Sis's gift

[flowerpot99]

Sis had a gift for her Bday and she asked me to shot it for her(since it will be gone in no time). But I tried many shota but just feel that I cannot get it right. Anyone know how to take product shots and make it more appealing?
The photos were not edited.

 

[foxtwo]

The problem is it's got many elements in it and they are all brightly coloured fighting for attention. Normally if it were a product shoot, you might choose to shoot some abstracts but if you're just shooting it so your sis can look back then i think it's better off being shot as a whole.

Back off the macro and shoot it normally instead, retain the black bg and give it an amount of negative space to offset the colours. Get down on eye-level, prop it up and shot it top down, etc i feel there's many compositions to explore... finally get your sis in the picture too. Have fun. You might want to use an alternative light source as the flash is too harsh in pic 2, go for soft lighting rather than hard.

 

[~Arcanic~]

i agree with the move further part foxtwo mentioned, its a bit too cluttered imho.

 

[Digital Exchange]

the 4th one looks good. one good way to learn is to look at some bridal magazine. they do have still life shots of bouquet of flowers. all of them are professionally done.

 

[flowerpot99]

Tks for all the suggestions. Will try taking farther and try from the top next time. But one thing I notice about this flower is that they were not really arranged that nicely, abit not symetry so was trying to find something nicer to frame.
heres some top shots and full shot. abit uninteresting I feel. What you think?

top shot. Notice that crystal statue is one of the present too.

full shot

Close up. This one is my favourite.

The set up(sis sneak shot me at work). Using table lamp for lighting here... haha poor people so all improvise

 

[~Arcanic~]

its good to improvise and be creative..
not all of us got studio and all ma... :bsmilie:
i somehow feel its still too cluttered, maybe can try taking e present individually perhaps?

the teddy, the flowers and e statue all seperated might give u more creative angles, instead of trying to squeeze all into 1 pic.

 

[foxtwo]

woah, it's way smaller than i thought... i thought it was huge, but ok, makes it easier to shoot.

try to shoot within the rule of thirds. 1/3 flower, 2/3 negative space. The shots above with negative space were the ones which appealed to me most.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/flowerpot99/ffbd6545.jpg
this shot, lose the ribbons at the bottom, and give it lots of headroom of neg space. If u have to, move ur setup onto the floor. Soften the light by masking it or moving it further.

 

[flowerpot99]

Point taken. Tks for the excellent pointers. Its really alittle too close. Erm 1/3 flower 2/3 black bg? Thought rule of third is the position of the subject?