Dangerspouse
Senior Member
Hi everybody -
Even though I'm very new to DSLR's, I somehow landed a job as product photographer to a California winery. They are shipping me out an example of every bottle they release this year, and I get money plus the bottle for every shot they accept.
I just got my first shipment last week, with instructions that they wanted a low key photo of the label, close up. I took a quick test photo of one bottle and sent it off to them asking it my composition was ok. They said it was, and liked it enough to put it up in their web catalog immediately (I would have preferred they didn't, because I noticed the bottom of the label was slightly ragged and I wanted to fix it. You can see it here: Davis Family Vineyards - 2016 Zinfandel, Old Vine, Russian River Valley ).
After accepting that photo I got another email requesting an additional creative shot for each bottle. These will be blown up for posters and glossy handouts. The first one they asked be a still life, but after that I'm being left to my own creative devices.
This is the composition I came up with the other day, using ingredients I already had on hand. As I mentioned, I'm new to DSLR's and have virtually no experience post processing. I only just purchased Lightroom a few days ago, and am still in the "what the hell is this??" phase. So this, like all my other pictures, has just the minimal automatic processing that my default computer viewer allows: "Auto Sharpen", "Auto Exposure", and "Auto Contrast".
Please give me some honest criticism, with an eye towards the rules of Product Photography (if there are any). As a newbie I don't own much equipment yet, just a handful of mostly kit lenses, a pair of softbox lights, and a light tent for my wife's macro product work. But any suggestions regarding technique will be gratefully accepted. Thanks!
Even though I'm very new to DSLR's, I somehow landed a job as product photographer to a California winery. They are shipping me out an example of every bottle they release this year, and I get money plus the bottle for every shot they accept.
I just got my first shipment last week, with instructions that they wanted a low key photo of the label, close up. I took a quick test photo of one bottle and sent it off to them asking it my composition was ok. They said it was, and liked it enough to put it up in their web catalog immediately (I would have preferred they didn't, because I noticed the bottom of the label was slightly ragged and I wanted to fix it. You can see it here: Davis Family Vineyards - 2016 Zinfandel, Old Vine, Russian River Valley ).
After accepting that photo I got another email requesting an additional creative shot for each bottle. These will be blown up for posters and glossy handouts. The first one they asked be a still life, but after that I'm being left to my own creative devices.
This is the composition I came up with the other day, using ingredients I already had on hand. As I mentioned, I'm new to DSLR's and have virtually no experience post processing. I only just purchased Lightroom a few days ago, and am still in the "what the hell is this??" phase. So this, like all my other pictures, has just the minimal automatic processing that my default computer viewer allows: "Auto Sharpen", "Auto Exposure", and "Auto Contrast".
Please give me some honest criticism, with an eye towards the rules of Product Photography (if there are any). As a newbie I don't own much equipment yet, just a handful of mostly kit lenses, a pair of softbox lights, and a light tent for my wife's macro product work. But any suggestions regarding technique will be gratefully accepted. Thanks!