I got to shoot some product shots for Merle Norman cosmetics and director Greg McDonald. We shot using the Red One, a Skater Mini dolly and the InnoVision lens system, Probe II Plus. The set for our products was a black laminated platform with one inch walls all around to keep a pool of water and a matte black cyc back wall. For only being 6′x4′, the pool took nearly 20 gallon’s of water which works out to be 166 lbs. of water! (8.35 lbs. per gallon). It looked beautiful when you can see the reflection in the pool or when the water is disturbed and seeing the ripple in the mirror image. We also took some shots without the water and placed a matte black floor. Great looking stuff.
↑ Our Red camera fully equipped. Here we’re shooting in “the pool”.
→ Reviewing the shot with Koji (1st AC).
↑ Andrew (Grip) awaits. I love the way the light hits his eyes. Happy accident.
→ Shooting the white bottles, jars and tubes.
Lesson’s learned: While what we got was wonderful, there are some things I would like to implement, change or reinforce next time. Needed more space and bigger lights to create a larger light source. Also needed more white boards for reflections in the glossy black bottles and tubes. For the white tubes with glossy foil text, we need to use matte black foam core boards in front of the bottles above the camera to have the text stand out. A mechanized slider would be great, something like the Mini Mover from InnoVision with a Weaver Steadman on a Z-Jib. More lights would be good but that means more power generation. We used a laminated chipboard as a platform for the Skater Mini. I think next time we need to get a hard wood board instead and a larger one. We had a 2′x4′ piece but next time I’ll get a 5′ x 2 1/2″ board. Stuff, stuff, stuff…
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