It's All Pails In Comparison
July 23, 2017Nine Ways to Sunday with PS Flavor
Way One of Nine Ways to Sunday (Part W, Segment Two) — Another neat thing that arrived in my P.S. Flavor Box-o-Spices - Part Deux… are seven really cute little spice pails that look like artisan paint cans! I have seen these pails used in two different ways with the P.S. Flavor Spice Blends. The first... as a single product container that holds a larger quantity of one spice blend... while not quite being a "bulk" size yet. The second, as "Combo Pails" that can hold multiple packets of the same or different spices. For example, the "Perfect on Veggies" Combo Pail contains small packets of four blends (Adobo Kitchen, Creole Kitchen, Citrus Spice and Smokey Southern).
The "Perfect on Veggies Combo Pail" contains small packets of the PS
Flavor! Spice Blends that pair great with vegetables! Packets of Adobo Kitchen,
Creole Kitchen, Citrus Spice and Smokey Southern are in the combo pail. The spice blends can
also be purchased individually in glass jars.
This second packaging concept is what I'm photographing for the Way One segment. I can honestly say, this is one of the most complex product-based, single items, that I have photographed. In this configuration, the outer pail has some slightly reflective metal parts, but is mostly comprised of translucent symmetrical plastic… which is wrapped around more randomly shaped translucent plastic packets… which are wrapped around the final spice product. The goal of the photograph, is to show all of these parts equally.
It's important that the pail, the packets in the pail, and the spices in the packets in the pail are all visible... with nice, even contrast... and no distracting glare or reflections.
In an editorial setting, I would probably take multiple photos exposing and highlighting different parts of the product (while keeping the camera and product in the same place) and composite the best parts of several different photos in post-production. However, in this case... we're still in "production mode". There are seven pail fronts, six pail backs and six "pail with bottle" shots that are needed. Time just would not allow for 19 composite builds. A "one-shot" lighting setup was needed for all three sets.
We're still in production mode with these photos. A total of 19 photos were needed across the seven different pails. Pictured here are the front and back of the "Perfect on Seafood" Combo Pail by P.S. Flavor! Spice Blends.
Six of the combo pails needed to be photographed with the spice bottles that match the spices that are in the combo. Pictured here is the "Perfect on Seafood" Combo Pail by P.S. Flavor! which includes Citrus Spice, Chili Lime Rub, Caribbean Kitchen and Adobo Kitchen.
The trick is, we want to see the pail, the packets inside the pail and the spices inside the packets inside the pail. A four point light setup was used with a total of around 1600 watts of power. That large amount of power was needed because three of the four strobes were polarized, along with the lens. Mitigating the irregular glare from the pail itself and the packets inside the pail… while keeping the contrast even across the spices… was the challenge.
Having so many sources of polarized light introduced new issues, including a "metal rainbow" effect that had to be removed in post-production... from every photo.
LEFT : (SOOC/crop-only) The rainbow effect on the metal is caused by light traveling through the plastic wall, hitting the metal, and bouncing back through the plastic wall at multiple opposite angles than what it entered... all in the span of less than 1mm. RIGHT : Fully edited, the rainbow effect has been minimized in the final photo.
Under normal circumstances, it would be relatively easy to polarize that out, but the tolerances here were so tight, that rejecting the light causing the issue... would introduce even more contrast robbing reflections on the outer pail surface.
Another problem that arises when using so much specifically directional lighting is that every imperfection becomes more visible. The handle attachment points on a couple of the pails had a plastic sheet that seemed like it was hot bolted directly between the metal and the plastic wall. It wasn't really visible under normal, natural light, but the directional lighting of the high intensity strobes highlighted the edge and shadow areas of the plastic. This again, all had to be corrected and cleaned up in post-production.
LEFT : (SOOC/crop-only) A couple of the pails have small plastic bits bolted between the handle assembly and the plastic wall. RIGHT : Fully edited, the plastic bits have been hand-erased, the rainbow effect fixed, and some local contrast was brought back into the packets (which was caused by light getting trapped between the pail wall and the packet itself).
The pail walls themselves picked up scratches quite easily as well. I think the scratch marks on the front of this pail were made in shipping, as the metal handle had been flipped over in about the same position as the scratches. Here again, all marks had to be laboriously removed in post.
LEFT : (SOOC/crop-only) With so much directional, high intensity light, every little scratch and spec of dust is going to be very noticeable. RIGHT : Fully edited, the scratches have been hand-removed from each photo. Post-production is a necessary step for product photos!
The post production time for each photo was between 4 and 5 times greater than the average time that it took to set and capture the photo in the first place. It was all definitely worth it though... the cute little pails are a true work of art… just like the amazing spices inside those pails!
Each of the 19 photos required quite a bit of post-production work, but it's always worth it to show such an amazing product in the best way possible. How can you not want this cute little spice pail in your kitchen right now! (If you click on any of our photos, they get larger!)
Some photographers will only take the photos and give them to their clients… completely unedited. In this particular case, that would have resulted in completely unusable photos. Post-production is an extremely important part of product photography that can not be overlooked. The end result should be about the client getting a photo that shows the product in the best light possible (pun intended)… and not just about getting through a shot list.
Digital Food Works always includes post-production as part of every assignment, and I don't bill separately or additionally for it. Amazing photos, period.
Next up… a procession of packets (I'm fond of alliteration).
I love how the packets look all stacked up in the "All Eight" pail. It's a larger pail than the others... and a really neat packaging idea.
Getting the label exposed and making sure the clear walls of the pail are still visible is the first step in the process. You can get to this place with just two light sources... but once you add spice packets into the pail... shadow casting from the solid top lid and bounce light between the pail and plastic packets becomes an issue.
