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This has been the second time IJ Productions has completed wine bottle photography for Santolin Wines. They have added a Yarra Valley Chardonnay to their range and we needed an update for the website.
Equipment list: Hasselblad H4D-31 with HC80mm Elinchrom Digital RX2400 with S2 head.
IJ PRODUCTIONS PHOTOGRAPHERS IN MELBOURNE CREATES MASTERPIECES
Producing beautiful works of photography is more than art; it is a lifestyle. The gifted photographers at IJ Productions provide quality, clean and crisp images for your business or personal use, making them the number one choice for Melbourne locals. Their eye for detail and creativity incite inspiration in every snapshot, and they share their tips on how they create a masterpiece:
The best photographers know how to work with the hair stylists, makeup artists and other team members to turn their visions into beautiful works of art. IJ Productions is always open to ideas and suggestions but they ultimately control the way everything is produced and collated.
Photographers who really focus and prepare for a photo-shoot produce beautiful and artistic shots. IJ Production can expertly create certain moods or an expression that is sometimes difficult to capture on film.
Quality and high-tech cameras provide the best results, which is why IJ Productions invest in the best photography technology available on the market. We have purchased a digital medium format camera. Clear, crisp and artistic photos are accomplished with the best resources.
IJ Productions know how to use and control the right lighting and shadows to generate perfect pictures that you will appreciate.
IJ PRODUCTIONS PROVIDE PHOTOGRAPHERS MELBOURNE LOCALS CAN DEPEND ON
IJ Productions are the best at what they do, and their extensive and professional portfolio proves it. When looking for a photographer to shoot your next commercial advertising campaign, let IJ Productions’ visually-pleasing images help make your decision easier. Contact IJ Productions today.
Our Melbourne studio was asked to photograph the new slope board for Inojul because our technical expertise at photographing difficult items. The technique used to capture the clear perspex on white involved creating tones on the perspex.
At IJ Productions, We are specialist product photographers based in Melbourne. I wanted rim lights to highlight the edges and two Profoto strip soft boxes on Elinchrom flash heads was used to create that.The Broncolor mobil battery flash pack and mobilite with a grid was used to light the grey background paper behind the bottle. Main light was 1 head with high performance 26cm reflector shooting through a large white perspex.
Images captured on the high resolution Hasselblad H4D-31, a 31 megapixel digital medium format camera with 50-110mm Hasselblad Lens.
Photography for Corporate Head Shots, Model Portfolios and Portraits on location.
For lighting on location to not draw attention to it self, it should not be obvious to the viewer and not over power the sun. Sometimes for more drama I do over power the sun with artificial light in the form of powerful flash equipment and fast shutter speeds to change the mood but most times artificial lighting is used only as a fill and ambient daylight is the main light.
There is no one solution for lighting that a Photographer can apply to every photo shoot but the Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS) method works 99% of the time. I use battery-powered flash units (Profoto B2) on location over Speed lights from Canon or Nikon because of the greater power output and larger capacity batteries. The only negative side is the weight compared to Speed Lights; The Profoto B2 1200W battery pack with SLA battery weighs in a whopping 12kgs. A strong reliable Photographer Assistant who knows how to adjust the lights and a strong Light stand such as a C-Stand is a must.
I rarely ever use reflectors as I’ve discovered before in past photo shoots, it caused the subject to squint their eyes when you bounce light from the sun into them and with Melbourne’s unpredictable weather I am never guaranteed constant sun.
A proper light modifier is also critical for the look and feel I try and achieve. An Octagonal soft box is the best all rounder light compared to a soft light reflector otherwise known as a Beauty Dish, which is a broad hard light that’s not so great for older people as it shows every wrinkle.
We spent a long day in a private house at Blackrock photographing the latest summer range for Melbourne based Australian fashion label Givoni. This was our first photo shoot with our agency Guns who handled the entire production.
Client: Givoni
Agency: Guns
Photographer: Ivan Lee
Photographers Assistant: Noel Smyth & Isabelle Nguyen (Work Experience)
Creative Director: Robert Earp
Stylist: Bianca Christoff
Stylist Assistants: Heather Lowry & Oosah Kerh
Hair and Make-up: Samantha Coles
Talents: Natasha (chadwicks) Grace (Vivians)
Digital Retoucher: Duellingpixels
FAQ 1 : Why does photography cost so much? with the price of camera equipment going down shouldn’t photography be cheaper?
