Product Archives - Studio 3, Inc.®

Show Don't Tell: How Commercial Photography Changes the Game

Posted on May 18, 2018May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

We have a mantra here at Studio 3 Inc: Beautiful Photography Sells Product.

Yes, stock photos are easy to get in today’s culture of immediacy.
Yes, it’s also easy to take your own photos due to the evolution of smartphone cameras. What’s not easy is making the decision to invest in advertising photography for your company. But let’s face it – you will absolutely use ALL those professional photos. Commercial photography – complete with a photography studio, lighting, styling, and retouching- legitimizes your business and propels your online exposure. Here’s why…
Nike Features
YOU GET AND KEEP THEIR ATTENTION: Did you know that posts with featured images are 120%-180% more visible online? That means simply having a photo available TRIPLES your clientele and sales. If you are trying to hook clients without photos, you’re doing it wrong. And if you’re trying to hook buyers with amateaur photos, again – you’re doing it wrong. You want your photos to reflect your kick-ass products, right? Well then it might be time to turn to a kick-ass studio – shameless plug.
We are all subject to the algorithm. Social media platforms measure how long visitors stay on a website, and if it’s less than a minute, your links drop to the bottom of the feed. Make sure you’re fostering customer relationships and enticing shoppers to click “add to cart.” Having stellar product photography drives sales up by 60%, and allowing shoppers to see a life sized image of the product – or at least zoomed in – again DOUBLES the purchase potential of the client. The more they know the more they buy. A great photography studio like Studio 3 can tell the story of your product from beginning to end.
Screen Shot 2018-05-16 at 12.28.07 PM
YOU’RE EDUCATIONAL: SHOW your clients, and then TELL them what they’re seeing. Process photos are all the rage. To be honest, it’s probably because reading is NOT all the rage. We don’t want to follow instructions, we want to follow a picture. We don’t want to read a menu, we want to see a picture of what could shortly be on steaming plates in front of us. Well give the people what they want! Create a video of your product in use or a photo menu for your restaurant with killer food photography. Photo stories allow people to envision themselves using your product, visiting your location, eating your food, or feeling the emotion of your models. Clients need the reassurance that you are supporting their need to understand the process. Seeing a product “in-action” solidifies client trust and increases purchase percentage. Building your customer’s confidence in their ability to utilize your product is a necessary step in brand evangelism. SHOW them it’s not too good to be true.
YOUR IMAGES ARE VARIED AND INTERESTING – YET CONSISTENT.
E-commerce and Instagram business accounts are looking more and more like twins these days. Have you noticed? Both are feeds of new products with a consistent tone, lighting, colors – Brand Identity. If a product image looks out of place in the feed, it stands out as a flaw. Clients view branding inconsistencies as a lack of quality and could lose trust in the website. ONE IN FOUR clients are lost because of brand inconsistency. Having consistent and quality branding practices make companies 20% more successful than companies who make their clients unsure or untrusting of their brand.
Danner What does this mean for you? In order to consistently provide impactful branding and quality content for your clients you must be consistent in the look of your products. Working with Studio 3 Inc means working with photographers and designers who are dedicated to your brand identity and consistency, ensuring that your products always look amazing. Because Beautiful Photography Sells Product – and Consistent Quality Builds a Brand Empire, my friends. It’s as simple as that.

When it Comes to Video, Studio 3 Is Your Wingman

Posted on February 22, 2016May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Director David King adjusting the video camera on set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot
We had a great time hosting one of our long-time Clients in the Studio for a video shoot last week. Coordinated by Project Manager Liz Swales, the production featured some of the Client’s best-selling products in action and showcased their versatility. Director David King revved into action to create an expert blend of fun and professionalism on set. Assistant Trevor Boone supported the shoot with some behind-the-scenes production stills, prepping, propping, equipment support, and offering a hand with an unruly ball of twine. Putting product photography in motion with a demo video for your brand is a great way to enrich your customer’s experience and drive sales. Studio 3 is the perfect wingman to have when you’re ready for that product video.
Shot list and props flat lay on set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot Using the Leatherman Wingman to whittle on set of the Studio 3 video shoot Director David King watching rushes with the talent on set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot Director David King setting up the props on set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot Talent and Assistant Trevor Boone untangling twine prop while Director David King looks on, set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot Assistant Trevor Boone taking a production still shot of Director David King and talent on set of the Leatherman Wingman video shoot

Raising the Bar with Anthro

Posted on December 19, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Recently, our video department had the exciting opportunity of shooting for Anthro Corporation. Anthro started with a plan to make technology for furniture. Our plan was to take their vision, highlight their latest addition, and bring it to life. Director David King speaks more in depth about putting together this clean and subtly sexy clip!

