Usually, wedding photography is totally different from product photography. There are numerous times where our commercial & product photography skills really come in handy: when we’re shooting bridal jewelry. Part of getting up close and personal with many couples on their wedding day is getting close-ups.

A lot of couples ask for shots of their wedding rings, and brides who wear tiaras or other heirloom pieces passed down from generation to generation will ask us to photograph them.

Using a close-up macro lens is important for jewelry shots, of course, but lighting is the ultimate key. Natural lighting tends to work badly for ring shots, due to a reflective blend of colors that can mottle the jewelry. To really make the jewels sparkle, close-up photographs tend to need a LOT of light and they need to be well-placed lights.

For example, couple of weeks ago, we shot a wedding at the Ranch Golf Club in San Jose. The wedding colors were purple and green, and the bride’s flower of choice was purple tulips. When we shoot up-close with petals, getting the lighting right is super important—the rings in the purple flower would look dingy and purple, had the setting not been backlit with well-placed lights and reflected back. This shot took us just a few minutes, but could easily be used by a jewelry company for a full two-page spread advertising in a fashion magazine!!!

One of my other favorite jewelry shots was from a wedding at Far Niente, an amazing high-end winery in Napa. The winery has huge wine caves built into the hills, and their wines are in the hundreds. They do not usually hold weddings in the vineyard, but since the groom works there, they made an exception. The couple’s love is in its early phases now, but will age like a fine wine, so we honored the occasion and the spectacular setting by showing the rings against the ripening grapes.

The natural light outdoors made for great wedding shots, but we used lights for the ring pictures. Like the tulip photograph, this was especially important, because the light going through things like leaves and petals can leave a weird tint on the metal and jewels. By carefully lighting the rings in this shot, we made them sparkle and really pop against the green leaves and purple grapes.

One more that I LOVE is this stack of rings. This is from another incredible wedding, this time at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. The groom has a son and daughter, and they decided to buy them rings for the wedding too, so that the wedding was not just about the couple, but also about the memorable and meaningful new bond between the kids and their step-mom. Isn’t that sweet?! It totally melted my heart. We stacked the rings together to show how the family’s rings were a symbol of their togetherness—all the separate rings became one.

Below is some of our commercial photography work, photographed for Brilliant Earth, a San Francisco conflict-free gem company that sells wedding rings to couples who are concerned about the source of their diamonds. As you can see, the type of work is not much different from the personal jewelry shots!!

When couples ask us to photograph their rings, we always look for creative ways to tell a story with the picture—it shouldn’t look like an ad for a jewelry store; it is personal and real. And it should definitely have the right lighting. ☺

Rick, Leica’s Sales Manager couldn’t find a volunteer for the Commercial product photo & video shoot for Leica and C&D Semiconductor. So, he’ll have to step into the suit himself. We were in a nice air conditioning room but after an hour in the suit, he still came out full of sweat. I feel bad for the folks who work in the clean room, for companies like Intel.

We were photographing Leica’s microscopes, C&D’s wafer cleaner and robots. Leica’s heavy microscope was relocated into C&D’s clean room in San Jose to be photographed. We did both photo and video for this product shoot. With both medium, we had to bring double amount of strong lights to ensure that the background stays white instead of ugly gray.

We recently photographed some pretty cool looking products and it made me think. Ok, not too hard but…

Ever wonder why women have so many purses? I figure that it might have all started back in the caveman days. You know, women were the gatherers and we men, were the handsome, daring, not to mention, hairy hunters. Ok, back to the gatherers. Well, the women had to collect berries and what other food they could find and you know all of that doesn’t fit into their hands. So came the invention of the purse – some cloth or fabric or other material to hold the food. But then they added colors and made the purses out of different materials and so came the invention of the designer purse! It’s a theory anyways. I think this evolved into a display of color to attract us men, you know, like how some birds attract others with cool unusual colors.

