We have worked with Horiba International for many years photographing their products which are used for used for spectrometry analysis in the fields of science, medicine and research. Originally the Strathclyde University spin off business IBH, they are now part of Horiba International.
A group of some of Horiba’s products. This shots shows the whole range for this particular instrument.
As commercial and advertising product photographers based in Glasgow, we are always fascinated by the range of companies there are out there and the very specialised areas they are often involved in. Each brings it’s own set of challenges. Usually we’d photograph these types of products in our Glasgow studio but for various reasons is was impractical to transport them. We therefore had to set up a temporary studio on locations at Horiba’s own premises in Glasgow. A studio is essentially a space where you can control the lighting and set up, so as long as you have a big enough space then this is perfectly feasible.
One of Horiba’s ‘boring grey boxes’. At least the term they used! As well as lighting the unit we also kept the blue display lights on which add some contrast as well as showing potential customers how it functions.
The other challenge is that Horiba’s products (by their own admission) tend to be boring grey metal boxes, although when you find out what they actually do they are quite fascinating. Basically ,a beam of light is fired at a sample and the photons being reflected back from this are then analysed which reveals the presence of particular elements in the sample. Personally, we like a challenge photographing something which might appear to some as a boring grey box.
Although the main focus of the shoot was the product photography, the client also wanted a detail shot of a circuit board to use as a background image for their website.
For commercial product photography on websites, white is the most common type of background colour used but light grey products wouldn’t stand out against white very well. We therefore opted for black which provided a lovely contrast and shows the product off better. The rest was done with some creative studio lighting which gives some depth to the photographs and highlights the quality of the construction on some of the components.
Another challenge was to show the illuminated display on some of the products. Usually, studio flash lighting is too strong to allow weaker ambient lighting such as this to record but with some careful adjustment of the lighting and camera settings we were able to achieve this in camera without having to take two shots and composite this in later.
If you have some products which need photographing why not call us on 0141 363 0013 or drop us an email for a chat?
This particular photograph was impossible to capture in one image. The client wanted to show the lens clearly so this had to be photographed separately at an angle which would catch the light. It was then added later in post production.