Our First Studio Practice

This is my first attempt at a product shot. The main photo is my personal favourite as I think it shows more detail in the product. This one took the most time to get though. I tried moving the lights to change the highlights on the can by lowering the soft boxes, lowering the camera and a range of different techniques. I learned from this that there is other ways of highlighting more of your subject rather than using more lights and just moving them around. The smaller shots were mainly for me to show a different perspective on the can and it gave me the chance to try different apertures and depths of field.

The set-up I used for this was one small soft box on the right side, and one A3 piece of white card on the left. I also used another piece of white card on the top but that didn't reflect much light back onto the product. The camera was the studio's Canon 5D.

First Post!

Hello, I'm Jayne and I'm an 18 year old photographer currently based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I have just moved here from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to attend a Foundation Degree in Commercial Photography which will span over the next 2 years. I decided to do a photography course because my main goal is to become a cinematographer and to be a succesful cinematographer I have to be able to understand and take successful portraits. I decided to move to Wakefield to gain some independance and because this course had traits which were not on offer on any of the courses available in Aberdeen. I was drawn to this course because it not only teaches you how to take photos it will also teach us about the photographic industry. Over this two years this blog will act as a place for me to receive critique from professional photographers on the work I will be doing during this course. From this I hope to gain an understanding of where I am in my own personal development within the photography industry and so I can reflect on my development as I go through the course.
As yet, I have some experience in photography and so I have high hopes that this course will provide me with a chance to grow in both my technical knowledge and personal style. To date, I have attempted a few stylised portraits and landscapes but they have both been attempts in genres and styles I don't particular want to do, I have done them due to my resources. This course should therefore give me the opportunity to try out different styles to find which suits me best. I also hope to go on to study Cinematography and so as I learn photography here I want to try out things such as Stop Motion Animations etc, mixed media, which could also go towards my showreel.