Product Photography and Archive Hunting

Ridi ArkTik 600 x 600 LED

Being a short week due to the Easter Bank Holiday (which was wet as usual – what drought!!!!) last week was pretty quiet and it gave me time to hunt through the archive for some hotel pictures and product shots for the new website. I like to put the most current work online but sometimes it’s great to look back and pick out a few favourite shots from the past few years.

SKL Table Lamps

As well as hunting through the archive (see the product shot of the coloured glass table lamps)  I photographed a very sleek new 600 x 600 recessed LED based luminaire from Ridi lighting in the studio. The brief was to photograph the product switched on to show the effect of the advanced opal diffuser and central prismatic strip. The secret to getting these shots right it to ensure the colour balance is correct and to drag the shutter to allow some light to bleed through to show a lit effect. When shooting in the studio with flash heads it’s the aperture of the lens that adjusts the exposure as a general rule as studio flash heads fire at around 800^th second. But by using a slightly longer shutter speed (in this instance 1/30^th second) I can let some light from the luminaire register in the opal diffuser. A standard shutter speed for studio product photography would be 1/200^th second but this shutter speed makes the diffuser look almost unlit.

SKL Table Lamps

We managed to get a lot of planning done as well last week with Ani our office manager scheduling in all the work we have coming up over the next few weeks. Things have picked up nicely and this week and next are pretty flat out.

The new website and blog is working out really well for us and it’s running faster since I deleted the rotating background shots and now we have a static backdrop to the site. The stats for the new site look good to and it’s rated at 75% for web optimisation as opposed to 40% for the old site so the integral blog is definitely helping.

Our sister company Inverse Square Media is also picking up well with a couple of new jobs to schedule in in the coming couple of weeks – here’s a link to the site so please take a look if you get a minute www.inversesquaremedia.com

Fenchurch Street to Sweden

I took my Pentax 67 out for a shoot last Monday which was great fun as I haven’t shot any 120 roll film for ages. I picked up the Pentax 67 camera last year from Dave at the Camera Repair Workshop in Bletchely for a great price and I’ve been using the Pentax 67 lenses that I’ve since acquired on my Canon EOS 5D MK2 with an adaptor. I haven’t had a chance to actually use the camera though so it was good to just head out and fire off a few rolls of film.
A lot of people mistakenly believe that film is dead but it’s making a comeback right now and many established pro’s still use film (David Bailey and John Stoddart spring to mind).
120 roll film and 35mm film is readily available on the internet so why not get a second hand camera and have some fun!.
Work wise we had a pretty good week with a job at Fenchurch Street station on Monday night, a product shoot on Tuesday and a two day shoot over in Sweden at a brand new hotel.
It’s always tiring working abroad what with all the travelling but it was great fun working in Sweden and the hotel staff treated us really well. I’ve worked in Sweden before and the people over there seem to be really friendly and pleasant.
We’ve also just taken on a new member of staff. Antonia will be joining us from April as an assistant photographer as well as working with me and Pete at Inverse Square Media. It will be great to have someone around to help out on shoots as well as with the mountain on post shoot processing that I have to get through.
Even things like burning disks for the archive and keeping the blog, Twitter, Facebook page and Google + page up to date take ages so an extra pair of hands will really help.
I’ve attached a couple of the pictures from Fenchurch Street Station into the blog. We were commissioned by the lighting manufacturer and the lighting designer jointly and the brief was to capture the quality of the new light fittings that have been installed above the platforms and in the main concourse. When you photograph any Network Rail property you have to pay for a permit and send them a method statement and risk assessment for each job. I’ve also got the correct orange hi vis jacket (yellow for motorways and roads etc) and we also have to submit our public liability insurance certificate to them for approval. All this makes sense when you think how dangerous working near a railway can be so we’re happy to comply.
I never use flash out on location anyway but obviously this is a total no go near any railway lines so that’s another thing to consider if you get the chance to photograph any platforms etc.

Hi Everyone - I've decided to keep the Blogger blog going alongside the new Wordpress one for a while!.

Holophane Prismalume

Holophane Prismpack

This week has been relatively quiet compared to normal although it started off with a very early morning for me on Monday when I left home at 5.30am to get to Bracknell for a 7am start. I was photographing a Waitrose store for Edge Lighting (http://www.edgelighting.co.uk/) where they have installed some brand new LED recessed fittings into one of the aisles and the lit effect was very good indeed!.
Then on Wednesday I had a portrait shoot in Oxford with Rob Gregg who works for the Oxford University Estates Dept.The portrait of Rob is for an upcoming issue of Lux magazine and we had great fun walking around Oxford looking for locations outside with some street lighting or other lighting in the background to give some context to the photographs.
The rest of the week has been spent working on the new website and blog and all of today has been about uploading content and minor tweaks to the layout.
Next week is looking very busy though with some photography at Fenchurch Street Station, another Lux portrait shoot, an event in London, some product photography to do and a job in Sweden!!.
Last week I spent the day in the studio photographing the latest version of the classic Holophane Prismpack and Prismalume ranges. Without sounding too much like a lighting geek these are my favourite highbay lights of all time and I really enjoyed the shoot. I love the clean lines and the high quality of the finishes throughout the products from the reflectors down to the suspension loop and fixing brackets. Glass and aluminium products are always a tricky subject to light but I was pleased with the final pictures some of which appear in the gallery below.
Don't forget to check out my video company website www.inversesquaremedia.com if you haven't already. This is another website and blog designed by Dave at Daxic.

