Surviveware - Product Photography, GIFS and Stop Motion Video
It is no news that quarantine has created a huge problem for most businesses. In an effort to stay safe and healthy, we must all make sacrifices now for a better future. While unfortunately most of my work has slowed down, I am still able to work with products on my own at home, or in an isolated space.
Most recently, I created a series of lifestyle and studio photographs for Surviveware. They are a survival gear company trusted by many professionals and enthusiasts around the globe. Read their Amazon reviews HERE. If you are looking for some survival gear, I highly recommend their products.
The gentlemen at Surviveware approached me a few months back with an interest of creating a wide array of images and videos for their products. Once COVID-19 entered the picture, we were forced to postpone some of the plans and dedicate our time to what was achievable at the moment.
The project entailed creating: A) Lifestyle images and GIFs for their brand new 72 hour survival backpack; B) Amazon type image layouts for each product. I am referring to the ones with contents displayed on white, surrounding the main product. You can see an example further down. And C) Stop motion videos showing each product and their contents.
Part A
First, we were lucky to plan for the lifestyle shoot way before the virus arrived. We agreed to meet at a local park and photographed a series of shots of their survival backpack.
Part B
Once those images were delivered, I received a large shipment of items to photograph at home in my studio. For this part of the job, I decided to photograph each individual item on white using two Elinchrom strobes in 2x2 soft-boxes. To make it easier on my back and to ensure each shot was 100% sharp, I tethered my Sony A7R4 to my MacBook Pro with a Tether Tools cable. This made it easy to name and organize the multiple files i would photograph.
After each file was edited, I created individual PNG images with transparent backgrounds to be used on the final product layouts. You can see a few of the image files below, as well as a sample Amazon layout at the bottom.
Part C
Lastly, the most intricate part of the project was creating three separate stop motion videos showcasing all the items that come within each product. Surviveware wanted an industrial and rugged finish to the video, and luckily I was able to secure a private warehouse in Baltimore to use as my surface background.
The idea behind stop motion is not too complex. You want to create video frames manually, then combine them into a video sequence. However, the tricky part is doing it smoothly. For this project, I thought using two strobes on soft-boxes would do the trick as I would be shooting for most of the day. Daylight changes with time, so it was not an option. The other option would be constant light sources, like video lights. These would have worked fine, but my strobes were ready to roll so I didn’t need to rent more equipment.
The other part of the set-up is placing the camera on a solid tripod. I knew my Manfrotto would not work for this as I needed a wide space. So I decided to create my own tripod by going to Home Depot and buying a 10’ x 2” PVC pipe. I rigged the pipe with two background stands and mounted my Sony A7R4 to the pipe with a trusty Manfrotto Magic Arm and clamp. Once mounted, I connected my tether cable and started shooting from my laptop.
The process of creating the stop-motion frames is tedious. You have to move items cohesively through the captures so that your end product plays smoothly. As you can imagine this can take many hours and careful maneuvering over your set. However, shooting tethered makes things easier as you can review each shot from your laptop, and even create overlays of previous images to ensure things are lined up as they should. Below are two of the final videos, check them out!
I really enjoy working with brands that trust your creative thinking and give you freedom to create high quality products. I look forward to working with Surviveware again, and hopefully next time we are able to get outside and shoot their products being used in nature.
SHOT WITH
Sony A7R4, Sony 24-70mm f/2.8, Sony 70-200 f/2.8, CPL filters, Manfrotto Magic Arm w/ clamp, custom 10’ PVC pipe rig, 2 Elinchrom D-Lite RX4, Tether Tools cable & MacBook Pro.
