How to use the day light in industrial product photography

Some objects need to be shot in day light.

My client had a few machines that he wished to be shot on the same day. Due to the sheer weight of these devices and on such short notice, it was impossible for the shooting to be done in the studio.

I had no choice but to rely on daylight to complete this assignment. I decided to shoot in the parking lot; but due to the weight of these heavy machines, I wasn’t able to be too selective in choosing the right spot.

Also, I was faced with an extremely complex lighting situation. It was late in the afternoon and the ambient lighting was totally dominated by the sun’s orange colour. This needed to be corrected, so I had to use grey cards to make the necessary colour adjustments.

If you need some advice how to approach that type of project, please let me know

Different colour reflections from surrounding buildings and objects can make shooting in such an environment even trickier. As such, I had to set up reflectors and large light diffusers to block off all colour reflections and fully rely on indirect, dispersed light.

Here is some camera set up information, just to give you a general idea:

Fully Manual Mode

RAW Format

Colour Space                                   Adobe RGB

Picture Style                                    Neutral

Mirror lockup                                    Enable

Self Timer                                        8sec

ISO Speed                                        320

Tv mode Shutter Speed                   1/20

Aperture value                                  13