Studio
It's always fun to shoot beautiful things. This car is no exception. We only had a day and a half, and a long shot list, so we were moving pretty fast. It was pretty interesting working with Jerry, the automotive designer who designed and built the car. He had lots of insight into the shape and rendering of the values describing the vehicle. As always, I am interested in your thoughts and comments.
You know you’re living in the Twilight Zone when wearing a mask is controversial. So why not wear one as exciting as the times? Liam and Maria, my son and daughter-in-law, make these striking masks with 3D printing technology. Definitely more exciting than a cloth mask! Let me know what you think--and check out LMX Unlimited if you want to wear one yourself.
Shooting glass products can be tricky. It's not just transparent – it's also shiny. It's essential to see the background behind the glass and have things (lights) reflecting in the glass to reveal it's shininess. The edge of the glass needs to be a different value than the background so you can see the shape. I think I solved those problems for my client that manufactures these industrial LED lights. What do you think?
I did this portrait several years ago, but I think it illustrates the value of design. The C suite employees were represented on the website with these photos. My partner Dave did a few, and I think there were some done in Germany too. Everyone was wearing white shirts on a white gradient background, looking pretty serious. The style integrated with the website well. The total effect was striking. Let me know what you think!
Lead-acid batteries have been the standard in cars since the beginning. They are rectangular prisms too. This is a lithium-ion battery, so it's smaller and lighter. But still a box! The orange background helps it out. What do you think?
We are all part of a larger whole. The scope of the larger whole is sometimes difficult to fathom. In this case, these are pulleys, not cogs, and they have a bit of silicone or rubber to absorb shock and vibration. Smoothing out the bumps seems like a good idea in many contexts.I like the way the translucent silicone looks. It's always fascinating how industrial parts are beautiful objects with the right perspective and lighting.
Your image is for you to decide. You can be all buttoned up, literally and figuratively, or a little looser and more approachable. Many companies choose for you and have dressing requirements. We've done photography for clients who had all their executives wear white shirts with no tie, others a suit and tie, and still others like the photo above. Let me know what you think.
Most of the time when speaking of sheetmetal in Detroit, you’re talking about the stuff you see on the outside of a car. There’s a lot of it on the inside too! This part goes behind the rear seat, underneath the rear window. This bit of sheet metal is lighter and vibrates less than the ordinary. For the purposes of this photograph, it’s just about making a dramatic image to catch your attention. Let me know what you think.
I love taking, or seeing things out of context. They become something new. Refreshing. Out of context things take on a new life. This is antithetical to most product photography where it is necessary to see and recognize the product instantly. Perhaps this is why it tickles me so much. This image is of sausage casing. Hard to tell at first glance though. Let me know what you think!
The biggest of these little steel balls is about a millimeter in diameter, a little less than 10 times the diameter of a human hair. They are used as an abrasive in industrial processes. They were fun and challenging to photograph. I had to level the table so they wouldn’t all roll away. The best part of this profession is that there are always new and interesting things to shoot.
Photographing anything shiny is a kick! Finely machined aerospace parts fit the bill. You wouldn’t think Detroit for aerospace, but in the last year I’ve done work for several aerospace companies. I’m guessing that there is a lot of talent here honed making automotive parts. It’s fun shooting them, wherever they end up.
I love shooting cars. Day-to-day I shoot everything from massive aerospace tools to tiny fasteners, but photographing this Ford GT was a treat. Using a light painting technique we walked around the car shining a light at it while the shutter was open. After seeing the results we would alter how fast we walked, where we held the light and where we pointed it until we had a dynamically lit image.Lighting is crucial for every photo and this car is no exception. These are the kind of jobs that get me excited forty years into this business. As always I look forward to your thoughts.
Where would we be without filters! Filters are one of those hidden things without which nothing would work. Nearly everything is filtered, like gas, hydraulic fluid, water, oil, and that's only in a car. We were making a banner for a website, so the goal was to be about filters, but also to be a little dramatic to catch your eye.
I got to shoot a fully restored 1966 Shelby Mustang. Ok, it was a job, but it was a treat! This beautiful car had original tires, an original battery (it was just the case of course), tags from the dealership still on it. Let me know what you think.
Not long ago I had the opportunity to photograph this customized Dodge Charger Hellcat. It’s a beautiful car, though I’d have preferred red to black. Black is nice, but red is just hotter! You can see it’s 700 plus horsepower engine on the studio blog. I am always interested in your thoughts.
Illustrate as in explain, explicate, elucidate, clarify or demonstrate. There are many tricks or devices that help to illustrate motion in a still photograph. This time, the Creative Director thought that a triptych would be best at telling the story. I agree. I'd love to hear your comments or thoughts.
Building any product would be pretty tough without fasteners. And while these don’t look like any fasteners I’ve ever seen, they are. We spent an entire day photographing all kinds of fasteners. It was a productive shoot, and I’m looking forward to another soon Please let me know what you think.
My best friend, Richard, created this gold necklace with diamonds. His hand is holding it. This is one of a series of images we’ve done with his hands. The jewelry pops off the black background, and his hand contrasts nicely with the jewelry. The photograph tells the story that this necklace was crafted by an artist. I like working with Richard, he has a finely tuned aesthetic and we collaborate well together.
Tabletop photography has been around since cameras were invented. The tools and techniques have changed over the years, but the vision has remained constant. It is possible to for anyone to put a product into a light tent and probably get an acceptable image. The value that a professional brings to the table (pun intended) is a better image every time that communicates the vision of the maker. A thousand words…
Just because your customers are businesses doesn’t mean you should tolerate crappy looking ads and sales materials. I worked on this project with a talented art director and the result speaks for itself. As always let me know what you think.