Photographing Bags

Not the most exciting or challenging job I have done but today I spent the day photographing jute bags, the kind of thing that you get in Tesco and other supermarkets. My client imports these from India, prints them here and then sells them on to other retailers. They needed some shots for the web site so I opened a box of about 40 of these bags in various colours, sizes and shapes, set up the studio lights and got started.

I had agreed that we'd use some props for some of the shots so I went to the local butcher and borrowed some nice jars of chutney, cakes and things to put in the bags.

For the technical minded, this was a standard HI Key shoot, the bags will likely be cut out in Photoshop by the designer so a white background makes this easier. Hi Key photography is easy to do, the background is lit to 1 f stop more than the foreground, thats pretty much it. I used 4 Bowens G500 digital lights, 2 with small reflectors to light the background and 2 with softboxes on to light the items.


This is what it looks like, the 2 soft boxes are hiding the 2 back lights, you can just see the stands. The camera is a 5D mark 2 and I used my 70-200 f2.8 IS lens as I wanted to shoot from a little way back and create a bit if depth of field, on a more practical level, this meant it was easier to get into the area and change props.

So, as I said, not the most exciting job but that's the life of a self employed photographer, you take the business that comes along and be grateful for it.