If I were you, I don’t think I’d be very happy with these pictures. It almost looks more like pictures in the customer review section pointing out defects than marketing photography.
Like that wavy bezel, which might be designed to look like a live edge or hand hewn rather than machine routed, but from this angle in this light it just looks like sloppy router work.
The front view is the least bad picture. But between the VERY white light which is VERY bright and VERY directional and the stark black background it feels like this picture was taken in orbit. I could understand keying out the background for display on a website, especially one with dynamic color backgrounds or light/dark modes, but I don’t know about solid black.
The opened shot looks like it was taken from the same angle as the front view shot. The doors being cut by the edge of the frame looks awkward; since its from the same angle as the front view shot it feels like the photographer just opened the doors with the same camera set up and didn’t really care. That and from this angle you can’t tell how far the drawer pulls out, how deep the drawer is, or what features are inside. Is it divided for storing CDs or cassettes, does it have some other feature, or is it a big open drawer?
Then there’s the shot of the seam between two boards in a panel. If I had gone through the trouble of matching the grain on the ends of the doors with the drawer front like you did, and my product photographer came back with this specific shot, I think I’d have to remind myself not to take it personally.
I understand it’s supposed to be a “look at the gorgeous walnut” shot (by the way, it’s gorgeous walnut, and finished very nicely.) I’ve just been sitting here thinking about my own projects with edge jointed panels, and all the places where I matched the grain so beautifully you’d never spot the seam, and where I had no choice but to put straight grain next to figured grain, and which of these seams I’d want my photographer to shoot in close-up. And then arguing with myself about whether the typical citizen who buys instead of makes his furniture would understand, notice or care, if they’d see it as a mark of quality as it’s obviously solid boards and not veneered plywood or worse, or scoff at it not being a 3" thick solid slab, which seems to be all the rage these days.
Suggestions:
Take some overall shots from different angles. Show how deep the cabinet is.
Instead of the one front shot of everything open, take individual shots of the left side open, the right side open, and the drawer open, kind of like that half-front shot.
I would suggest taking at least a couple shots of it in situ, put some hi-fi gear and some album covers and knickknacks on it, and some speakers on either side, in a nicely decorated room. Say “this could be your house” to me.
additional suggestion - for close up shots use a wide angle lens or a shallow depth of field - to distance your photo from the “bad review pointing out flaws” look
If I were you, I don’t think I’d be very happy with these pictures. It almost looks more like pictures in the customer review section pointing out defects than marketing photography.
Like that wavy bezel, which might be designed to look like a live edge or hand hewn rather than machine routed, but from this angle in this light it just looks like sloppy router work.
The front view is the least bad picture. But between the VERY white light which is VERY bright and VERY directional and the stark black background it feels like this picture was taken in orbit. I could understand keying out the background for display on a website, especially one with dynamic color backgrounds or light/dark modes, but I don’t know about solid black.
The opened shot looks like it was taken from the same angle as the front view shot. The doors being cut by the edge of the frame looks awkward; since its from the same angle as the front view shot it feels like the photographer just opened the doors with the same camera set up and didn’t really care. That and from this angle you can’t tell how far the drawer pulls out, how deep the drawer is, or what features are inside. Is it divided for storing CDs or cassettes, does it have some other feature, or is it a big open drawer?
Then there’s the shot of the seam between two boards in a panel. If I had gone through the trouble of matching the grain on the ends of the doors with the drawer front like you did, and my product photographer came back with this specific shot, I think I’d have to remind myself not to take it personally.
I understand it’s supposed to be a “look at the gorgeous walnut” shot (by the way, it’s gorgeous walnut, and finished very nicely.) I’ve just been sitting here thinking about my own projects with edge jointed panels, and all the places where I matched the grain so beautifully you’d never spot the seam, and where I had no choice but to put straight grain next to figured grain, and which of these seams I’d want my photographer to shoot in close-up. And then arguing with myself about whether the typical citizen who buys instead of makes his furniture would understand, notice or care, if they’d see it as a mark of quality as it’s obviously solid boards and not veneered plywood or worse, or scoff at it not being a 3" thick solid slab, which seems to be all the rage these days.
Suggestions:
Take some overall shots from different angles. Show how deep the cabinet is.
Instead of the one front shot of everything open, take individual shots of the left side open, the right side open, and the drawer open, kind of like that half-front shot.
I would suggest taking at least a couple shots of it in situ, put some hi-fi gear and some album covers and knickknacks on it, and some speakers on either side, in a nicely decorated room. Say “this could be your house” to me.
additional suggestion - for close up shots use a wide angle lens or a shallow depth of field - to distance your photo from the “bad review pointing out flaws” look