Photographing phones and small electronics is my product photography specialty area.
I was hired by Microsoft and AT&T to photograph these phones for their Windows Phone 7 product launch.
This project was highly controlled. NDAs were involved because information about these phones couldn't be released prior to the launch date. From the first phone call until the final delivered photos, this project took less than 24 hours. I was called and spoke to Microsoft's ad agency in the late afternoon on Wednesday and the project began at 9:30 AM the next morning.
The tasks involved in making this project happen included finding a suitable location, hiring a digital tech, sourcing an on-site retoucher, hiring two assistants, and gathering all the gear necessary to create these photographs.
Although these photographs appear simple, photographing glass straight on is no easy task. Although photos like these can be rendered easily, photographing these products is difficult.
Before the session, I developed several approach plans. This was necessary because I had little information from the agency no product knowledge before arriving on set.
After setting up using my first lighting plan and creating the first image, the art director approved the sample immediately allowing us to complete the shoot in 4 hours–and that included the load-in and load-out times.