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This is how to shoot a $2,500,000 car with a $50,000 camera

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There’s only a hundred Pagani Huayra BC in the world, and each one costs a cool $2.5mil. The “BC” in its designation stands for Benny Caiola, the first person to ever buy a Pagani automobile. With a Mercedes AMG designed V12 bi-turbo engine built exclusively for Pagani and pulling more than 750bhp, it’s a beast of a car.

When it comes time to photograph it, one also needs a beast of a camera. So, LA based automotive photographer Richard Thompson chose the Phase One XF 100MP for this Huayra BC advertising shoot. They also shot a behind the scenes video, so we can see what goes into a shoot like this.

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This is how they shoot those epic air-to-air photos of a 787 Dreamliner

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About every 10 years or so, large airliners need a repaint. Many airlines take the opportunity to come up with new livery for their fleet. Modernise the look a bit, add some flashy new graphics, etc. Air Canada recently put their new livery on a 787 Dreamliner. And with each new paint job come a new photo shoot to promote their new look.

It might surprise some of you (it sure surprised me) to find out that they still actually photograph the actual planes. It’s really not just done with CG. There’s a lot of prep and planning that needs to go into shoots like these. Everyday Reviews tagged along on this particular photo shoot to get some insight into how it was all done.

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This analog tool makes shooting to format super-easy

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If you are shooting for an ad agency, a magazine or a social media cover, there is a good chance that the brief includes a format, or an aspect ratio in which you have to deliver.

That means that you will have to crop your image to fit that ratio. Now, cropping is the easy part, taking the photo so the composition will support that crop is a little more tricky. Some cameras support assisting tools, like crop marks for HD, the rule of thirds, or the golden ratio. But none of the cameras that I know (yet) support aspect ratio for social media.

crop is a little more tricky. Some cameras support assisting tools, like crop marks for HD, the rule of thirds, or the golden ratio. But none of the cameras that I know (yet) support aspect ratio for social media.

Photographer Anna McGunn created a simple tool, basically a bunch of matte-frames, which you can overlay on your LCD to visualize the final image.

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India requires license for photographers so they don’t “pester” visitors in protected monuments

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Have you already been to India and photographed Taj Mahal and other famous monuments? If you haven’t, from now on you may need a license to do it. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is changing their photography policy, and they will soon require photographers to be licensed if they want to operate commercially in India’s protected monuments.

Unlike the Swiss village that banned photography, this isn’t a PR trick. The reason for this move by ASI is to prevent freelance photographers from “pestering” the visitors who want to take photos.

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How to photograph a high end cosmetics product shot with inexpensive equipment

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Even if you don’t photograph products regularly, they’re great test subjects to learn lighting. You get to play around, experiment, and explore how light interacts with different surfaces. And you get to do it in a very controlled way. But high end cosmetics typically have a certain look to them that can be difficult to achieve with modest equipment at home.

Canadian photographer, and pretty good keyboard player, Dustin Dolby is here to help. In this video he shows us his workflow to photograph cosmetic products. And he does it with very inexpensive equipment, too. Just a piece of plexiglass, some foamcore, a speedlights or two, and a couple of cheap softboxes is all you need.

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Target’s new swimsuit ad campaign goes “Photoshop-free” (or at least, liquify-free)

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Photoshop has received a bit of a backlash over the last few years about its use in advertising.But, it’s not really Adobe’s fault. Photoshop is just a tool. It’s like blaming Ford because you took a wrong turn down a one way street. But, the criticism has made a lot of companies sit up and think. Their average customer doesn’t really look much like the people used in their advertising campaigns. In fact, even the people used in their advertising campaigns don’t look like themselves in the final result a lot of the time.

More and more organisations have started to go “Photoshop free” for their advertising. And Target have now jumped on the trend, to great effect. To promote their new spring swimwear line, the campaign features women of all shapes and sizes, completely unretouched.

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Watch how one photographer shoots flying food with a couple of strip softboxes

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This probably isn’t something you’ll want to try at your local coffee shop to get a quick photo for Instagram. But, if you’re a budding food photographer, or want to try something a little different, this is certainly an eye catching technique.

Seattle based commercial food photographer Steve Hansen has more than a few food lighting tricks up his sleeve. In this video we see how Steve side lights flying food with a pair of Westcott 12″ x 50″ Stripbanks. But he’s not using them quite the way you might expect.

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5 thoughts and tips to consider with professional product photography

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As the digital marketplace grows, the demand for good content and eye-catching media increases with it. More and more brands and entrepreneurs are taking the photography in-house to keep up with demand, while keeping production costs down.  So, as a product photographer recognizing the need for assistance, I wanted to take the time to share 5 key thoughts and tips that could be useful.

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Retouching interiors in Lightroom & Photoshop

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Here’s a typical quick interior shoot for a Swiss brand called VIU Eyewear. They contacted me to create three images for their website/social networks. The only rule was to stay in the same style than their other images on their “Stores” page (something very simple, white and luminous with an emphasis on the store interior design). Here’s how I shot it and edited it.

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Are we entering photography’s “Golden Age”?

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[This article is for commercial photographers and not intended for consumer shooters]

Shoot, I don’t know. Seemed like a good headline made to interest someone enough to engage. A headline that asks a question, a provocative question seems to be the way to get clicks and saves and ‘likes’… all that really important stuff.

And there is a bit of controversy as well. There is a large group of people for whom the word photography means visual connection and a group for whom it means “my business” – although the second group is far smaller than the first.

There will be some photographers who will come to this column ready to fight that statement of “golden age” filled with wonderful stories of how it used to be. Legendary poems will be offered to film and darkroom trays and exclusive access to the joy of making an image. They immediately seque into how the current climate sucks for photographers. The whining may indeed be epic.

And some will come wondering just what a “golden age’ looks like. What will that mean for them?

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