Anatomy of a still life/product shot (part 1)

Product photography is a deceptively complex area, even the simplest representations of products can involve many subtle nuances of lighting and composition. Whilst many businesses are after a simple, graphic representation of their product against a white background for web and print advertising use, making the most of props, composition and lighting to tell a story can be a powerful tool.

In creating this image for Traders Dry Gin there are many elements at play working together to create the story and the feel. It can be broken down to, environment, composition and lighting.

Environment

The concept here is fairly obvious, Traders Gin uses nautical themes in their logo and branding, so a (vintage) nautical environment was created through the use of various props such as a sextant, brass binoculars, nautical charts and a barograph.

I will talk later about the compositional elements of the arrangement, but the symbolic significance of having the binoculars 'looking' at the bottle is worth mentioning here, as it creates a dynamic cognitive cue that suggests the viewer looks to see what the binoculars are seeing.

Composition

There are three main compositional elements going on here, use of light and shade, the golden (Fibonacci) spiral, and cognitive cues.
Firstly, light and shade, isn't that lighting?  Well, yes, but the use of light as a compositional tool should never be overlooked.  Put simply, the brightest part of a scene will always draw the eye back to it.  This has ruined countless photos with overexposed skies, but here is working to anchor the attention of the viewer on the bottle.

Here the original image is shown in a simplified form that highlights the way light is falling around the bottle, creating a powerful pull to the eye.


So, why not just have it on plain white if bright is so good?  Well, by composing a still life such as this we have the ability to add dynamism to the image that stops the eye from simply resting on the bottle, seeing it then moving off.

The Fibonacci spiral or Golden spiral is one of a number of venerated principals of composition.  Put simply it can decribe a path through which the eye travels.  The example shown shows how the eye travels from left to right, past the bottle through to the binoculars.  Other elements such as the strong highlights around the bottle then keep the eye moving back to the main subject.  As mentioned previously, the cognitive cue of 'what are the binoculars looking at?' is also at play, encouraging the eye to continue moving back to the left, where it can be drawn once more into the picture.

Sounds pretty complex, so what's the point of all this?  Well put simply, the object is to creat a dynamic image that does not encourage the eye to rest on one thing 'cause then the eye will look elsewhere.  Combining multiple elements together like this help create tension in an image that has the eye constantly flicking around the different parts to have a good long look.

Anyway, that's enough on the composition of the image, next time I'll go into the lighting and technical aspects.