Products Archives - Darren Woolway

Product photographer specialising in reflective surfaces

The Antiqued Mirror Company

Last week I got together with Joanna and Jan from The Antiqued Mirror Company to photograph their new collection of mirrors and furniture. The company is based in Wales, they were exhibiting their work in London and wanted to photograph the mirrors in-situe at a private mansion based in Sandwich.

The project although looks straight forward was rather complicated, the easiest way to photograph these mirrors would be side on and using the natural reflections from around the room. However these mirrors needed to be photographed straight on so could be cropped square for e-commerce as well as the ability to be used in a brochure so a set and negative space was needed. The natural background was a large window, similar in style to the one you see above; the pattern of the window interfered with the texture of the glass and therefore meant a new background would need to be inserted post production whilst retaining the glass texture and loosing the reflection of the camera. The last thing to consider was that different lighting positions may need to be taken to emphasise the pattern of the frame and create the depth needed, the best lighting to show the pattern of the mirror and finally the best lighting for the whole room.

The final files were supplied in 3 crops, full un-cropped for use with Graphic Design, Square Cropped Scenic for use in social media such as Instagram and finally a close up square crop so that the detail of the frame and mirror can be seen for e-commerce.

Do you have a project with reflective surfaces that is complicated to light? If so get in touch and let’s work out the best solution for you. If you liked this project please hit the social media share buttons at the bottom of this blog.

With thanks to Joanna and Jan for bringing their collection along, Fran for helping with the styling and Dean for being the perfect assistant.

Stop Start Animation

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It’s all about colour at Spectrum Paintworx

Spectrum Paintworx are well known in Sittingbourne for the fabulous paint finishes they do on cars and bikes, however this is such a small sector where these finishes can be applied. From shop signage, display stands, mannequins to barrier posts there is so much more scope for this work and this is one of the reasons Paul asked me to come on board to take the brand forward.

Apart from the use of the finishes the other really important thing to accurately portray to the customer through photography is the colour of these finishes. Although natural lit shots and phone camera shots play their part in social media, without the correct lighting and colour correction the important pigments and flakes in these finishes simply won’t be picked up.

To move away from the automotive sector we decided to photograph a base selection of finishes on speedshapes, these are small moulds that look a bit like a car body but have different curves so that light will reflect off it in different ways. By cropping these square we are then able to hide the fact it looks like the shape of a car and end up with a nice colour swatch instead.

It was needed to link the imagery to a Call to Action on the website, therefore some shots of the speedshapes were taken from the side. This was then combined to a header shape image to allow space for copy.

The second day of shooting was about photographing table tops with various paint finishes applied, there was also a motorcycle helmet and tank to be photographed in remembrance of a fallen friend.

The motorcycle helmet shot was then combined with a closer detail of the paint to create a second header call to action image.

L.K. Bennett Launches “Signature” Perfume

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to photograph L.K. Bennett’s first ever perfume called “Signature”. It has a beautiful floral aroma and is set to be a firm favourite with brand lover the Duchess Kate Middleton, according to Hello Magazine’s Article.

Pearlessence London Valentines Campaign

Adding Value

In November 2017, Pearlessence London approached me to help capture their new product. Pearlessence create bath bombs; which are a bit like a kinder egg for adults. Each bath bomb has hidden inside it a ring with a value between £20-2000. The imagery they currently had was not representative of the value of their brand so I set about changing that.

Today I logged onto Facebook and saw their new campaign, utilising the imagery that I had created for them, it really stood out well and the simplicity of their graphic design really worked well with my clean imagery. Below you can view a selection of images that I created for them along with the other 2 designs they are using for their promotion.

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