Photos for shaving gear, How do you do it?

[rbscebu]

You say nothing special, yet that is a very very nice photo!

It's just pure talent!

When you see a photo that you like, study the photo and mentally list what makes you like it. By studying photographs that you like and why you like them, you will improve your own photography.

In @Attog's photo that you mentioned, the predominant feature is the DE razor positioned at the top third right of the framing. The lighting is relatively soft but still shows direction. The towel is slightly crumpled to help accentuate the lighting direction. The items on display are angled in an inverted V formation giving the layout direction. The lettering on the towel sort of provides an underline to the whole image.

Whether @Attog thought of all this when composing the shot. I don't know. He could have just fluked it.

 

[Attog]

Whether @Attog thought of all this when composing the shot.

This photo I took just to have something at hand for this thread. I shouldn’t cut the top brush bristles from the frame but oh well…

 

[Heavy_Metal_Hound]

How do you take pictures of your Shave Kit?
I see so many fantastic pictures posted on this bulletin board of all the shave gear and many of the photos have been taken by excellent photographers who have practiced and refined technique.

I am curious if you have any suggestions or lessons learned about lighting, focus, depth of field etc.

For my shave photos I just use the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. I simply zoom in and take the photo, sometimes I use the flash and sometimes I dont it depends on the lighting or just which photo I think looks better.

 

[sarimento1]

Your nature pictures are awesome, very detail as if I was there watching the critters there. Thanks for all those photo's and the other fellows who like doing similar photo's. Very enjoyable

Thanks for the nice words as well as following the photo forum!!

 

[Buflow]

I'm trying out a leather background to add a little interest to the photo.

 

[NotBloomingAL]

I'm trying out a leather background to add a little interest to the photo.

I'm glad you started this thread. Although, as I said earlier I think your photos look pretty darn good. The leather is a nice change up.

Up the thread I learned to use the Gallery feature. I finally tested it out today. It seems to be the best way to go -- upload once then post where ever. Although, I can't seem to find the BB code anymore. I may have to create my own file for that.

 

[sarimento1]

Nice backgrounds!
I'll often print a somewhat natural-looking background on my photo printer and use that in the SOTD pic!
No pride whatsoever!

 

[NotBloomingAL]

Nice backgrounds!
I'll often print a somewhat natural-looking background on my photo printer and use that in the SOTD pic!
No pride whatsoever!

View attachment 1560370

I always wondered how you did some of your backgrounds.

 

[sarimento1]

I always wondered how you did some of your backgrounds.

Yep, really easy to find an image from my archive or otherwise online, print it 18"x9", and pop it into the tabletop setup!

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

As I mentioned in my first post, I prefer darker backgrounds, due to the fact my eyes are sensitive to light. The standard color for most website backgrounds is white, but that bright white color on modern screens with high NIT ratio's, just kills my eyes. So I navigate the web in everything dark mode to save my eyes lol.

And to that end, for quite a while, I was taking my pictures at my desk. For one, the wood tones and textures just naturally make for a nice background. And secondly, its easy on the eyes. I used to take SOTD photo's, but I quickly stopped, because they were too much work to take.

Rather then have to transfer all my shaving items out of the shave den to take a picture of them at my desk, its quicker and easier, to take the pictures in my shave den. In order to have a nice background, I do the same thing that @never-stop-learning does, and I use a bath towel, or hand towel as a background. I love the color of navy blue, I think it looks excellent, and is a perfect background for my photo's!

And sometimes, I will use my Timeless face towel as a background, for the shots I take, with my razors taken apart, or showing the blade I used with the razor, for a quick and fast SOTD photo, that doesn't take a lot of effort on my part to accomplish lol. The Timeless face towel is a brighter blue color, but still makes for a nice looking background IMO.

While most of the shots I take, I take by hand, in order to speed up setup time and completion, sometimes however, I use a tripod. I have a COMAN KX3636 professional video cam tripod, which is a beast of a tripod!

