Jeff Saxman is a local commercial photographer here in Richmond, VA who has been working with Hamilton Beach Commercial for several years. His blog recently took us behind the scenes on a photo shoot for our upcoming HBF1100 series, the newest member of our EXPEDITOR™ Family of Culinary Blenders. Read on to learn more about what it takes to create vibrant and interesting product photography.
Bending the rules a little here, but I won’t tell if you won’t. While there is food in this photo, it is technically a product shot. But I thought it shines a little light on our capabilities and thought process around here.
We occasionally shoot on location for things like this, but there are times when time or budget dictate we pull something together in the studio, yet achieve the look and feel of a different environment. Fortunately, we have lots of things here to work with, and I find it a fun challenge to make something like this happen. I often don’t think of the process as being that unusual or special, and, in fact, it may not be. But, when the AD snapped the photo below of the set to send back to the office to demonstrate that the final photo, despite looking as if shot in a restaurant’s back kitchen, was actually done on a set, I realized that this may actually be interesting to others.
It brought to mind, too, one aspect of studio photography I have always found fascinating, and that is the lights and grip equipment, stands and articulated arms, flags and gobos that lie just outside of the frame. In fact, I find it difficult to look at a photo without imagining all of that. One of my favorite recent examples is the personal photography project of Adrian Sonderegger and Jojakim Cortis, wherein they recreate notable historic photos in the studio- check it out here.
My final photo:
Looking great, thanks Jeff! We're excited for the introduction of the newest member of the EXPEDITOR™ Family of Culinary Blenders. Find out more about the HBF1100 (available later this year) and the rest of the Family at www.culinaryblenders.com.
