Jewelry Photography

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This is from a series of images I created for a jewelry designer. The company is Dylanex. Their cool designs are both challenging and fun to shoot. Just the perfect look for wearing around the house. :) 

Some additional examples of jewelry photography are in my portfolio.

The Perception of Quality

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This image was created last week for a client that manufactures high-end skincare products. It's for a business to business ad that offers a special promotion price for this group of products to the dermatologists, plastic surgeons and medical spas that sell them. 

This marks the 50th time that they've called on me to do their photography. I photographed, enhanced, retouched and delivered this and two other images less than 4 hours after their delivery to the studio. 

Recent assignment for a jewelry ad

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This image was created for a full page ad for jewelry from Alaska. It will appear in magazines on Alaskan cruise ships in addition to posters.

The jewelry is intentionally the sharpest part of the image so that the viewer's attention is drawn to it. Everything else plays a supporting role to frame and draw attention to the jewelry. 

The cuffs of the coat form the top of a heart.

Some more examples of my jewelry photography.

Learn from Apple

Apple has some of the best marketing and branding (and products) on the planet. Learn from them, study their website - www.apple.com.

They understand that people buy based on their emotions and then look for logical reasons to justify their purchases. They get people to pay a premium for their products (premiums which I happily pay myself). Look how they use images to communicate their message.

They use beautiful images and almost always combine them with a caption or headline. (They understand that people are busy and that photos communicate much faster than words.) People also read captions on photos much more than body copy.

They use large photos on each page. Photos that make their products look great.

They have more photos and less words - only increasing the amount text as the viewer is drawn into learning the details about the products benefits and features.

They never, never, never use stock photos.

Almost every selling point is reduced to a few lines or a paragraph and has an accompanying photo or illustration. They say less and show more.

They communicate beauty and simplicity with everything that they do. Their products, their marketing, their packaging, their instructions, and their software. All of these things strengthen their brand, increase their sales, allow them to have higher profit margins, and improve their customer's experience and satisfaction.

They get it.

Shooting clear objects

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This image is one of several that I did the other day for a very well known brand of acrylic plastics. It's for a marketing piece targeting companies that manufacture single use medical products, and is meant to show a both a wide range of types of products and an ability to produce very complex devices. When marketing to high end buyers such as are in the medical industry, it's really important to have images that convey quality.

Clear, shiny objects are especially difficult to shoot and even more difficult to make look good. The concept of the shoot and the art direction was done by Barbara Craig, who always manages to come up with an interesting approach - it was her idea to have them floating in space.

All I had to do was throw them up in the air and shoot quickly. :)

Overcoming the limitations of optical laws

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(the product as provided)

This image was quite challenging to produce.

This top image was created for a brochure cover highlighting the benefits of a new thin film layer that's now on a leading manufacturer's wound care products for preventing infection. It's a non-stick layer that makes them peel off better.

They wanted the product shot in a way that looked very high tech - architectural or engineering drawing in feel.

It was stretched over a frame and the lighting was created. It was then shot 14 times at different focus settings that were then combined to provide extreme depth of field. (at these close distances the area that can be held sharp is extremely small)

What if fast food restaurants took their own photos?

Imagine that you're standing at the counter looking at a display of these photos before ordering. On the wall are large photos of all of the things you can order.

What would they look like?

How much money do you think they'd save?

How would it affect their sales?

Would it entice you to eat there?

There's a very good reason they don't do their own photography.

Next time you think you'll save some money by having an employee do your photos, think again. It's not about the camera.

Photos that communicate quality

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This image of a '67 Corvette Stingray die-cast model was created for The Franklin Mint along with some detail shots. It was quite cool actually. The lights worked, the windows cranked up and down, and much more. They need photos that communicate quality, create desire and make their models look as realistic as possible. Remember, we buy with our eyes. High quality photos can make all of the difference between making a sale or not. Great marketers like The Franklin Mint get it. They understand the vital role that photography plays in motivating buyers to purchase.

Clean room operation

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One aspect of my work that I find very enjoyable is being able to go into all different kinds of manufacturing environments and seeing how things are produced.

I recently shot this (and many other related images) at a New England pharmaceutical plant. It shows my client's product (syringes) being filled by machinery in a clean room. 

It's not creative unless it increases sales.

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The purpose of your images should always be to increase sales. They should be eye-catching, convey quality and create desire. 

Unfortunately, many professional photographers, graphic designers, creative directors and ad agencies just don't get it. They get so caught up in their desire to "be creative", win an award or copy the latest fad that they totally miss the point. They forget that the whole reason they're hired is to increase sales.

