Beauty Products

Been doing a lot of product shots lately which I find as challenging and as enjoyable as shooting food. Here are some beauty products I shot for a supermarket chain's leaflet of promos. I adopted a current approach to these shots, using ample rim lighting and taking a lower (looking up) camera position. To those who think that product photography is easily done by putting two softboxes on the left and right of the subject has barely scratched the surface of this craft. I'm still learning and trust me it's more technical and requires creativity and a lot of experimentation.

product photography portfolio

GROCERY LIST

Just some of the images I shot for a supermarket's flyer that I composed in this layout.

Good Housekeeping September 2013

Shot and composed these images in Photoshop for an online client from Indonesia selling Korean brands of beauty products. This is my second project for them. I'm not sure if it's because product photography in their country is really expensive, but that they would rather send these products to me makes me think I must be doing something right. 

On the technical aspects of this shoot, highly reflective rounded products are the bane of every product photographer. The challenge is to add reflections, highlights and shadows that would show the shape of the product while avoiding extraneous objects from being reflected like the room's ceiling, light stands or the camera, which in this case was erased in Photoshop. My only piece of advice for people who want to learn product photography is plexiglass!

Good Housekeeping August 2013

What I had for dinner.

My girlfriend made me pasta,so I thought I would play with it first. Lots of props in the studio to come up with different layouts. I might do more of these personal projects to show the range of what we can do in the studio. The goal here being to make it look like it was not shot in the studio.

Breakfast items done as personal projects in collaboration with food stylist Luisa Jimenez.

Dessert Jars

Ice Baby

Got these super realistic fake ice cubes from Ebay and I couldn't wait to use them on a project so I just did some test shots to see how they register on camera. They look great! I bet these are the kind that they sell on Trengrove Studios for 40 dollars each. Got all seven pieces for the price of just one. That's a steal! They're made of acrylics, hand-fashioned I think cos they all look unique. They don't float so you stack them in the glass all the way to the top of the liquid so they look natural.

Good Housekeeping May 2013

From the May issue of Good Housekeeping Philippines. All shot in my kitchen studio in Cubao.

Good Food

Food shots used in the June 2013 issue of Good Housekeeping.

Slammers

These images are from our pictorial for Slammers for their rebranding marketing. They have cornered the market on sliders or mini-burgers. In photography the smaller the items, the harder it becomes to shoot them properly. These burgers took some time to prepare and shoot because when you go smaller, flaws become magnified when captured by the camera. Another problem you will encounter is the limited depth of field because your camera is closer to the subject.  You shoot on F18 or higher but suffer diffraction  which means softer images or you pull back the camera but you get a smaller image on the frame. Or you can get really technical and bracket  a series of focus points on a rail system, then combine the sharpest parts on post. I opted for focus bracketing hence i got images with all parts, front to back, in sharp focus. Yes, photography, specially today, is not just art, it's technology driven too. Thanks to Luisa Jimenez for the wonderful food styling on this project. Always work with a food stylist when you can.

Chicken Charlie

This is the second time we're shooting for Chicken Charlie. Shot on location in their restaurant. It was a tight squeeze for our set-up but we manage to get the lighting to work. Here are some  of the shots, dropped out on white background but using the natural shadows from the original shots.

New food shots for menu

Most of the stuff i shoot is for restaurants, usually on location, in one small corner of their restaurant. Sometimes we need to shoot for an entire menu that may consist of 50-100 items. For this kind of shoots where they only have a budget for a day or two-day shoot, time is of the essence. You shoot one dish after another on a white background with minimal or no propping and you tweak the lights best you can pronto. For some you have a little luxury of time, and you get to play around with props and backgrounds--whatever  are available or you were able to bring to the shoot. So you get to be more creative with the lighting too. Maybe add a mottled shadow effect on the back of the table. I enjoy both scenarios of food photography. It doesn't matter where or how we'll be shooting, i enjoy the challenge each food shoot brings and i feel lucky to make a living out of my passion. Here are some sample images from my recent restaurant shoots.

Summer Coolers

As in almost all my shoots, there is not enough budget to get a food stylist so everything we shoot is the real thing. The problem with this shoot was that the drinks actually came from the lobby one floor down from where we were shooting so you have a very limited window till the drink breaks up and all the pulp rises up to the top of the glass. Some photoshopping applied here. All props and backgrounds i brought to the set.

Field Day

Some of the images we shot for Mrs. Fields in our studio. They hauled a lot of food stuff to our studio but it was definitely worth the trip as they were able to utilize the kitchen's facilities and the props and backgrounds available in the studio. We are serious about food photography and we are constantly adding sutff to our collection of kitchen props, plates, linens etc - be it modern or vintage, anything we can find in the mall or the thrift store. It would be more convenient for clients to shoot in their restaurant, but the advantage of shooting in the studio where you have better control of lighting as viewed on a bigger monitor plus the options of  props available is i think more important.

Chicken Joy

No not Jolibee, just a phrase to describe the shoot we did for a restaurant that serve korean style chicken  fares along with other comfort food. These are the raw images, shot on white meant for dropping out. Shot inside their restaurant.

Inasal et al

Photography and layout of backlit menu for a restaurant serving seafood and grilled dishes in Puerto Galera.

Rainbow Snow

Photography and layout i did for Rainbow Snow, a dessert and drinks restaurant that serve Taiwanese icy concoctions. I also designed the logo for them.

The Pili Nut Project

Also from last year, a shoot for a government projct that aims to promote the lowly pili nut.

Natural Light

An impromptu food shoot called at the last minute. Client decided to have some shots taken during a food bloggers event in their restaurant. No time and space to set-up the strobes on this shoot. Just an acrylic diffuser and a couple of reflectors to control the mid-day sun.

Jeepok's Manok

Food images from last year's shoot for Jeepok, a jeepney themed fast food in Cavite that serves fried chicken along with "sisig" as their main offerings. Shot mainly in the owner's kitchen with the camera wirelessly hooked up to an ipad for reviewing shots. This is one of those marathon shoots where you don't have the time to fuss with lighting. Shot close to 30 items i think.

Sea Food Shoot in Gen San

Hi, i've been meaning to create this blog since a year ago but just couldn't find the time to learn how... until today. So allow me to bring you up to speed on my past projects that i thought would be worth showing as well. Sorry for possible misspellings or grammatical errors... i'm dyslexic when i type sometiems. And i don't capitalize my Is cos that's too much work.

Anyways, my first post is a project i did for a seafood restaurant in Gen. Santos City. My first out of towner food shoot actually. It would have been great, cos they flew me in and had me stay in a nice hotel except they did not pay me half of the contract. My mistake is I have trusted them enough to send them a hi-res copy of the images. Charge that to experience and a valuable lesson learned. Except for big companies and ad agencies my policy now is hi-res images upon full payment... which is only fair.

Product Photography Ad

Catalog Product Photography

Just a collection of my product shots in different styles that are often seen in catalogs, brochures or online sites. Most of these products were shot on white background then cut out of their backgrounds but retaining the natural shadows and reflections on separate layers, which could then be used layouts or placed on any colored background. Just to show the range of products and materials I can light and shoot.