Shabby Chic

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Shabby Chic.

Back in 2017 I was asked to shoot some product shots for a company called Rainbow Chalk, in particular their garden furniture paint. The shoot was outside, and I vividly recall the sun burning brightly as it beat down upon both me and the product I was trying to photograph. Now, don't think for one moment I am complaining about the weather, far from it, it was a welcome change from being inside. Combine this with the fact I had my camera in my hand, and boom, one very happy man.

So, lets take a look at how I achieved the final shot.

Equipment.

Nikon D750

Nikkor 24-120mm at 65mm

Reflector

Manfrotto Digi Tripod

Camera Settings.

ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/500 sec.

The Set Up.

As a welcome change, the set up for this shot was very basic. As the photographs were outside I made use of the best light source one could hope for, the sun. The stage was already set as I used the what was already around me. A quick look around and I saw this nice collection of large stones that I thought went perfectly with the paint tins.

With the camera set up on the tripod, I set it to timer, during which time I positioned myself accordingly with the translucent part of the reflector overhead to block the harsh light from the sun blowing out the whites, whilst still allowing the light to do its work, and waited for the timer to remotely trigger the shutter button.

Editing Process.

There was very little by way of editing. Carried out in Lightroom I increased the contrast by +50 and the vibrance to +31. Job done.

Self Critique.

Whilst I am happy with the the above final image, I can't help but wonder, as my editing and photography has grown and developed, even within the last twelve months, how this may have looked if I took this photo today? Looking at it now, I think I may have increased the exposure slightly, just to help lift it from the page a little.

Conclusion.

I hope you found this post useful. I aim to share posts like this regularly, so if you found benefit in this, consider following me so you don't have to remember to check back as you'll be notified every time I post something new. Before I go, I've included a few extra shots from this assignment, so keep scrolling down.