Home Made Mittens

[Naois]

I've decided to start learning how to do some product shots. This is the first attempt. I was looking around my room for something to shoot and I found this mitten my mother-in-law made for my 16 month old daughter. I'm not sure where the second one went to.

Anyhow, I would like to know if this is the expected look for a product shot. I shot in raw and used a grey card (WhiBal) to adjust the white balance, and tried to fill the frame with the product and get pure white all around the border. I guess this allows a graphics design pro to extend the white as little or as much as they want. I also increased the contrast to make it look the way it actually did in the light box I shot it in.

I've done a lot of reading on how to do these shots, but I would like a second (or several) opinions on if I got this right or not.

Please let me know what could make this shot better, or if I did anything wrong for this type of work.


Click image above for full resolution.



Thanks!

[Naois]

I've had a chance to look at this on other monitors that aren't calibrated and the shadow is visible. How do I get rid of the shadow completely? I've tried adjusting my two lights every which way I can, but there always seems to be a shadow. Do I need more lights?

[Naois]

Not one response, other than my own. Does that mean this shot is perfect? Unlikely. Please help me out.

[docxnoel]

i might say that the WB is good, but the photo itself looks so flat, im not an expert with the product shots but one thing that i observed with that kind of photographs they always have three dimensional, try to figure out a good angle in which the mittens looks dimensional.

[Meg robinson]

Let me preface my comment by telling you that I am not an experienced photographer, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

The photo is sharp and does a good job showing the details of the mitten, which is the most important aspect. I was staring at the photo for a while trying to figure out what was missing, and it might be that there is an overall monochromatic feel to the photo because there isn't much contrast between the background and the mitten itself. I would experiment with different colored backgrounds. I would also reposition the mitten. Maybe it could be hanging rather than lying flat? Just some thoughts. - Meg

[Naois]

Thank you both for your comments.

The reason the background is white is so it can blend in with a white background, like a website for example, and I don't know how to make it another color with perfectly even lighting all around the outside. It's easy with white, just blow out the background.

I agree that it does look flat and unintresting so for my next attempt I'm going to try different angles and since I have since found the matching mitten, I think I'll include both.

[sk66]

Usually, you still want some kind of shadow or reflection...That's part of what gives an image "depth".
You have done well in getting most of the background pure white, perhaps too well that in trying to get pure white the mitten seems a bit washed out.

To get less/no shadow you could move the subject further from the background... or used a very high contrasting color for the background and cut it out in post.

[Naois]

It does look washed out, except for maybe the bottom left part... I think the light wasn't hitting that part as much.

I think that I need to re-think my method.

The setup was just a white nylon box with two lights shining through the sides. The mitten was placed on the bottom of the box and I shot down on it from an opening in the front side of the box.

I would love to set up a white backdrop and bring the mitten further from the background, in stead of laying on it, expose for the mitten, and hit the background with a flash from behind the mitten. I just don't have the ability to do that with my current tools (and I don't know how to get a mitten to float).