DSLR Product Photography Class....

Last week I attended a great product photography class at DSLR Photography Courses. It was a full day and with only 4 of us in the class we received customised tuition. We learnt about shutter speed, aperture and ISO and I'm so happy that I can confidently use my camera on fully manual now! Before I was only able to use it on shutter speed / aperture priority mode but now I know how to use all three functions together.  By understanding all the elements I can control the light and take better photographs.

We practiced lots with our cameras using our own products as well as having some fun with action men....

• Experimenting with depth of field

• Focusing on an object in the background

• Focussing on the object at the front

I also learnt about metering, it turns out the bar in the view finder actually means something! By over exposing a white background it looks white (not a dirty off white which can happen) and under exposing makes a grey or black background actually look like their true colour not a bleached out version.

• Over exposed

• various levels of exposure on a dark grey background

• We had a chance to work with studio lights and controlling shadows with diffusers and reflectors. This image was taken using flash lighting

Furniture made by a fellow class mate http://www.tortiehoare.com/

We were also given an introduction to Macro photography.  The detail of a macro lens is amazing and a must especially if you sell jewellery, although the price tag for these lenses is not cheap! Needless to say I will get to grips and make do with my prime lens for now.

If you want to improve your product photography I would recommend a similar course and if you are in the London area check out the courses available at DSLR Photography Courses. I was really impressed with their studio set up and our tutor Katerina was very knowledgeable and inspiring.

I need to practice now and hopefully you will see improvements with my photography in the future.

fizzi~jayne x