VR Object Photography
I have been asked to make QTVR and Flash VR of many mobile phones. I have them here in boxes and I’m ready to photograph them. Has anybody ever done them before and if you have what was the best way to hold them and position them on the turntable so you can see all sides including the bottom?
I was thinking of placing them onto pins or fine wire, at the bottom, and at the top, which allows the pins/wire to be cut out whilst seeing around them. I want to do multi row, but really want the bottom of the phones so you can see the connectors, but I need the top as well, so you can see the top buttons?
I have looked into CGI, and buying the 3D models form www.turbosquid.com, but I think it’s not the same as the real thing. All the stuff I have done before, including multi-row, I took with it sat on the turntable so there was always one side not viewable.
Any suggestions will be great thanks
Ian
Re: VR Object Photography
Did you already bid out the job?
:-)
If you need to see the bottom of the phones, you might look at suspending them versus resting them on something.
That, or you could create a support which would fit in to the connector at bottom; photograph your horizontal row(s) in this position; then flip the phone over and photograph your rows again. A little more time in post, but would give you the effect you need.
Basically you'd have two supports -- one with a widget to fit into the connector on the bottom of the phone, one with a widget to fit in the connector on top of the phone.
?
Patrick Cheatham
--
CheathamLane | spinControl:VR
Berkeley, California
VR Photography
Web, Flash & QuickTime Development
Re: VR Object Photography
Thanks guys
Robert
http://beta.ivrpa.org/showcase/applegallery
I'm sure that's the page you mean there. Thanks for that, i didn't even know it was there.
Patrick, i had the similar idea, where you photograph it from each end and then with a lot of fun in photoshop put them together.
I spent a few hours trying to work out how to make them align perfectly so as you flicked vertically up and down it would align perfectly horizontally, and the kind of work we are talking about here would be incredibly time consuming. It just wouldn't go together correctly, and the lighting wasn't correct.
I think if i was producing it for Apple or The BBC, i would maybe take that route, but not for this client ;).
I think the best way would be to use extremely thin fishing wire and make some kind of thin C frame and suspend the phone between the C top and bottom, then place the C onto a turntable. The C and fishing wire can then be cut from the image.
I had a play with this idea, by trapping the fishing wire between the phone covers, and it worked OK, but each image took about 5-10 Min's to stop it swaying after you move the turntable lol. That's why I'm thinking of the C frame, to hold the wire tight and stop it swinging as much.
I produced a single row the other night just to give my client a sample idea
http://www.pmandd.co.uk/distributors
I used the ControlVR and they liked it very much. I'm a little disappointed with a few images, as its not quite as good as i wanted, but the client is happy.
I think for this client, it will be OK, but then I'm going to spend a little time asking around and testing ideas when i have a little time. But any other ides would be very well received.
Thanks again guys
Ian
Oh PS, Patrick, what did you mean by "Did you already bid out the job?", as i have no idea what you mean :).
Re: VR Object Photography
Hey Ian --
:-)
Oh PS, Patrick, what did you mean by "Did you already bid out the job?", as i have no idea what you mean :).
I meant exactly what you said about the time-consuming part... It can get incredibly complex to set up, light, shoot and post-produce something when you need to see it from all sides. Believe me, I have had experience with bidding (what I thought was) a good rate, only to suffer from unexpected hours of post-production. A learning experience to be sure. :)
Cheers,
Patrick Cheatham
--
CheathamLane | spinControl:VR
Berkeley, California
VR Photography
Web, Flash & QuickTime Development
Re: VR Object Photography
Hi Patrick
Ah I know exactly what you mean. Those 36 images you see on that flash movie above took me about 9hrs to cut out and adjust. The screen was a nightmare, as it reflected everything onto it, and it caught my hand turning my Ikea turntable (I have a Kaidan motorised turntable in the spare room, but i prefer the Ikea cake spinning £9 turntable as its easier to mask out), it also caught the rest of the room and the lamps with the diffusers.
I'm moving house in the next few weeks and we will have a spare room which i will be dedicating into a photography studio where i will have a turntable set up permanently, so i can try and put cloths etc set up without worrying about taking it all apart again between shoots, which is what I'm doing now. This will allow me to set it up a little better to eliminate reflections and flares.
But your right, at £30 per hour, you cant possibly charge that to then general client
- 9hrs cutting out
- 3 or 4 hours setting up and 1 hour clearing away
- 1 hrs taking images
= £420 per movie.
Its totally unrealistic, i only manage to squeeze £200 form most of my clients. That's why i want my little studio set up so i can reduce the photoshop time and also set up and clearing times.
Thanks for your advice Patrick
Ian
Re: VR Object Photography
In the VR Showcase section Flipside studios has some info on this. They use an object rig. They may be a start for you.