | 00:42 | I go up to Image>Crop.
| | 00:46 | Once I have a good crop, this is
important because I don't want to mess with
| | 00:50 | anything that's going to be outside of my crop.
| | 00:51 | Well, the second thing I need to do here
is I need to start to isolate this area.
| | 00:56 | Well, there are a couple of
different ways to do that in Photoshop.
| | 00:58 | Here is the quickest ways that I've learned.
| | 01:01 | Now if you've got a good exposure,
a quick way to isolate the background, there
| | 01:05 | is a bunch of them.
| | 01:06 | Now this isn't going to be in print or
anything where I need really hard line,
| | 01:09 | so I am just going to go into the
selection mechanism, instead of anything
| | 01:13 | where I'd have to draw around these specific
shoes themselves or create a very detailed mask.
| | 01:18 | The first thing I'm going to try
is this thing called Color Range.
| | 01:22 | Now Color Range menus are sometimes the
best bet, because you can go in and you
| | 01:26 | can start to select things.
| | 01:28 | Now if I select different ranges you
can see that items in the center here are
| | 01:32 | actually chosen inside the shoes.
| | 01:34 | I'm not after any selection after the shoes.
| | 01:37 | If I start to bring up the Fuzziness, I
can start to see some things in the shoes.
| | 01:41 | That's not going to work for me.
| | 01:43 | If I go ahead and select this, and
start doing adjustments, I'm going to get
| | 01:46 | some things selected that are
inside the shoes. I don't want that.
| | 01:50 | Well, to undo what I just did, I can
hold down Ctrl+D to deselect that selection.
| | 01:56 | The other thing I'm going to might
think about is the Quick Selection tool.
| | 02:00 | What's nice about the Quick Selection
tool is it has quite a bit of settings.
| | 02:04 | This is used to be the Magic Wand.
| | 02:05 | Well, the Quick Selection is really helpful.
| | 02:08 | You can see that there's different types here.
| | 02:09 | You can see that the settings and
basically, what's going on here is I can
| | 02:13 | select, and then select more or less.
| | 02:17 | Well, let's go ahead and start to go into this.
| | 02:20 | I'm going to start selecting around this
area here, and as I'm holding down, I'm
| | 02:26 | starting to get a really nice selection. Oops!
| | 02:29 | It grabbed some of the yellow.
| | 02:31 | Oh, no fear, I'm going to hold down the
Alt key on a PC and I'm going to start
| | 02:37 | painting out this yellow here.
| | 02:41 | Go ahead and do that until you have
a nice selection and this should work
| | 02:44 | really, really lovely for you.
| | 02:46 | If you want to get really, really close,
I'm going to hold down the Ctrl and the
| | 02:50 | Spacebar and zoom in.
| | 02:53 | You can start to really finesse this
just the way that you want it, down to
| | 02:57 | the very detail here.
| | 02:58 | So, if I go right around here,
you can see what I'm doing.
| | 03:01 | I am going to hold down Ctrl+Minus,
I'm going to zoom out.
| | 03:04 | Now the next thing I do is I
actually go into the Feather menu.
| | 03:09 | So you can see here that I have a little
bit that I don't want, and a little bit
| | 03:14 | that I don't want here.
| | 03:15 | So I'm going to just fine-tune
this a little bit, and I can go up to
| | 03:20 | Select>Modify>Feather.
| | 03:23 | I always feather it based on the
resolution from 1 to 5 pixels, based on it.
| | 03:27 | I can go ahead and select that.
| | 03:29 | That gives me a nice, soft edge.
| | 03:32 | The next I'm going to do is hold down
Ctrl+L. What is that? That's the Levels.
| | 03:36 | I'm going to go ahead and drag
this one, this is my first indicator.
| | 03:40 | This tells me where I am at.
| | 03:41 | I'm going to start moving
this piece up a little bit more.
| | 03:45 | Now, the nice thing about isolating this is I
am using the Adjustments in an isolated way.
| | 03:50 | So, I know that nothing is
going to touch those specific shoes.
| | 03:55 | That's a pretty good start.
| | 03:57 | The next thing I usually do is I select a color.
| | 03:59 | I'm going to select I, which gives me
the Eyedropper, and I'm going to select
| | 04:02 | something that's already on the image.
| | 04:04 | It gives me a color, not just pure white.
| | 04:06 | It gives me something to work with.
| | 04:08 | Then I can go onto my Brush and I can start to
paint in something that I know is already there.
| | 04:14 | What I'm doing, essentially, is ironing
out these wrinkles, and I am not touching
| | 04:21 | the shadows so much because
I like what's going on there.
