DSF

Of course, there are times when a manufacturer's own product shot is available for use, as in the case of these keyrings, where I simply Photoshopped in a design of my own (Union Flag) and added a red silk background. This is a screenshot from my website -

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Photoshop is superb on its own for this type of thing.

We have also built a photography set (theatre style flats) that we have painted different colours, along with having different flooring (vinyl, and carpet offcuts) and furniture like sofas, tables, so can build up pretty convincing rooms for shooting larger products

Though there are times we're in a hurry and just shoot a white background shot, and overlay it onto a royalty free image, or a royalty free one

Yeah, in many cases a clean shot on a white background will do the trick, but as Instagram is now becoming an important platform for generating sales (not that I've used it myself) it seems to me that a stunning picture is needed to attract a potential buyer's attention when scrolling through loads of photos, whether that picture is real, or simulated. Whatever means is used to produce the final shot, it needs to leap out of the webpage. Even ebay sales would benefit from attractive shots when there are many sellers trying to sell the same product.

What I particularly like about the rendering method is that I could make a picture of, say, as set of 6 mugs on a mug tree, all with the same, or different, designs on, and never have to print any of the mugs!

Another nice thing about rendering is having complete control of the shadows after the shot has been taken. Also, while in the renderer, I can set spot highlights to be exactly where I want them, accurately render reflective or refractive materials, produce animated, or rotating platform videos that look real, use cutting planes to see the 'insides' of a product if needed, and a host of other tricks.

The downside is, as always, TIME! :frown: I can have stuff rendering while doing other things, but it still takes time to set up a shot and tweak the settings.

webtrekker;136302 wrote:
Another nice thing about rendering is having complete control of the shadows after the shot has been taken.

As a studio photographer myself, every time you talk about rendering, all I get in my head is the scene in Father Ted when Mrs Doyle was given a Teasmaid.

When designing some wall clocks to be printed on aluminium sheet, I wrote some code of my own to make a 'working' clock image that shows the exact time (from the customer's computer) when they view the clock. I thought this offered a different slant on the normal product shot ...

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Again, this particular method allows me to test out my new designs using different images and different clock hands and get a feel for how the finished clock would look on the wall.

To me the rendering sounds a lot more involved and time consuming than just taking an actual photo - with a couple of flash strobes, and an SLR it isn't that hard.

pisquee;136308 wrote:To me the rendering sounds a lot more involved and time consuming than just taking an actual photo - with a couple of flash strobes, and an SLR it isn't that hard.

Haha! Maybe I have TOO MUCH time on my hands then! I suppose it's because modelling/rendering has been a passion of muine since I got my first decent computer way back in the 90's so is always my 'go-to' when needing a good image, as my camera equipment and skills are virtually zero! Each to their own I suppose.

Looks good

Love the look and appreciate the work that goes into it