Recent Product Photography Articles

Profoto Adds High Speed Sync to Beloved B1 Strobe through Firmware Update

Until now, High Speed Sync (HSS) has been a luxury feature designed exclusively for speedlights (and select new strobes), allowing you to shoot using strobes at shutter speeds previously unavailable. However, announced this morning, Profoto has enabled High Speed Sync solutions to their beloved B1 studio strobe, and best of all? It's available now as a simple firmware update.

Fstoppers Reviews the New Tamrac Anvil Professional Series Photo Backpacks

For almost 40 years, Tamrac has been producing bags aimed towards photographers who embraced the great outdoors. Their brand new collection of Anvil backpacks — which replaces the Expedition line — continues their tradition while making a number of exciting design choices that make this collection their best ever. In this review, I take a look at the Anvil Slim 15, which is sized for photographers who have entered the exploding mirrorless market, but shares the same look and feature set of the rest of the Anvil collection.

A Simple Way to Shoot Highly Reflective Products

Shooting products in a studio environment is not the easiest form of photography. It takes patience, knowledge of light sculpting, and clever post-processing. People also incorrectly assume that you must have a great deal invested in equipment.

Nikon's AF-S DX Nikkor 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR Raises the Bar, Brings Pro-Level Treatment to APS-C Lenses

Nikon's latest DX-format lens offering is its most interesting and promising yet. Covering a 24-120mm full-frame-equivalent focal length, the lightweight 16-80mm f/2.8-4E features relatively fast apertures, an incredibly useful and dynamic focal length range (already proven with the popular full-frame 24-120mm f/4G ED VR), and professional treatments such as nano coating, an electromagnetic diaphragm, and even a fluorine coating on the front element.

Kodak Makes a Comeback with Winning Film Features at the Cannes Film Festival

Kodak made big waves at this year's Cannes Festival announcing 12 features shot on Kodak film. Including Olivier Assayas’s film "Personal Shopper" staring actress Kristen Stewart, where he took home the award for Best Director and was given lengthy five minute standing ovation. This was a huge milestone for Kodak since the rise of digital technology combined with the ability to shoot 4K footage film looked to be a medium of the past. Kodak defied the odds and not only secured film as a viable creative choice, but has rebranded themselves into a thriving film market once again.

Best T-shirt Ever for Film Fanatic Photographers

It isn't often that a t-shirt for photographers comes along that I'd be willing to wear. So many of them talk about how I shoot people, or how I'm going to snap. Not things that I want to declare to the world, thank you.

Building the House of Capture One Version 8 - Imaging Software Evolution

This is a really unique article for me to post. I was talking with my friends at New York City based Phase One dealer, Digital Transitions, and they were interested in sharing the story of how industry's leading RAW processing and tethering software, Capture One, evolved into what it is today. It is very interesting to learn how a company learns from its products weaknesses and grows to make something that really shines. Read below to learn more:

How to Create Great Glassware Photography With Just Two Speedlights

Even if it is not your professional specialty, product photography is a great genre for any photographer to practice simply because of the lighting challenges you will encounter and the problem-solving skills you will develop. This excellent tutorial will show you how to create a great glassware shot using just two speedlights and a bit of Photoshop.

Fstoppers Reviews: Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers by: Martin Evening

Photoshop for any photographer can be a Goliath of a program to learn and especially to master, and now with the new Creative Cloud aspect to Adobe's line of programs it's only going to be more difficult to keep up with the innovations made. Martin Evening's new book Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers is a detailed guide for all of your editing and retouching needs in this new age of photography.

Using the Tether Tools Look Lock to Create Point of View Behind-the-Scenes Videos

Last month, I taught a two-day workshop in the heart of Phoenix. While there, I was able to get some friends to come out and help create a behind-the-scenes video of the entire workshop. I was also able to meet with Tether Tools, whom are located in Phoenix, and they gave us access to some pretty cool tools, more specifically, my new favorite BTS tool, the Tether Tools Look Lock.

Three Easy Hacks to Help Make Your Still Life Photography Stand Out

Still life photography is usually thought to be simple and easy at first. But you'll quickly find out that arranging and composing your objects properly is crucial to making an image go from mediocre to great. Here are some easy guidelines to follow to get you there.

Affinity Photo Receives Its First Major Update

Serif released a new update today to its photo editing software Affinity Photo. It is the first major update, and it includes quite a few exciting features. To celebrate these welcome changes, Serif also announce a discount on the Mac App Store.

Finally, Pentax Gets It Right With Their Gunmetal-Grey K-3 Prestige Edition

Pentax has had a long fall in the industry since the digital era of photography. Once a major player in the film industry, Pentax now only touches on about 6% of the entire DSLR market and under 2% when you account all digital camera purchases in the last few years. But they did get one thing right, and that is the Gunmetal-Grey Pentax K-3 Prestige Edition.

FujiFilm Announces the Beloved X100S in Black

One of the previous year's best and most sought after cameras is getting a makeover, and now coming to you in a stylish black design. Announced today at CES in Vegas, the FujiFilm X100S is getting a visual upgrade, showing off an all black design from it's previous silver/black vintage look. Aside from that nothing has changed, it still sports all the same specs that we've loved from the past year's model.