Its technically far more tripod then I need for a little powershot pocket camera. But the benefit of this tripod, is the pro features, like the super steady legs that wind can't knock over, the rubber feet that prevent it from slipping, the fluid head that allows for lovely panning shots. But most importantly, the best benefit of this tripod for me, is that it can be extended tall enough, to get it high enough above a table surface, to achieve a nice picture.

Most tripods can only extend to 5 feet. And believe it or not, 5 feet is not tall enough, to get the camera high enough, to get a direct shot downward on a subject, if the item is placed on a tall table, counter space, or desk. This tripod can extend to I think 7 feet if I am not mistaken. Anyways, this tripod was used, when I took the pictures of my Timeless TI95 razor, and that Venture aftershave from CC!

 

[Buflow]

Nice backgrounds!
I'll often print a somewhat natural-looking background on my photo printer and use that in the SOTD pic!
No pride whatsoever!

View attachment 1560370

That's incredible!!!
What a great idea and .... Wow!

 

[Buflow]

As I mentioned in my first post, I prefer darker backgrounds, due to the fact my eyes are sensitive to light. The standard color for most website backgrounds is white, but that bright white color on modern screens with high NIT ratio's, just kills my eyes. So I navigate the web in everything dark mode to save my eyes lol.

And to that end, for quite a while, I was taking my pictures at my desk. For one, the wood tones and textures just naturally make for a nice background. And secondly, its easy on the eyes. I used to take SOTD photo's, but I quickly stopped, because they were too much work to take.

Rather then have to transfer all my shaving items out of the shave den to take a picture of them at my desk, its quicker and easier, to take the pictures in my shave den. In order to have a nice background, I do the same thing that @never-stop-learning does, and I use a bath towel, or hand towel as a background. I love the color of navy blue, I think it looks excellent, and is a perfect background for my photo's!

And sometimes, I will use my Timeless face towel as a background, for the shots I take, with my razors taken apart, or showing the blade I used with the razor, for a quick and fast SOTD photo, that doesn't take a lot of effort on my part to accomplish lol. The Timeless face towel is a brighter blue color, but still makes for a nice looking background IMO.
View attachment 1560444

While most of the shots I take, I take by hand, in order to speed up setup time and completion, sometimes however, I use a tripod. I have a COMAN KX3636 professional video cam tripod, which is a beast of a tripod!
View attachment 1560437
Its technically far more tripod then I need for a little powershot pocket camera. But the benefit of this tripod, is the pro features, like the super steady legs that wind can't knock over, the rubber feet that prevent it from slipping, the fluid head that allows for lovely panning shots. But most importantly, the best benefit of this tripod for me, is that it can be extended tall enough, to get it high enough above a table surface, to achieve a nice picture.

Most tripods can only extend to 5 feet. And believe it or not, 5 feet is not tall enough, to get the camera high enough, to get a direct shot downward on a subject, if the item is placed on a tall table, counter space, or desk. This tripod can extend to I think 7 feet if I am not mistaken. Anyways, this tripod was used, when I took the pictures of my Timeless TI95 razor, and that Venture aftershave from CC!

Great advice and beautiful pictures!
So fun to look at.

 

[Toothpick]

Photo light boxes are cheap on Amazon. So are tripods. A light box will up your photo game tremendously. Even with a basic smartphone. Ain’t nobody can tell a shave photo was taken with a $10,000 camera or an iphone.
And besides….why do you want a 40mb file when the B&B software is going to render it down anyway. Don’t overthink it. No need to be professional and spend a lot of $$ to participate in the discussion and photo sharing here.

 

[FarmerTan]

You had mentioned to me years ago that you learned some tips about photos from someone here on Badger and Blade, but NOW you've posted your secret!

Doggone, I'ma gonna go to skool on you and take away your photo crown my friend!

Oh, who'm I kiddin'?..... The ONLY reason I'd go to this much trubble is to irritate @CCS !

 

[sarimento1]

You had mentioned to me years ago that you learned some tips about photos from someone here on Badger and Blade, but NOW you've posted your secret!

Doggone, I'ma gonna go to skool on you and take away your photo crown my friend!

Oh, who'm I kiddin'?..... The ONLY reason I'd go to this much trubble is to irritate @CCS !

yes, i got great tips from Søren!