| | 04:23 | This just gives me a way to iron out
the wrinkles on the outsides of what I
| | 04:27 | don't necessarily like.
| | 04:29 | Now, I'm going to hit Ctrl+H,
and that hides the marching ants.
| | 04:33 | I like to do that, just to see where I am at.
| | 04:36 | I'm going to go back in and adjust a few
of these things because I think these
| | 04:39 | shadows are nice and it just gives it
a nice little bit of presence here as
| | 04:44 | I'm resting it on here.
| | 04:45 | I go through there, I am
about done. I like what I see.
| | 04:49 | Now in a few short minutes, you can see
that I've quickly touched this up and I
| | 04:52 | haven't adjusted the color or the
exposure that's on the shoes themselves.
| | 04:58 | So I haven't color shifted them, and
I've kept their color accuracy great.
| | 05:02 | You are now ready to save this out.
| | 05:04 | So that's just a quick tip on very quick
color adjustment tools that I've used.
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| Using your iPhone as a publishing platform| 00:01 | This camera is pretty
good and it's on my iPhone.
| | 00:04 | It's always with me.
| | 00:05 | To think about point and shoot,
you have to also think about
| | 00:08 | product photography.
| | 00:09 | Now I am going to show you
something really exciting.
| | 00:12 | I am going to take some shots and with
a connected device, I am going to email
| | 00:15 | them directly up to service and in one
swoop motion we are going to list it and
| | 00:20 | that's something that you
couldn't even do it just a few years ago.
| | 00:23 | So, I am going to get shooting and you
can see here that the review process is
| | 00:27 | all really, really lovely. You can zoom in.
| | 00:30 | You can go to the next photo and
I can shoot directly from here.
| | 00:34 | Now I am not suggesting that you go
ahead and buy all these equipment just so
| | 00:37 | you can shoot it with your iPhone.
| | 00:37 | But think about where you are.
Think about where you could be in your
| | 00:41 | garage, out shopping.
| | 00:43 | You can use all the benefits of taking a
picture of something when you are out and about.
| | 00:54 | We are talking about something very
exciting, which is the idea of shooting
| | 00:57 | product photography on an impromptu
device like an iPhone or cellphone and what
| | 01:02 | to do once you leverage the
connectivity of that device.
| | 01:06 | So, I call this the two minute cell flow.
| | 01:07 | Let me explain to you what I was doing.
| | 01:10 | After you take your photographs,
let me go into the Camera Roll here.
| | 01:14 | Now I am on an iPhone, so it allows me
to go into the Camera Roll and search for
| | 01:17 | those particular photographs.
| | 01:19 | I can scroll to them.
| | 01:20 | I'll select this new ability here,
which allows me to go into a Pick mode.
| | 01:24 | The Pick mode allows me to thumb on the
individual photographs and when I begin
| | 01:28 | to thumb on individual
photographs, the checkmark accumulates.
| | 01:31 | You can see that the number there
I have selected, four photographs.
| | 01:35 | I can either share it
directly or copy to my clipboard.
| | 01:37 | In this case, I am going
to go ahead and share it.
| | 01:39 | What happens is then I get an email interface.
| | 01:41 | I can go ahead and select the Email
and I can go directly into email itself.
| | 01:45 | On your device, go ahead and create a
contact called Posterous if you want or
| | 01:50 | you can send this to anywhere you want.
| | 01:51 | This can be your blog, this could
be just about anywhere you want.
| | 01:54 | It could be even a person.
| | 01:56 | I often email myself,
attachments just to get it off the device.
| | 02:00 | But the From, this will be from your
email and then I just started to create a
| | 02:04 | subject and I started to
fill in some notes there.
| | 02:06 | Well, the most important
thing is on the other end.
| | 02:09 | So, this is a basic flow of an iPhone email
flow, where you've attached some photographs.
| | 02:15 | Now let's look at a typical flow
through some other program you might
| | 02:19 | be comfortable with.
| | 02:20 | I am going to show you Gmail.
| | 02:22 | Here we are inside of my Gmail account
and I have gone up to compose a mail.
| | 02:27 | I've started to fill it out.
| | 02:28 | Now again, I am going to use Posterous,
because I am going to send it directly to
| | 02:32 | my Posterous account.
| | 02:33 | Posterous is great, because it allows
you to create essentially a blog entry
| | 02:37 | directly from email as interface,
whether that interface is from the mobile
| | 02:40 | device, or from your PC.
| | 02:43 | Here I have started to create this
'Hand-made leaf buddies' as an entry.
| | 02:46 | Now remember, I want to sell this, so I
start to fill in and start to type that.
