Fstoppers – The Hero Shot: How To Light And Composite Product Photography

The Hero Shot: How To Light And Composite Product Photography – download full video tutorial by Fstoppers

Last year, Fstoppers approached me about making a full length tutorial on all things product photography. After pouring hours of my life into this project, I'm proud to say that The Hero Shot: How to Light & Composite Product Photography is available now on the Fstoppers store! In this full length tutorial, you'll get an in depth look at I approach product photography and how I craft a heroic advertising style image.

The Hero Shot is a 13 hour video tutorial on product photography taught by Commercial Photographer and Digital Artist Brian Rodgers Jr.

This Download Includes:

9 Video Files
Over 13 Hours of Content
All High Res Images Included
Brian's Full Story
Intro to Post Production
7 Unique Final Photographs
Brian's Entire Post Production Workflow



Lessons Plan:

Lesson 1
From the very first lesson, I wanted to show students that creating an incredible image doesn't have anything to do with the size of your studio or the gear you're using. In fact, I start out by using very affordable continuous light sources to create a really nice product image of a cordless drill. This image is very similar to something that you would see on signage in a retail store.

Lesson 2
While continuous lighting is a great place to start, in lesson 2, we move into using speedlites for a more controlled approach to our lighting. I'll show you how to control and overpower the ambient light of the room, as well as modify your lighting to create shape and form in your product images. In addition, I'll teach you how to effectively modify your lighting to create a clean, simple shot on white seamless. After that we'll take it to the next level and create an advertising style hero shot by using some simple Photoshop tricks.

Lesson 3
In this lesson, we'll further refine our lighting approach by using studio strobes. As we dive even deeper into creative lighting techniques, I'll also show you how I approach photographing multiple products in a creative and flexible way while also effectively increasing the resolution of the camera you already own. The result is a highly dynamic and dramatically lit bookshelf speaker hero shot.

Lesson 4
Continuing our education in studio strobes and light modifiers, I'll also demonstrate how I approach rigging products to create product levitation imagery. The final result is a levitating wireless video game controller with a bold and heroic advertising style look.

Lesson 5
When photographing products at extreme angles, it's highly likely that you'll be unable to get the entire product in focus all in one shot. I'll show you the process of how I approach these types of product shots to extend depth of field and extreme sharpness. I'll also cover some clever Photoshop tricks for cleaning up dust and blemishes as well as color grading techniques to create mood, depth and dimension into the final hero shot.

Lesson 6
Have you ever photographed anything with a chrome or highly reflective finish? If so, than you know it can be a nightmare to photograph if you don't know what you're doing. In this lesson, I photographed a cutlery set which features a highly reflective chrome material as well as convex and concave edges. I'll show you how I take a seemingly simple yet complex subject, and demonstrate my approach to controlling these mirror like reflections in order to create a clean and elegant final image.

Lesson 7
In this lesson, we come full circle with the skills I teach in previous lessons to create a highly dynamic environmental product image. In addition, I'll demonstrate my thought process in building a small set in a studio environment to compliment the hero product. This lesson was all about fine tuning everything on set. I used a total of 6 lights and everything was captured in camera. Throughout the post production process, I'll show you some creative techniques to further enhance the final hero image.