iPhone X Product Photography

iPhone X Photographs 

This is a series of photos I created of the iPhone X. Apple products are exceptionally designed and manufactured and I was really inspired by the design of the iPhone X. The concept of these images is dramatic lighting that showcases the products form. I used a black background and lighting that came from a rear or side angle. I spent about a day and a half on the photography and another day on post-production. The wallpaper images are also my photos.

The first image, which show a crop of the front at an angle, was the first image I shot. This image was completed using a focus stacking technique. The image is comprised of 14 different images taken at incremental focus points that are later processed in post-production into one composite image. This time-consuming technique allows me to shoot at a very close distance yet maintain focus throughout. It also allows me to shoot an exposure just for the front speaker grill and not have that light affect any other part of the photo.    

If you would like to reproduce these images, please contact Michael.

The straight-on front image of the face of the iPhone X was also a composite image. There is an exposure for each side, top, bottom, volume buttons, speaker and lens. Additionally, there is a overall image for the screen and notch. Shooting each element individually allowed me to light the product without compromising how each light affected another area. In post-production it is all put together into one image. A concern when using a composite technique is to make all the lighting even and appear natural when it all comes together.  

The rear view is a composite image also using the focus stacking technique to maintain focus. This image uses 11 separate captures.

As you can see, achieving quality product photography is tremendously time consuming. Studio lighting always takes time and then adding the focus stacking technique makes for a long shoot. The end product is hopefully a great image. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Cinnamon

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Hard Boiled Egg

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80MP Medium Format Leaf Credo Sample Image

Occasionally, I have a client request to shoot with a super high resolution medium format digital back. In these cases, the client needs the ultimate in detail and resolution either to show the super fine detail of a product and to have the greatest printing resolution for making large high quality prints. In the past, I’ve used the Hasselblad H3D or the Phase One Mamiya body with a IQ180 digital back. More recently, I shot with a Leaf Credo 80 on a Mamiya body. Regardless of which camera gear, I’m always amazed at the quality and detail these camera will output.

This image is captured with an 80 megapixel sensor which outputs a 240 megabyte tiff file measuring 10328x7760 pixels.

First, the full view of the image, a cross section of metal pipe.

Cropped to 100% view.

Again the full size image showing the zoomed area.

The full area you see is about 3.5 by 2.5 inches. The 100% crop is showing an area about 1/4 inch across, the typical length of a red ant. The camera is mounted with a Mamiya 120mm macro lens to achieve such close focus and incredible detail.

These cameras are pricey. A basic kit starts at $35,000 plus a few thousand for each additional lens. Luckily, professional rental houses will rent these camera kits for about $800-$900 per day, provided you have the proper insurance. There are less expensive kits to purchase for as low as $10,000 but those sensors have much lower megapixels.

Please get in touch if you are in the market for high-resolution photography.

Ice Trucker Alex Debogorski's Junk Car Collection

At the end of 2011, I was fortunate enough to travel to Yellowknife Canada to help photograph the ice road trucker Alex Debogorski. Alex is a behemoth of a man and has a personality to match. He is has a mighty strength, enormous crushing hands, and a bellowing free flowing chuckle. Ice Road Truckers is a documentary style show on the History Channel. Yellowknife was the farthest north I’ve ever traveled. It’s located 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Of course, it was super cold and the sun barely rose over the horizon during the day. The town is fairly industrial and the people are very friendly.

While on Alex’s property, he gave us a tour of his collection of broken down vehicles. There must have been 100 vehicles on his property. The collection consisted mostly of classic American cars from the 1970's, trucks from the 50's, and a variety of construction vehicles and busses. Alex loved these old rotting vehicles.

 Also, I took a shot of the northern lights. The long exposure gave a deep blue sky and greenish lights. In person, it looked like fast moving wispy clouds because the visibility wasn’t ideal. So what you see here is much more dramatic than in person.

El Segundo Plaza Dusk Shoot

Baby Bird Productions asked me to shoot some basic store front properties for one of their clients, Federal Realty’s premiere properties at El Segundo Plaza. This means an early morning shoot to capture what looks nice in the morning light, then taking a break midday through the high sun, and then in the later hours shooting the buildings that look great in the evening light. The best part of the shoot was the fact that they wanted a dusk shot in the evening. I chose a composition featuring the restaurant Marmalade Cafe and the Mac store since it was in a good spot for late light to skim the front, and architecturally pleasing. First I prepared by selecting an angle well in advance, then I staked out my space in the parking lot and waited for the sky to turn a rich deep blue. From then on it was a matter or waiting and bracketing. I did ask a couple of shoppers walking out to their cars if they could drive in front of me so I could be sure to have some trail lights in the foreground. The few people I asked were happy to oblige. After shooting the dusk image, I ventured over to El Segundo Plaza's The Edge area for a night shot. All the light in the sky was gone by then so it was purely black. The area was well lit enough that I could still make a nice image with a long exposure. During the editing, I chose an image of the restaurant that had a balance of deep rich sky and night lights on the building. I composited some trail lights from another image in the foreground. A night time image from The Edge was a straight capture. Thankfully, it all worked out and Baby Bird Productions and Federal Realty were happy.

Above, Marmalade Cafe and Mac store. Below, El Segundo Plaza's The Edge district.

Fun Find Using Google Image Search

With so many stock photos sold, it’s impossible for me to track their usage. When I do find out about there usage is usually through one of the models from the shoot. Someone they know will see the image, recognize the model, then the model will forward the link to me. There is a better way to find images. I heard about Google’s image search and decided to run some of my stock photos through it to find them on the web. You may be familiar with searching for an image by typing in text in the search box but you may not know that you can also drop in an image and Google will try to find that image across the web. I tried this with a few of my stock images. Most of my stock images I found were the typical use scenario I expected, but one did strike me as quite unordinary. I photographed a biker and a scraggly man and released the images as stock. I was curious to see how they were ever used. I found them on a post at Aviary. They were humorously mixed with an image of Emma Watson of Harry Potter in an “emergency sexandectomy.” I think it’s something you just have to see to understand.

And the video showing how it was made.

Oh my! Needless to say, I could never have imagined this use scenario and I’m glad I took the time to search. The bottom of the post explains the composite was not done in Photoshop but in Aviary’s web tool. Also if you want to search for any of your images through Google’s image search click the camera at the end of the search box then upload a pic or drop in a url of a hosted file. Unfortunately, although I was able to find many instances of the original Emma Watson image, I could not find the original source to give credit to the photographer.