Antique Art

Part of what I do is to accurately reproduce antiques for auctions often times these drawings and sketches are behind glass making it difficult to photograph without reflections. Not only is the correct color important the art can not be distorted and must be photographed  perpendicular to the film/sensor plane. The only way to prevent reflections is to shoot in a darkened studio with lighting carefully placed as to not reflect back into the camera. In  this case the owner wanted the detail of  the pencil handwriting in the upper left and lower right photographed separately and ledgibly. The solution is to position the lights so they light the subject  but the light reflected off of the glass bounces off and away from the lens. By hanging the art on the wall and lighting from above with a large soft box the incident of reflection sends the reflected light to the non-reflective floor covered with black paper where most of the light is absorbed. Very little light is bounced into the studio leaving nothing to reflect.
Here are the finals after a small amount of contrast adjustment in Photoshop.

The little jobs save the day!

Today I did  a shot of a client's father's wedding ring, exactly as given to the son, without any cleaning for insurance coverage.

Nikon D90 with a 55mm f2.8 Macro lens f8, 1/50 under LED lighting with white & black bounce cards.

Its little jobs like this that although, not exciting and glamorous, that pay the bills in the off season.

Antique Sorority Vases

I love shooting antiques and capturing the colors and patina they have. Here is an example of a simple shoot done for the client for a professional insurance appraisal. Kappa Kappa Phi vase pair valued between $600 and $700. Colors are rendered 100% true to life with no other editing. The lighting is a bit flat as these are for inspection purposes only. Note how the macro of the signature reveals the fine patina on the pottery.

Shot with a Nikon D600 24-70mm f/2.8 lens @ f5.6, 1/160sec, under studio strobes.

Macro shot with a Nikon D90 120mm f/2.8 and D4 bellows assembly. f/5.6, 1/160 sec.

ProdPhoto Commercial Product Photography

In the midst of the summer months, I find myself in the quiet time before the holiday catalog and advertising crush, a great time to rekindle the urge to write.

First of all, let me introduce my company and what ProdPhoto.com does. ProdPhoto.com is a product photography shop that caters to new business and artists that want professional high end photography services but are new to what can often be the complex and expensive world of commercial photography. Usage licensing,  copyright issues, sample selection and preparation,  final image file type and sizing, and archiving are all simplified and direct. Above all ProdPhoto stays within your budget as little as $10 per finished image.




You tell us what you plan to use the images for and ProdPhoto will provide you with the original high resolution print files(TIFF format @240 dpi up to 24mpx) and any other format required, re-sized to fit your needs(ie. JPG @72 dpi suitable for the web). Fully cleaned up or "Photoshopped" images that render true colors and 1st class results.

Reproduction of artisan works which stay true to color, texture and proportion can be very difficult without the proper equipment. ProdPhoto's professionals use modern industry leading equipment and software to render your creations accurately. No color shifting, no spatial distortion only your design comes through.

90% of what ProdPhoto does is small tabletop items like jewelry, paintings, pottery and other similar items. The other 10%  are slightly larger items like clothing apparel, larger paintings and art pieces.



Well, that's it for today, I have run out of time and have to go into the studio and shoot some antique pottery. Be back soon!