In the right light (and with some help in post-production), everything is beautiful.

The six images above are from a series of about 40 that I just shot for a housewares manufacturer. They've been digitally enhanced and retouched as the prototypes provided were scratched up and didn't match the colors desired for the final products.  The colors were modified in post-production to match the PMS colors specified. 

The photos you use create powerful perceptions of your products or service. High quality professional photos provide a great return on your investment through increased sales.

Images that aren't high quality create the perception of an inferior company and inferior products. The money you think you're saving is small compared to the sales you'll lose.

Images that increase sales will return profits that far exceed their modest cost. Cheap shots  will lose you sales without you even knowing it.

Transforming the ordinary

Too often, companies think that what they have to photograph is too ordinary and not worth shooting. With the right viewpoint and the right light, nothing is ordinary - everything is extraordinary.

 This image was created for a business to business ad for a manufacturer and distributer of party supplies. 

Great photos can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  They capture attention, convey quality, build trust and create desire. And they're memorable. 

Don't think for a second that you'll save money by doing it yourself or hiring whoever is the cheapest.  If the images are part of your efforts to gain new customers it's false economy to go cheap. Shoot cheap and you'll look like a third rate operation. Don't believe me? Buy a balloon; photograph it; compare. If your image falls short, then anything else you shoot would fall short of how it could look too.

Perception is everything. Cheap photos won't attract new customers. The money you'll save that day pales in comparison with the income you'll lose by failing to attract new customers. Great photos aren't an expense, they're an investment. 

Photos for trade shows

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High quality photos at your trade show booth attract exactly those buyers you're trying to reach. If you plan your photographs well, you'll have images that you can use for brochures and the web as well as for trade shows and office decor. One test of the quality of an image is "how good does it look when it's big?". It's my experience that bad photos look worse and good photos look better the bigger you make them.

This photograph was created for a corporation based near Philadelphia that makes containers for the pharmaceutical industry. They needed an image that was attention grabbing, showed that they made products in a wide range of sizes and communicated quality and purity. Credit for the wonderful idea of the "swoosh" goes to Curtis Hoover, the art director. It's my understanding that it will be used several ways including a trade show display. 

Strategically planned and well executed images enhance your brand. They cut through the noise to magnetically attract buyers to your booth.  They create the perception of quality and perception is everything.

It's a big expense to exhibit at a trade show. However, your booth, space, travel, hotel and everything else costs the same whether you generate business or not. High quality images are a tiny fraction of that cost and give you an edge over your competitors. 

In the end, the best pictures always win. It's only a question of who has them.

Making products look beautiful

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The products

This beauty shot of acrylic pieces was created last week for a multi-national chemical company. Barbara Craig, the art director, gave excellent direction and contributed a great deal to the shoot.

The product was very challenging as it was just a few clear pieces of plastic. This particular product is very strong and has applications in architecture, so this image was designed to appeal to architects.

The goal was to come up with an image that would communicate beauty and quality while creating curiosity to get the viewer to read the sales copy. 

When choosing a photographer for your business needs, make sure to use someone who brings more to the table than just an ability to operate a camera. 

Photographs that create desire

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This image is the most recent in a series shot for a flooring manufacturer.  Each image features a particular product line. This image was for "The Stone Collection".

They need photographs that make their flooring look beautiful and luxurious, photographs that create desire.

Mike Ticcino,  the art director and designer came up with the terrific idea of using cast shadows on the product. He also styled this image. We've used several types of shadows - most of them of different types of windows. This one is made to appear like dappled sunlight filtering through a window although the lighting is completely fabricated in the studio for purposes of control since the sun is constantly moving.

The client just brings a box of floor tiles and we arrange them on the studio floor and then light them beautifully (and add some post-production magic). 

Images that convey quality

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Perception is everything. This image is one of a series done this summer for a local artist who makes handcrafted art-deco lamps. Great guy, beautiful work. He called me because he'd been struggling for years to get good images of his lamps. They're nightmares to shoot. Their heavily chromed surfaces act as large curved mirrors that reflect the room and everything in it, the lights, the camera and the photographer.

He'd had a bad experience with another photographer and wasn't at all happy with his photos - his money was wasted. He was a bit gun shy about hiring me, but when I informed him about my 100% no-risk guarantee he decided to proceed.

I decided to approach them as if they were museum pieces on display.

He told me afterward that his first thought when he saw the working proof that I e-mailed him was " Ka-Ching! ". The day he put them up on his site he raised his prices 50% - about $300 extra for his least expensive lamps. Demand has increased and with the help of these images he's already picked up agents in London and L.A. to represent his work.

You can see more in my product photography portfolio.