Now I get this question put to me a few times a year from clients and students- and the answer is…. It doesn’t cost that much- If you think about all the cost involved into running a professional photography business, professional camera equipment, retouching, public liability, studio rent etc. What a client pays for a day rate isn’t that high and photography fees haven’t change much in 10-20 years.
Photography Equipment is getting cheaper but that doesn’t mean quality is improving. Quality Cameras such as digital medium format still cost over $10,000 not including lenses.
One of the reasons why photography services hasn’t risen so much is because the industry is very competitive. It’s a lot more easier today to take up photography because shooting digitally takes out a lot of technical skill shooting analogue film. 10-15 years ago if you shot a roll of film you wouldn’t know if you got the shot until it had come back from the film lab.
If I was a client I would want someone who was professional and could provide outstanding service.
Ivan Lee
Principle Photographer at IJ Productions
Commercial Photographer Melbourne based.
CAMERAS
My first camera was the Minolta SRT101 with a 55mm lens. It belonged to my dad it was a beautiful camera with a very sharp lens the only issue I had with it was that it over exposed everything, even if I used a light metered it. Currently it sits on a shelf collecting dust but I have been tempted to have it serviced to be reused again for family photos. The Russian made Zenit and Holga 120N is the family photo cameras.
Today I use a variety of cameras but for work it’s split between the Canon 5DMKII and Hasselblad H4D-31. Both cameras have their Pros and Cons. When I started I always dreamed of owning a digital medium format camera even way back when Leaf was making 10megapixel medium format backs the size of full frame DSLRs these days. The Hasselblad with its amazing image quality is one of the best cameras systems out there. It’s a lot harder to get right because of the lower depth of field and single point focus compared to DSLRs but when you nail the shot it’s way ahead in quality to DSLRs. Quality lenses for the Professional Photographer is more important than megapixels. For the Canon, My workhorse is the 100mm 2.8 macro. It’s the perfect lens for Product Photography and Portrait Photography with minimal distortion and edge to edge sharpness. My next upgrade will most likely be a Canon 1Dx or a complete change to Nikon with a D800 or D4
99% of the time when I’m photographing products or architecture, the camera is on a tripod. Product Photography is technical and involves a lot of fine tuning of lights and cutters. The styling of props around an object also takes time and a camera on a tripod allows me to build the shot light by light. Photographing people is different, being able to move and find their best angle and being quick is very important; a tripod only slows down the shoot.
STROBE LIGHTS
I’m not a natural light photographer. I like my artificial lighting. I like being able to over power the sun when photographing on location. Speedlites just don’t have the power required to do so and they become even less powerful when light modifiers are used. I once went to a Joe McNally lighting demo. where he showed the audience how he lit a shot with 4-5 Nikon SP-800 speedlites. It made me wonder how many battery rechargers he would have in his studio ( I imagine 40 batteries being recharged in a room full of rechargers). I do own 1 Canon 550EX speedlite that has been in service for 10 years now and I won’t purchase another speedlite until the current one dies.
Behind the scenes- Lighting the scene with artificial lights /battery powered flash
I’ve owned just about every brand of professional photography lighting equipment out there – Bowens, Hensel, Elinchrom, Broncolor, Lightpro, Jinbei and Profoto. Elinchrom is what I use in the studio when I need more power and more lights. Elinchrom makes good value products that will last for years. It’s not the most expensive (their floor packs are 1/3 of the price of Broncolor and Profoto) but has a great range of modifiers and the Distributor support from Kayell in Australia is very good.
Location battery powered lighting for the last 4-5 years has been Broncolor. I liked the Broncolor Mobil kit because it was light and everything was well made even though it took nearly 10 seconds to recycle at full power and the batteries on gave 40 full power shots. I recently purchased my first Profoto battery kit. I have never been so excited about a piece of equipment purchase like I have with the Profoto Pro-B2 1200. I’m planning to grow the Profoto kit and now understand why a lot of people consider Profoto to be the best. I’ve used the Elinchrom Ranger a few times. It’s good and incredible value but i still prefer profoto even though Elinchrom has some pretty good modifiers (100cm deep throat, large octa lights, etc). Update I just added a mainsdock to the pro-b2 that allows it to be used with mainspower instead of batteries.