Hi - We've now moved our blog to www.redshift-photography.co.uk - please join us there!!!.

New website and blog

Luckily I'm back to full health after a few weeks of feeling really tired and flat due to Bronchitis. I think the down time might actually have done me some good as I feel refreshed and full of enthusiasm again. Photography is my life and I love my job so much so it's good to be firing on all cylinders again.
We are in the process of launching a brand new website and blog. It's been fun looking back through the archives and selecting some pictures to put on there and I've attached a few that we've picked out for the site here in the blog today.

Georges Quay Dublin

Ropemaker Street London

We will probably redirect this blog to the new address as it's a Wordpress blog that we are having designed but if we can't do that for any reason please keep checking www.redshift-photography.co.uk as this is where the new site will be. The old red and white website is still at that address at the moment and the new one will look totally different.

Selfridges London

Also please check out our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redshift-Photography/195658090518532 as we are starting to use this more often.

I'm also getting more into Google+ after struggling with it for a few weeks.Our page is https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/100203869197364017505/#

I've just downloaded the latest version of Adobe Lightroom (version 4) which is very impressive.There are quite a few improvements over the previous version and it's a lot cheaper to buy so I can recommend it highly for post processing RAW files. This version can also handle video and gives some basic video editing tools which is handy for anyone shooting an EOS 5D MK2 etc.

30 Great Queens Street London

Canon have just announced the new Canon EOS 5D MK3 which looks very interesting too. The body is priced at £3000 and we'll be ordering one as soon as the cash flow allows. The resolution is pretty much the same as the MK2 but it has some very useful additions such as a digital level to show if the camera is dead straight on the tripod and also automatic HDR blending. This won't provide finished print quality HDR pictures but it is a big step ahead and will make my workflow easier and faster.

Many thanks to everyone who's read my blog over the years and please do follow me on my new Wordpress blog and I look forward to blogging to you from Wordpress really soon.

Rugby School



Rugby School Chapel Panoramic

I've been so poorly over the past two weeks with Bronchitis and Flu that it's been tough to keep things going. I've had lots of work to fit in and I've tried to keep working as I never let our clients down but on the days between shoots I've been lying on the sofa with my two dogs watching The Sweeney and Minder on UK Gold!. Last week when I was really suffering I had a shoot at Rugby School where I photographed their chapel. The lighting in the chapel looks stunning and was designed by DPA Lighting Consultants. I really enjoyed the shoot despite feeling terrible and my favourite shot is one made up of three pictures taken on the 24mm T/S lens stitched together. To achieve this I shoot one shot with the lens fully shifted down, another with no shift and a third with the lens fully shifted up. Once stitched together the result is a lovely super wide view without too much wide angle distortion.


Rugby School Chapel

After the Rugby shoot I drove down to Wales for a shoot at the Millenium Stadium and had another shoot the following night for Philips Lighting where I photographed some old SOX lanterns soon to be replaced by LED street lights for a before and after case study.
Yesterday I managed a shoot in Brighton at the Rendezvous Casino but felt really tired and hot/cold so had a day off today to try to recuperate once again.
I've had to postpone some product photography for tomorrow as I still feel unwell but hope to be back out again later this week. I am definitely getting a Flu jab next year!.

Retail Photography Projects

Time has flown since my last blog post and I've been meaning to write an update for a few days now.

Nick Farraway - Havells Sylvania

Last week was very busy with a shoot in London for Willmott Dixon on Monday at a beautifully refurbished office near Farringdon.Then I headed down to Barnstaple on the train for a shoot at a new Tesco Extra store on Tuesday for Whitecroft Lighting for a feature in Lux Magazine. I love trains and really enjoyed the trip down and the shoot itself.
On the Wednesday I had a meeting with my partner in the video company we've set up called Inverse Square Media. we've just launched our new website so please take a look if you get a minute!. The web address is http://www.inversesquaremedia.com/

Tesco Extra Barnstaple

On Thursday I photographed a new Morrisons store in Peterborough for Philips Lighting which is lit entirely by LED lighting and on Friday I did a portrait shoot at the HQ of Havells Sylvania in London.
This week has been much quieter because I've had two jobs postponed due to the weather so I've spent all week working on the Inverse Square website and social media as well as taking some product photographs in the studio for Tridonic of some super slim LED panels.

Morrisons LED Lit Store Peterborough

I've recently been buying up second hand Pentax 67 lenses which I now use on my EOS 5D MK2 via an adaptor. These lenses are currently very cheap on the used market and provide top quality images on the Canon. I'd really recommend this as a way of getting some super prime lenses at silly money. Let me know if you'd like to see some sample pictures taken with this combination!.
Please do check out the Inverse Square Media website and let me know what you think.