| | 02:50 | Go ahead and attach the files.
| | 02:52 | Now, I can attach all kinds of things.
| | 02:54 | I can attach photos, videos, links to
YouTube videos, all kinds of different things.
| | 02:59 | But for these purposes, I am just going to
attach the photographs I took a few minutes ago.
| | 03:02 | Now once your photographs have properly
uploaded, you can go ahead and hit Send.
| | 03:07 | You can just about add
anything in there that you want.
| | 03:09 | Now what I am going to do is I am going to
go ahead and hit Send directly from interface.
| | 03:13 | Now what that's going to do is going
to send it to my Posterous account.
| | 03:16 | Let's go ahead and look over at
what kind of thing it creates.
| | 03:20 | Now I am on my Posterous itself.
| | 03:22 | You can see that it comes
through as a blog entry.
| | 03:25 | You can see whatever that was in my
title shows up as the title of the entry.
| | 03:30 | All the photos that I attach show up as
Attachment, which is a really addition here.
| | 03:37 | Now, one of the nice things about this
is that it's now in a blog. Well, how you
| | 03:40 | do you get people to your blog?
| | 03:41 | Well, it's a really nice
functionality on Posterous called Autopost.
| | 03:45 | Now, this allows me to connect to my
Facebook or Twitter account or all these
| | 03:49 | different things, so everyone can connect
to it and immediately see what's going on.
| | 03:53 | Now see this. This is my
particular eBay account.
| | 03:57 | This is where it gets interesting.
| | 03:59 | If I go ahead and select Sell this,
notice something that I took just a few
| | 04:03 | moments ago can now go into a
flow that I can sell it on eBay.
| | 04:08 | You can see here that it gives me a
little form to give in an item name.
| | 04:12 | I can give it an item description.
| | 04:13 | I can even give it additional details.
| | 04:16 | Here are the four photographs that
were on my iPhone just a moment ago.
| | 04:20 | I can go ahead and select what
category this is going to be in.
| | 04:22 | You can see there are all
different types of categories here.
| | 04:25 | I can just probably add it to
something called like Miscellaneous or just for
| | 04:30 | this specific example, I will
just put in Everything Else >> Other.
| | 04:35 | Another thing that's nice, we are in Ventura
right now and so is Rad Megan and her business.
| | 04:41 | So, I am going to go ahead and go
here and you can see that it found it
| | 04:44 | directly on Google Maps.
| | 04:45 | Now, the start price here, I am going
to set at $15 and the Auction duration, I
| | 04:50 | will go ahead and set for 10 days.
| | 04:53 | Verifying your listing is really easy to do.
| | 04:55 | All you need to do is select it
and you will be presented with a
| | 04:59 | brand-new listing on eBay.
| | 05:02 | This is the most amazing thing ever,
because you can turn what was seemingly an
| | 05:05 | email into a specific listing on eBay.
| | 05:09 | When I go ahead and start this auction,
this is exactly what's going to happen.
| | 05:14 | Starting the auction allows you to
interface directly with eBay itself listing it.
| | 05:19 | You can see there I just
created a brand-new listing on eBay.
| | 05:23 | Now what's happening behind the scenes
is it's using my authorization that I've
| | 05:27 | already given it in order to list it on eBay.
| | 05:29 | This is a live auction that's
going on right here, right now.
| | 05:34 | Now, if I go to my original listing,
back to my Posterous, a couple really
| | 05:39 | interesting things have happened.
| | 05:40 | Let's go to my Posterous account.
| | 05:42 | Let's talk about the
benefit of what's just happened.
| | 05:46 | Here I have got a blog that I have
quite a few people that follow and read and
| | 05:50 | you can see here that I have
just turned this into a listing.
| | 05:54 | You can see that it's just started.
| | 05:55 | It's $15 and people can view it.
| | 05:59 | Well, the most amazing thing is is
without me doing anything, I have gone ahead
| | 06:03 | and has updated the Twitter account and
the Facebook account automatically and
| | 06:07 | you can see here that my Hand-made leaf
buddies are automatically distributed.
| | 06:11 | This is the most interesting paradigm
shift that's been going on in the web today.
| | 06:17 | You can list something, post
something and update it to a social network.
| | 06:21 | It's pretty amazing.
| | 06:23 | Think this through and you can use the
very same thing to use the iPhone as a
| | 06:28 | platform for selling the stuff in your life.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:01 | Whether your products are large
or small, I hope this has helped
| | 00:04 | This has been Product Photography
for Ecommerce. I am Dane Howard.
| | 00:08 | Thanks so much for the
opportunity to teach you this.
| | 00:10 | Until next time, see ya!
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