[Review] An In-Depth Look At The Brand New Wacom Intuos5

The next evolution on the Intuos line is here with the Intuos5. After our initial first impressions, we decided to take a closer look at this tablet, along with a comparative look at what changes Wacom has made from the Intuos4. With this review, you'll be able to get a full undisclosed look at one of the best tablets to date.

Inklet App for Mac Turns Apple's New Force Touch Trackpads Into Your Next Portable Pen Tablet

TenOneDesign, makers of the popular Pogo and Pogo Connect tablet pens (among other things), are the first to market with a Mac desktop application that takes advantage of the Force Touch trackpads in Apple's new MacBook and refreshed 13" Retina MacBook Pro. Rather sweetly named Inklet, the application runs in the background to allow users with any capacitative tablet pen to convert the capabilities of the new trackpad into a pressure-sensitive writing and drawing pad -- no Wacom needed (sort of).

Nikon Announces New 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR, 24mm f/1.8G ED, and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lenses

While this is more than your average lens announcement on all counts, Nikon's updated 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR with electromagnetic diaphragm and vibration reduction technologies certainly reigns supreme on fans' hit lists of lens replacements for 2015. Meanwhile, Nikon's 24mm f/1.8G ED fits snuggly between the 20mm and the 28mm variants of the same range, filling a final gap in an otherwise perfectly covered potential f/1.8G video lens kit. The 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR gives lovers of the refreshed 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G something to think about with its combination of extreme affordability and extra reach, despite its narrower wide end.

Lighting Up a Product Photoshoot Using LEDs

Shooting clean product images may not be as hard as you think. With the help of what-you-see-is-what-you-get LED light panels, the process is made that much simpler for getting started.

500px Prime: A New Commercial Licensing Marketplace

Last week, 500px published an article on their blog stating they will be releasing a new project called “Prime”. It is a commercial licensing marketplace for photography on their website. The 500px team seems excited about it, the details are quiet intriguing, but the community has been showing mixed responses.

Self-Isolation Series, Part One: Product Photography

Many countries around the world are now experiencing social distancing and practicing self-isolation, me (in the U.K) included. So I’m pledging to run a series of photography tutorials for those of us affected by these measures.

Nikon Unveils World's Lightest 300mm FX Lens

Nikon has announced their new 300mm f/4 telephoto FX lens. With an aperture of f/4 at its widest and up to a 4.5-stop gain via Vibration Reduction (VR), this new edition to Nikon’s 300mm prime series is up to 30 percent shorter and 1.5 pounds lighter than its predecessor. At 147.5 millimeters long and 755 grams, Nikon claims that this is the world’s lightest 300mm full-frame lens.

The Road To Seeing by Dan Winters - Book Preview

I love photo books but you’ll rarely catch me with my nose inside a book by a photographer. Then there are short bursts of frenetic reading interspersed throughout the literary vacuum. So when I’m trying to desperately get advanced copies of a 700-page book written by a photographer, something weird is going on.

Shoot A and B Camera Simultaneously with MōVI

The guys at no film school have done it again. In a recent guest post by the awesome director, Rubidium Wu they show you how to make a cheap DIY multi-camera video rig. The cool thing about this setup is that you can shoot multiple focal lengths in one take giving a similar ascetic to Tommy Wiseau’s in his 2005 film, The Room.

F-Stop Gear Announces an Updated Line of Mountain Series Camera Backpacks

One of the best camera backpack series just got an update, along with a few new bags. F-Stop Gear has been making quality backpacks for outdoor adventure filmmakers and photographers for a while now, and their latest products are looking to be even better. If you've owned or used the popular Loka series bag, you'll want to check out the new version, called the Ajna.

The First Review Of Canon 24-70mm F/2.8L II

The new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II is supposed to be in stock on September 13th, but YouTube user ThatNikonGuy (kind of ironic) already got his hands on one and did a comparison review between the new 24-70 and the old 24-70.

Panasonic CM1 Smartphone Boasts 1 Inch Sensor and Leica Lens

Perhaps some of the biggest news to come out of Photokina so far this year is the announcement of the Panasonic Lumix CM1 - an Android equipped smartphone with a powerful sensor and even more powerful lens. Showing off it's 1 inch sensor, the CM1 has taken the crown for the largest sensor found in a phone, a size typically found inside the Sony RX100 and Nikon's 1 series. However, the big talking point comes from Leica, with their f/2.8 monstrous lens mounted to the back.

Sekonic Announces Elinchrom and Phottix Compatible Flash Meters

Flash meters are often seen as archaic and of no use anymore. However, good flash meters such as the L-478DR can make photographers and assistants lives much easier. Even more so with the two new products Sekonic releases today.

How the Table Affects Your Image in Product Photography

Product photography is a highly intricate and precise genre in which you have to be able to control every last angle and reflection. This helpful video discusses how the table on which you are shooting can affect the results while demonstrating on a wine bottle.

[iPhoneography] Schneider Optics Will Soon Offer The "iPro Lens System"

Today at iWorld/MacWorld, a tradeshow in San Francisco, CA, Schneider Lenses debuted their new iPhone series lenses. We've seen third party adapters for Nikon and Canon lenses, but Schneider is taking a leap and developing the glass specifically for the popular mobile. Click the full post to read more.