These days, women switch up their purses so much, one might worry that it could be a wasteful hobby. Well, worry no more. Wo Schiffman, founder of the new company Fibre Arts Design, created a line of bags that are made from recycled materials. Recycled purses that can eventually be recycled. That sounds really awesome. Well, you probably don’t want to recycle these though. They’re the latest trend and they’ve traveled to fashion shows in L.A, San Francisco, and are now on their way to Milan! Who wouldn’t want to keep these new bags! From my perspective as a photographer, the unique colors and fabrics definitely have caught my eye.

Her new line also includes bags for us men. For years we’ve pretended that we didn’t need purses, er, bags and we try to stuff the minimal into our wallet and into our back pocket. Sometimes it does get uncomfortable especially when you’re sitting down for a long time. Nowadays, we’ve got a lot of other gear like sports water bottles, cameras, etc. Besides, hasn’t it occurred to you that it might be dangerous for men to stick their keys in their front pocket? Guys, there is serious potential for injury here! Think about it! Besides I could use something to hold my extra camera gear. Maybe I should consider a man purse after all, er I mean a bag. You think that I could attract the opposite gender by sporting a cool new bag from Fibre Arts Design? Would women find me fashionable? Should I try?

[Show as slideshow]

Makeup Artistry and Hair Styling by Tiffany Chiang of designHERimage

Who would have thought, that product photography for actuators, servos and motion control products can be an eye opener. We have photographed the cover pages of Animatics for the past few years now. These are what their servos, motor controller amplifiers and SmartMotorâ„¢ look like (actual cover photograph for their main brochure),

However, never in my wildest dreams do I realize that these products that I photographed are one and the same mechanisms that power this crazy amazing kinetic sculpture! Check out this stunning video!!!

Catalog photography can get time-consuming to shoot, if nothing, repetitive. That’s one of the biggest reason why we are the perfect creative drones for companies who want great catalog photography done. What they don’t realize is that, we have a ball when we photograph catalog imagery. Nothing is more fun than working on product photoshoot with a hand model and lots and lots of diamonds and precious stones. Ever tried swimming in a pool of emeralds or bite a eight carat diamond between your teeth?

After we did some photography for Brilliant Earth’s lifestyle photographs that spans throughout their website, we were commissioned to photograph hundreds of their ring shots in their inventory of creative designs. Of course, we were more than thrilled!!! Assistant, pass me my green colored swimming trunk to match the emeralds.

(watch the HD version)

- Michael Soo

San Francisco Bay Area is one of the city that is saturated with demands for lifestyle work (as oppose to Los Angeles or New York that draws demands on fashion)

So, what exactly is lifestyle?

It really is one of those variable word that means something entirely different to everyone you inquire. Some will affirm that it’s about the softness of the images. Some claim a peek of the environment where the shot took place. Others note that it’s the matter of less makeup, real-world scenario played out, a soft blend of photojournalism and commercial. Yet more will point that it’s displaying people doing their thing.

It really is all of the above!

Lifestyle images helps the advertiser with a few aspect of their marketing:

1. It provides the setting, ambience and styling of the product & services.

2. Gives a snippet of the demographic of the users (oh, that teenage cute girl looks just my age and she is using the sexy looking iPod, I bet it’ll look cool on me too)
3. Creates an attitude and continuity in marketing. Nike, for example would always showcase top athletes in peak action. (they associate their products to provide the last 1% of excellence, in this fragile world of diminishing returns)
4. Demonstrates the usage, how it fits, its scale or size.
5. Showcases the benefits and features of the product in the real world.
6. Differentiate the product in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Lifestyle photos excel when the images are placed on catalogs that are used as a support vehicle to upscale retails (i.e. Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom).

There are potential pitfalls, however.

1. The product in a lifestyle photograph can disappear from view as the image gets busier. Some of the interesting props in the image can steal the attention away from the product.
2. If the product is new and has yet to penetrate the market, you may be better off photographing a large image of the product instead of lifestyle.
3. Lifestyle shoots can cost more and require a bit of planning compared to a straight product shoot.

Many catalogs use a balanced mix of product and lifestyle shots to retain a fashionable look to their catalogs. Whichever type of photography that is used should support the brand and is consistent with the marketing message.

- Michael Soo