For anyone who has a job where spending long stretches sitting at a desk is a requirement, I’m sure there are many a day you wish you could just stand up for a while, stretch the back, get the blood flowing back into the legs, and keep on working. When I’m wearing my editor’s hat, it’s not uncommon to pull 10-12 hour shifts sitting in front of the computer. Because of this, when we renovated our edit suite here at Studio 3 Films, finding an adjustable work surface that could be used while sitting or standing was top of the wish list. Once you do any research at all on the subject, the company that tops your search list is Portland-based Anthro Technology Furniture. As an editor, I’ve been aware of Anthro’s product line for many years and was thrilled to be able to build our new edit suite around a desk from the Anthro Elevate series. Motorized height adjustment, tilting keyboard surface, cable management and adjustable monitor arms make this workstation infinitely adjustable for maximum ergonomic comfort. I’m standing as I write this!

Shortly after getting the new desk, Anthro approached us with a need for a video, showcasing one of their desks for an upcoming trade show. While I knew Anthro for their creative field products, they are also very big in the education and medical furniture fields. The product that we were asked to feature is called “Steve’s Station”; a Radiology Desk, featuring acoustic panels, dimmable ambient light, as well as Anthro’s signature height adjustment. The folks at Anthro had a vision of showcasing Steve’s Station as if it were a luxury car, using sexy, low-key lighting, subtle camera movement and a moody music score. I’ve worked on dozens of car commercials over the years so I knew exactly what they wanted and thought it would be great fun to translate that look and feel to an adjustable workstation. It was certainly easier to light without all the reflective surfaces you get from an automobile.

-David King

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Studio 3 Films highlights Stanley Hydraulic product!

Posted on June 21, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

We are so excited about our continued partnership with Stanley Hydraulics Tools! Check out the video below and stay tuned for more to come! For a little bit of insight into this video shoot check out words from the Director and head of our video department, David King.

So who knew, that up until now, it was impossible to use more than one Hydraulic tool at a time, using the same power source? Me neither! That’s the great thing about life here at Studio 3 Films. You learn something new with each project whether you thought you needed it or not.
Our long-time client, Stanley Hydraulic Tools, came to us with another product launch and a desire for a video to generate excitement within the sales force. The HP TWIN8 Hydraulic Power Unit is unique in the industry in that it can run two tools at once without a drop in power output. An important feature if there’s a water main break and you need to break up the asphalt and start pumping water simultaneously.
The Stanley folks wanted some consistency in style from the video we did for their railroad spike puller – the SPL-31, but needed to have the whole thing shot in studio. Dramatic lighting on wet concrete and camera movement mixed with rotating the unit on our industrial strength turntable gave us the look they wanted. Combine that with some existing footage from an actual job site, a rocking score and a killer voiceover and we were able to launch the HP TWIN8 in style.
Have a look at our latest production for Stanley Hydraulic Tools and tell me you don’t want one.

To view more of Studio 3 Film’s video reel click here!

To view more visual assets check out our website at www.studio3.com

Technology Photographer Henry Ngan Up Close and Personal!

Posted on January 15, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Tech-Guru and Photographer Henry Ngan takes us on a micro journey into the inner workings of an Intel board. If you have ever wondered what runs the high processing computer systems of today check out these beautiful images. Read on for a few words from Henry on this tech savvy shoot and yes we call him the Technology Photographer here at Studio 3!

If you look at this internal computer hardware in ordinary light, it would look very industrial and a little on the rough side like maybe an uncut diamond. So my inspiration was to make this motherboard look more like polished jewelry basking in really nice golden light.

The other image was more Star Wars like in cool light. I had to handle the board and attached components very carefully guarding against static charges which would render the product useless. There were only 2 light sources used but the lighting was expanded in many directions using lots of reflectors of different sorts and mirrors. This was shot with a Canon 5D MkIII camera with a 100mm lens and some depth of field optimizing software.

On board the DQ77MK is Intel’s 3rd Generation Core i5 3570K unlocked, based on the 22nm Ivy Bridge Architecture. The 3570K seems to be the gamer and over clocker’s choice at the moment. So I decided to capture this Intergalactic Battleship with the 3570K mounted in the LGA1155 socket cruising overhead in the night sky. The other image of the Q77 chipset board shows off the amazing array of input/output headers, including SuperSpeed USB 3.0, high power USB, dual Intel Pro 1000 NICs, DVI-I plus DVI-D, eSATA, and even legacy support for IEEE1394 (firewire). The board is actually more of a mainstream business board with support for Intel vPro Technology. The i7 3770K is also supported on this board if you need HT for video editing. Sorry for geeking out but this is what goes through my mind when I’m shooting technology. – Henry Ngan

Product Photographer Matt Jebbia Hydrate for Life!

Posted on January 8, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Product Photographer Matt Jebbia puts his creative skills to use by breathing life into an ordinary subject. Utilizing water to help add drama and movement brings this image to life. Read below for a few words on this shoot by photographer Matt Jebbia.

