Ted has been shooting all types of product photography since 1997, from Italian ice to cancer treatment machines, but a recent assignment may top the list for exciting product shoots… robotics used for pharmaceutical and biotech purposes.
This shoot included photographing numerous Space Age, Star Trek looking machines such as one called “Cyclops Protean! “ that can move in 14 different directions and perform multiple tasks for bio medical sample and sorting purposes, an 8 foot wide Anaerobic acrylic glass chamber and smaller machines including the “Rapid Ph”. The Rapid pH™ pH meter reduces the time and tedium associated with manual pH testing and does hours of testing with a single click. The capability and precision of these robotic “task performing” machines is nothing short of remarkable. The client, Hudson Robotics, Springfield, NJ needed Ted to make the machines look as crisp, sharp and dynamic as they truly are.
“The shoot was especially challenging because each machine required 30 minutes to two hours of set up and the client needed not only great still shots but live video to capture the machines in motion performing their programmed tasks. This meant adjusting many camera settings and lighting for still shots then switching to live video and performing multiple live video takes, just like a movie, to achieve one perfect video of their brilliant machines in action, then switching all settings and lighting back for the next still shot”.
In addition, the job required two different sets at the client’s office, one table top set up in the laboratory with nine-foot seamless paper for the smaller machines that connect to each other to operate in unison and a second warehouse huge set with 13-foot-wide seamless backdrop paper. The 8 foot wide Anaerobic acrylic glass chamber was quite a challenge to shoot as expected, due to the highly reflective glass, but Ted was able to position his lights at just the perfect angles and perfect positions that enabled him to light the machine sufficiently but not get horrible reflective glare coming off the product.
The huge 8-foot-wide Cyclops Protean robotic machine has a brushed metal surface face which turned out to not have enough contrast after being lit against the 13-foot white seamless paper. Since blue seamless paper is not available at the needed 13-foot-wide width, Ted silhouetted the entire best photo of the machine in Photoshop and placed it against a deep blue gradient digital background to create a product shot with much more “pop, color and contrast”. Ted’s client Hudson Robotics was delighted with all final photos and videos. See 5 star Google review under Ted DeCagna Photography, dated March 25, 2019
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