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It’s been a long while since I’ve posted a picture on the forum, so I thought of uploading two for critique.
I took pictures of ten different St. Dalfour fruit spread flavours. These are sugar-free jams made in France, and they have been a family favourite for at least twenty years. I’m pretty sure they are sold in the US. My posting pictures of these fruit spreads does not necessarily constitute advertising of the brand or its products. Instead, comments/suggestions on the photos, angle/position of subjects, etc. would be much appreciated.
Is a 16:9 aspect ratio suitable for the pictures? Would artificial lighting have provided better illumination for the products? I noticed each of the bottles had white vertical streaks which are reflections of a nearby window. Perhaps, artificial lighting would have eliminated that problem…. Let me know your thoughts. 🙂
Following are the specifications for both pictures:
16:9
f/2.8
1/30 sec.
ISO 80Attachments:
These are some really unique photos, @joshua_ong!
Pertaining to what has been recently discussed in the forms, what was your purpose in taking these photos? Showing variety? Leading lines? Just a stock photo? I attached two photos that I took of jars of honey. I was picturing (literally, lol) a store front with tons of jars lined up. Of course that’s not exactly what it looks like, but it’s supposed to give that impression. I’m just wondering what you’re getting at in these photos.
A few things I noticed:
There doesn’t seem to be a subject. When I look at the photo my eye just isn’t sure which jar to go to. Since you aren’t trying to advertise or in other words focus on the label, I’m not exactly sure where you’d want to focus.For a stock photo, you’d probably want a solid, less detracting background!
Would artificial lighting have provided better illumination for the products? I noticed each of the bottles had white vertical streaks which are reflections of a nearby window. Perhaps, artificial lighting would have eliminated that problem….
If you have artificial lighting that would help. But I took the pictures I attached outside on a sunny day in the shade! (That was before I got some lights.) I was also thinking some back light would help, just seems to help pop the colors and add depth. I do like the reflections of the jars on what looks like a counter top, but the rest of the reflections(on the background and jars) are detracting.
Is a 16:9 aspect ratio suitable for the pictures?
I think it really depends on what you are using it for.
So, some ideas if you wanted to try…
If you were going for the variety of fruits, I’d play around with the colors. I noticed you had them lined up dark to light, but maybe mix them up, or something!Put some fresh fruit in there! It doesn’t have to be every kind, but just the idea. I looked up a few examples on adobe stock, and most look like the fruit is kinda randomly placed, but creative.
I also thought having a open jar with a spoon might be neat…
There are several angles/positions you could try, I’d suggest getting on a stock website and see what you like. I personally like the jars going off into the distance, but try a couple of different positions.
Sorry, that’s a lot! 😊 I hope it helps though!
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Thanks @esther for the wonderful and helpful comments, tips, and insights!
Pertaining to what has been recently discussed in the forms, what was your purpose in taking these photos? Showing variety? Leading lines? Just a stock photo?
I have to admit that I don’t often think of the purpose behind every picture that I take with a camera. Perhaps, that’s the reason my pictures lack or fail to convey a specific purpose. However, in these photos, my aim was to display the different varieties of jam flavours.
There doesn’t seem to be a subject. When I look at the photo my eye just isn’t sure which jar to go to.
I hadn’t thought about this before. Focusing on one bottle while keeping the others blurred (like your honey jar pictures) is certainly a better idea of ensuring the picture has only one subject which draws the viewer’s eye.
I was also thinking some back light would help, just seems to help pop the colors and add depth.
Good point to keep in mind for product photography.
@joshua_ong I’m happy to!! You’ve got a great idea there!
@joshua_ong, I keep meaning to comment on these photos, but time got away from me! 🙂
I love the rich colors of these fruit spreads! I think if I was arranging this photo, I would’ve tried to put all the jars in an distinct order of darkest color to lightest color. It looks like you generally did, but I think I’d try to get it even a little more perfectly in order of shades of color. That’s the perfectionist in me. 🙂
I like the angle coming a little bit more from a side view, but I think it really could be amplified even better if you really got in closer to the one end, and then had the rest of the jars leading away diagonally into the background, similar to the photo that @esther gave as an example. That could really give it a dynamic look, and you would get some nice depth of field.
The straight-on shot is nice, but it just looks to me like you’ve got some distortion going on there, so I may have stepped back and zoomed in to avoid that. There’s a fantastic video here on Lenspiration on the amazing effect Focal Length has on your photos, that comes to mind here. 🙂 You should check it out if you haven’t already!
As for the lighting, since that glare is happening on the jars, I would definitely experiment with different angles of light, compare differences, and see which one I liked the best.
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