Working with glass objects is probably one of my favorite products to work with. That combined with water just always seems to enhance an image and bring the subject to life. I planned the image out in my mind and on paper but it wasn’t until I assisted Studio3 photographer Craig Wagner on a Nixon watch photo shoot incorporating splash photography that I was able to create this image exactly the way I had envisioned. In a previous blog post we mentioned a shoot that Craig Wagner and I participated in utilizing the Broncolor Scoro S power packs. We suspended objects in a water tank and dropped objects into a water tank and captured splash images. Before striking that set I decided it was my time to finish this image the way I had planned.

I suspended the Dior Hydra-life product from a piece of round plexi into the 33 gallon tank upside down. I know in previous attempts that dropping an object like this into water is a time consuming adventure so I decided for this image to suspend it. I really only wanted the object to have nice lighting and the real splash came when I removed the Dior bottle and went to work on the perfect water ripple.
To get the perfect water ripple we used a small eyedropper and a cup full of water. I did several takes but as it works out sometimes the perfect shot is usually the first. When our digital team and I began working on the retouching I thought something was just missing from the final image. So I asked our Digital Artist Alex to create a droplet of water suspended and falling off the side of the Dior bottle. I think with that addition it brought the whole image together. – Matt Jebbia

To see more images in the Dior Collection photographed by Matt Jebbia click here!

Product Photographer Craig Wagner Art of Science!

Posted on December 4, 2012May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Product Photographer Craig Wagner set out to highlight scientific equipment to be viewed as art. He focused on using a combination of color, camera angle, and shallow depth of field to create visually appealing “eye candy” out of traditional lab equipment. We are very excited about this amazing collection!

Again I came across an opportunity to have some creative fun in the studio. Recently I scouted the labs at OHSU for an upcoming photo shoot; seeing all the glass beakers, flasks and medical paraphernalia sparked some visual ideas. I asked the scientist if I could brow a few “props” and he graciously handed me a box and we filled it up!
I wanted to create the sense of a clean, sterile lab, but somewhat surreal so I kept my sets simple. For the most part they consisted of a reflective Plexi surface for the table top and various diffusion panels as my backdrops. This allowed me to back-light the sets using our Classic Fresnel Mole Richardson hot lights, specifically their 1000 watt Baby Solarspot as a key-light. This provided smooth and even light control and Mini moles were used as kickers adding shadows and highlights to the glassware.
Always wanting to try out equipment, I approached the studio’s Hasselblad rep and friends at Pro Photo Supply who allowed me to demo Hasselblad’s HTS 1.5 tilt/shift adapter on this project. I mounted the product on our H4D with the standard 80mm f/2.8 lens. I found with it’s extreme tilt and swing capability it provided both technical and creative control of my plane and depth of focus. Up until now I’d only had with my large format Sinar cameras. The shallow depth of focus added to the surreal feel I was after.
Since my subject matter was for the most part clear I knew that the use of color would play an important role in this exercise. So I played with the color palette quite a bit, some times shooting mono chromatic allowing the composition of the flasks and test tubes to carry the image. When shooting other images I selected complimentary colors to create a more vibrant harmonious look and feel. Good old color theory 101!

Technology Photography! You've got mail

Posted on October 9, 2012May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

It’s no secret our photographers love shooting technology. We’ve got a group that has a passion for Technology Photography! With the constant innovation it’s often times hard to keep up. At Studio 3, instead of our photographers getting frustrated by the constant change, they get inspired. Read below to see their words on not only the changing environment of technology, but what they love about shooting it:

What I find extremely inspiring about technology is it’s incredible pace! I believe in the near future we will be able to see technology manifest right in front of us. With that said, I freaking love showing all the possibilities of new technology, that inspires me to push the envelope and do some really unique stuff.
-Dana

Technology is my middle name, I am inspired on what technology can do to enhance our lives, by accomplishing tasks with much more efficiency. I am the type of guy that is a tech guru, knowing everything that goes on inside, underneath the hood, inside the box, therefore I find it thrilling to stand in the consumer’s shoes…how am I going to convey what this product can do for you? Therefore, I always try to show the product in a good light: friendly and approachable.
-Henry

The challenge of making it interesting and drawing the viewer in, that is so inspiring. On top of it all you have to make the product look new fresh and different, that’s my favorite part. I am always so excited to see what is new, hot, and how I can show it off.
-David

I get inspired by the “top secret” nature of shooting the product, knowing about technological advancements before the general public has always been cool and inspires you to concept something way more exciting than just a black box. In fact, I have actually shot a black box, one of my favorite shoots, where we shot it on a roadway set with a vivid sunset as the background. We shot it on an 8X10 transparency, with all the effects done in camera and the client loved it!
-Craig

To view more of our Technology images photographed at Studio 3 please click here!