How is this done

Hi All and Merry Christmas,
I’m attempting to replicate this shot,http://www.cablestogo.com/product/52080
any ideas on how it’s done appreciated.
thanks.

If you turn off javascript the effect is gone. Clicking on the small sized image to the left goes to a large sized image.

My guess is that the effect is using javascript to alter the position of the large sized image by changing CSS properties based on the cursor’s position over the small sized image.

Thanks Mittineauge, I was thinking along the lines of the actual photography,
and how that’s done.

Sorry, I guess my brain always tends to think in terms of programming :wink:

So what you want to know is how to get a close-up with a reflection?
If so, I’ll leave this to others more knowledgeable than I to answer.

Thanks,No worries, yes referring to the photography.

In Photoshop, you’d firstly cut out the image to give it a transparent background, then duplicate the layer. On the lower layer, you’d do some effects like feathering or whatever to get the reflective look. You could possible google something like “create a reflection in Photoshop”.

It looks to me as if the photo is taken with the objects placed on a highly-reflective white surface of some sort. I can get an approximation to the effect with both high-gloss white paper and the top of the fridge, but it requires some playing around to get the right light for the effect.

Off Topic:

This is the Photography forum, not the Graphics forum. :wink:

Yes I would say it is either taken on a piece of reflective plastic or probably aluminium in this case.

The other way would be creating a reflection using software but I think the easiest way would be to get the effect “in camera” as using software you would need to create masks etc, which would probably take longer.
Once you have a setup sorted that works it would just be a matter of putting a new item in the correct position and taking the photos. Although you would still need some sort of software mask to cut off the cable.

I agree, probably taken on a glass/alu or mirror surface, and it could be using a product tent - it would need some lightening, how much and position depends on your technique, you will also need white cardboard or cloth.

The only thing to do in sw is to fade out the cables.

Most of these shots are done with a MF camera, but you can of course do it with other cameras as well.

[FONT=Georgia]Hey Barry.

What is the actual object you’re photographing? Is it shiny and reflective? Please tell me it isn’t.

Do you have a room with a white ceiling?

The surface could be a piece of white plexi, which would give you a slight reflection. You could try a mirror for a stronger reflection but then you’d need to hover some kind of white surface (like a sheet or bristol paper) over or behind your set up (depending on what angle your camera is at) because part of your ceiling would reflect as well. So my suggestion is white plexi to keep things easier.

The lighting looks really soft and that’s easy enough to achieve. Buy a couple lamps and use the same type of bulb in each of them. Make your room dark and then turn on only those lamps. Angle the lamps to bounce Light off of your ceiling and around the room, rather than pointing the lamps directly at your product. That way you’d get nice, overall brightness.

You might need to stabilise your camera somehow, so consider getting a tripod to help you. You can get really cheap ones for around $20 USD. Slik is a good brand. The reason you’d need to stabilise is because the brightness still may not be enough to get an exposure without causing motion blur from shakey hands.

It sounds like a lot but it’s easy enough if you take the time to prepare everything. You don’t need to buy anything fancy, just the tripod for sure, the white plexiglass I suggested, and a few sheets of bristol paper or white cloth.

Also, be sure to clean whatever the product is, if you don’t want to spend hours photoshopping dust out of the image. It takes fifteen minutes to clean an object before taking the picture or an hour to do it after, in post-production![/FONT]

That’s a beautiful tutorial in 7 paragraphs! :slight_smile:
And as #8:
Don’t break down the installation before you have viewed the result (enlarged) on screen critically. Then you avoid the risk having to reinstall everything because of an accidentally soft shadow of your arm, which you don’t see on the small LCD of the camera. :wink:

Don’t break down the installation before you have viewed the result (enlarged) on screen critically. Then you avoid the risk having to reinstall everything because of an accidentally soft shadow of your arm, which you don’t see on the small LCD of the camera.

If I was doing that I would be remote controlling my camera from the PC so that I would have a larger view anyway.

To minimize camera shake try setting a delay of about one second. Also take a deep breath, hold and click when your lungs are full. Difference is slight but could be noticeable.