Manipulation

One of my current assignments at work is a product catalog. I've worked on catalogs before, but with this particular one, I had trouble finding a photograph of one product. I searched two separate databases and came up empty. After googling the product, I did find one picture, but it was from an eBay auction and we couldn't used it in its current form.

The product (in this case, an electronic controller, which is like a high-end thermostat) is at a weird angle with bad lighting and sitting on a cluttered table. Even so, I used the picture as a reference when I sought the help of Danfoss' data management team. I specifically mentioned that the above photo was only meant to be used as a reference, but my contact simply changed the file type and sent it back to me.

I decided to see what I could do with Photoshop. I spent a few hours correcting the color, distorting the image shape, and cutting out extraneous objects. This is the result:

It's not perfect, but I was really happy with what I was able to accomplish, especially since I mostly taught myself how to use Photoshop. However, even after the office lawyer said that we would probably be fine to use the image, I decided to pursue getting a better photograph. As it happened, we had had a sample of the product in the warehouse the whole time. So, I took a brand new picture with proper lighting and the office's camera.

I admit that that the stainless steel reflected the light a lot more than I thought it would, so I may go back and try to cut the glare down, either by fiddling with it in Photoshop or by taking a brand new picture and change where the lights are positioned, but I'm still happy that I took a new picture that cannot be legally disputed.

Still, it was pretty cool what I able to with that first picture, right?

Photoshoot

A couple of weekends ago, Leah and I met with our wedding photographer Courtney to take our engagement photos. We decided to take our photos at Jerusalem Mills, a so called "living history destination" with lots of different buildings and landscapes for varied backgrounds. We were originally planning to do the photoshoot two weeks earlier, but had to push it back due to rain, though I'm glad for the delay -- the extra two weeks allowed for more plants to come out of hibernation and made everything look more like spring.

We had scoped out the site ahead of time to plan where exactly we wanted to take pictures. Plus, Leah looked to Pinterest for inspiration on poses. When we met with Courtney, we were full of ideas. We ended up staying there for over three hours and took well over 600 pictures (while that is a lot, many of them are duplicates as we worked to get each pose just right). So far, only five pictures have been edited, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

This is my least favorite -- I'm clearly in the middle of talking and it makes my mouth look weird 

Getting this silhouette image was my idea (and supposedly that covered bridge is haunted, but I didn't notice anything) 

Gotta show off that rock! 

I like how you can see the short, green grass in the foreground and the tall, brown grass in the background 

This is my favorite one so far. Getting the pose just right took a lot of adjusting, but I'm really happy with how it turned out

I'm really happy that we went with Courtney for our photographer, though Leah did the legwork to find her. And according to Courtney, we were really good clients: she said that the fact that we were up for anything made her job easier and a lot more fun.

With how good these are, I'm excited to see how the rest of the pictures turned out.

Tuesdays with Media: Danish Art

One thing that stood out to me about Denmark was that there was art all over the place.  The hotel where I stayed had walls covered in original paintings.  The restaurant where I ate lunch on my first day was similarly be-arted.  The building where we met had paintings that predate the Renaissance.  Plus there were sculptures scattered around town.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of too many of them, but the pictures I do have, I'd like to share.

These first two pictures were not taken by me, as they are in the center of a couple of roundabouts on the way from Nordborg to Sønderborg (pronounced soon-dur-bore) and it's hard to take good pictures from a moving vehicle.

I like how both of these sculptures are basic shapes with a funky twist.

The rest of the pictures are Jordan originals.

This sculpture was in the center of the downtown area of Nordborg.

The plaque at the base of the statue translates to "This statue symbolizes Nordborg Castle builder Svend Grathe."

This sculpture was right across the street from the hotel at which I stayed.

"Donated by the Nordborg municipality art fund." The town places such importance on art that it has an art fund.

A bust of Mads Clausen, Danfoss' founder.

Looking back, I wish I would have taken more pictures of the art that was available.  A lot of it was terrible, but I appreciate that the Danes place such weight on works of art.

Following Directions

Yesterday at work, I needed to shoot some video of a compressor for an upcoming video.  According to the company guide to product photography, products should be cleaned and any bung plugs, if present, should be removed.  Following these guidelines, I removed a couple of bung plugs, polished the copper piping with steel wool, and whipped the whole compressor down with basic surface cleaner.  With it all clean, I decided to move it away from a bunch of creates to eliminate background distractions.  It's a heavy compressor, so I grabbed a dolly to help move it.

For those that aren't aware, compressors have internal moving parts.  When machine parts move, friction is produced, which breaks down the machine.  To prevent this, machines are lubricated.  Do you see where things are going?

I tipped back the compressor and spilled about a quart of oil out of the unplugged bunghole and onto the floor, getting quite a bit on my right shoe and pant leg.  I then spent the next forty minutes cleaning up the mess before I shot maybe ten minutes of video, of which we'll probably use less than a minute.

It was a frustrating experience, but at least one of my shoes is really shiny now.

New Skills

Due to my sometimes-role as cinematographer at work, it's not an unusual sight to see me walking around the office with a camera.  One of the managers I occasionally work with, Nick, noticed and asked if I had any experience as a photographer.  As a matter of fact, I told him, I was in charge of taking product shots for the website of a company I worked for years ago.  I warned him I was out of practice, but with a little time, I could be back up to speed.  Nick agreed that it was worth the experiment, but he needed the images pretty soon.  Normally, we have any product shots we need taken by the company's image maestro, but he didn't have the right products on hand and is on another continent, so we either needed to provide the images ourselves or hire a professional photographer.  Like I said, Nick thought it was worth the experiment, so I gave it a try.

I should point out that I was able to use a professional-grade camera that Danfoss owns and Nick ordered a proper backdrop to use, but we didn't have professional lighting.  Instead, we used the sun.  Over the course of three days, I took nearly a hundred pictures because, as I learned from a photographer friend years ago, the first rule of photography is: film is cheap, take lots of pictures.  And it's funny because even with all of those pictures, we'll probably only use two or three of them.  But, we're actually going to use them!

Here's the picture I took (and I also digitally touched-up):

And here's what the final ad looks like:

How awesome is that?!  Now, the picture still has some problems that I would want to eliminate next time, but considering I'm an amateur, I think it's pretty impressive.  Nick thinks so too, and said that he's coming to me the next time he needs products shots for anything.

And the one above isn't even the best picture I took so far.  That would be this one:

The hardest part is finding a white void in which to take the pictures.

Who would have guessed that when I started this job five months back that I would be picking up so many new skills?