WHY I CHOSE PROFOTO OVER BRONCOLOR AND ELINCHROM?
My Broncolor Mobil pack died after 4.5 years of service and it was time to purchase a new battery pack. I’ve always loved using Profoto equipment- Simple with no digital displays I had decided against the Broncolor A2L because of the slow flash duration (1/360) and digital display. After working with Profoto equipment on a photo shoot I realised the dials to control power output is a lot easier and quicker to use than buttons and a digital display. I had decided on the B2r over the Elinchrom Ranger kit because I have never been a fan of Elinchrom flash heads. They have problems holding up large umbrellas like the Westcott 7 foot parabolic that I use all the time and the Elinchrom softbox mount can sometimes de difficult for new Assistants to get used to.
Pros:
-up to 200 full power fashes from a single battery cassette (Elinchrom Ranger 250 flashes / Broncolor Mobil 50 flashes)
-ultra fast recycling: 0.04–1.8 s (Elinchrom Ranger 3-4 sec. / Broncolor Mobil 9 sec.)
-very short fash durations: 1/2200–1/7400 s (Elinchrom Ranger 1/1300-1/5120 dependant on flash head / Broncolor Mobil 1/360)
-full 8 f-stop range in 1/2 or 1/10 step adjustments (Elinchrom Ranger 7 stops / Broncolor Mobil 5 stops)
-asymmetrical or symmetrical power distribution
-up to 250 W modeling lamp
-continuous modeling light or timer
-Built in PocketWizard receiver
-Pro-B heads. Sturdy build with zoomable dish reflectors (Broncolor Mobilites are better because of their compact size.)
Cons:
-12kgs weight
-no shoulder strap
-Only 1 stop difference between head output A & B in asymetrical
-Cost. Twice the price of a Elinchrom Ranger kit
Light Modifiers
My current favourite modifiers are
Photek 150cm softlighter II because it is easy to set up on location and has a removeable umbrella shaft. As a bounce back umbrella with a diffuser it is a really semi- soft light that has a nice look
Creative Light 5 foot Octa- Now called the Profoto RFI 5 foot Octa. Yes it’s expensive and are to put together the the light that comes out of it is beautiful and very soft. Looks great when used with a bit of distance from the subject from high up. Not as good as the Photek if you keep taking it apart a lot for packing up.
For Photographers starting out I think a 100-150cm octagonal softbox is a must have item on their list. A Photek 150cm or Westcott 7 foot para umbrella with a Paul C buff diffuser could be a cheaper but just as good of am option.
Ivan Lee
Principle Photographer, IJ Productions
Creative Hair and Make-up: Nathalie Prince
Talent: Jacqueline Hick (FRM)
Lighting:
Rim lights: 2x Strip soft boxes and an over head beauty dish powered by the Elinchrom 202 floor pack. The lights point just behind the model to give an edge light around her.
Broncolor Silver beauty dish with tracing paper diffuser between the photographer and model approx. 1 metre above her. The silver beauty dish is a very hard light that helps create shadows found under her chin. Beauty dish is powered by Broncolor Mobil battery pack
2 metre Westcott Parabolic umbrella with Paul C Buff diffuser powered by the elinchrom 2400 Digital RX floor pack. This soft diffuse light gives the skin its glow and creates a massive highlight in the eye.
black card along the side helps control the fill from over lighting the face.
Equipment List: Canon 5D MKII w/ 100mm 2.8 Macro, Elinchrom & Broncolor Lighting
IJ Productions was asked to photograph 100+ pieces of furniture at the Bay leather Republic showroom east or Melbourne, it took 5 days to complete the photography and 3 days to deep etch / colour match the images. We brought out all the lighting equipment and shot everything on the Hasselblad medium format digital camera.
Client: Bay leather Republic
Photographer: Ivan Lee
Photographers Assistant: Felix T.
Unit 8, 5 Levanswell Road, Moorabbin, Victoria Australia 3189
