I was recently asked to do a photo shoot for Mad Keen. Mad Keen is a brand that predominantly produces items targeting the fishing market, hats, t-shirts, wheel covers etc. If you have a mad keen fisherman in your family, then this is the place to be.
We toyed with the idea of shooting Models but wondered if that might stereotype the market depending on the model that we chose. In the end we decided on shooting with a Dummy. Damian from Mad Keen was able to source a Dummy from Brisbane so we set up the shoot.
Rarely do i shoot products on anything but white backgrounds these days. The majority of people want their products to fit seamlessly onto their white websites, so its a natural choice. White can also be easier to extract from the background if they want to change the color all together.
Back to the shoot. Bob the dummy was brought in and set up. We only needed his upper torso because today we were shooting the new range of Mad Keen hats.
For most product Photography shoots the 1st product takes the longest. Its a matter of making adjustments with the look so adjustments with the camera angle, the lighting & the product itself are made. Its not uncommon for the 1st product to take 30+ Minutes to shoot. After we have the look that the client wants its then just a matter of replicating the look for the other products. The beauty of using a Dummy like Bob is that he doesn’t move in between shots, you don’t need to feed him, he doesn’t get cold, he doesn’t need toilet breaks. A absolute pleasure to work with !
The client wanted 2 looks for each hat, a close up and a longer view.
