360° product images guideline

ANDREW MOLCHANOV AM .........................................

P R O D U C T I M A G E S G U I D E L I N E F O R T H E A P I C O M PA N Y B Y A N D R E W M O L C H A N O V P H O T O G R A P H Y - M AY 2 0 1 7

P H O T O G R A P H Y

AM 360° (Spin) Product Images Guideline TRAINING MATERIALS & DOCUMENTS MAY - 2017

ANDREW MOLCHANOV AM .........................................

P H O T O G R A P H Y

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P R O D U C T I M A G E S G U I D E L I N E F O R T H E A P I C O M PA N Y B Y A N D R E W M O L C H A N O V P H O T O G R A P H Y - M AY 2 0 1 7

CONTENTS I nt r oducti on Introduction.....................................................................................................3

Wha t You’ r e G o i n g t o N e e d Camera...........................................................................................................4 Lens................................................................................................................4 Tripod..............................................................................................................5 White Background.......................................................................................... 5 Table...............................................................................................................5

Set Up Your Ta b l e & S w e e p Set up your table & sweet...............................................................................6 Equipment configuration..............................................................................6-9 Studio light....................................................................................................10 Synchronous your camera with studio light..................................................10

Set p Your C a m e r a Adjust the camera settings............................................................................11 Exposure settings.........................................................................................12

Synchr onou s y o u r c a m e r a wit h t h e F o ld io 3 6 0 t a b le Adjust the camera settings............................................................................13 Adjust the phone APPS settings..............................................................14-15

360 P r oduct Vi e w e r s R e c o me n d a t io n s Background...................................................................................................16 Viewer: Platform/plugin.................................................................................16 Creation of assets.........................................................................................16 Comparison...................................................................................................16 Сlosing..........................................................................................................17

Con cl usi on Conclusion....................................................................................................17

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ANDREW MOLCHANOV AM .........................................

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P R O D U C T I M A G E S G U I D E L I N E F O R T H E A P I C O M PA N Y B Y A N D R E W M O L C H A N O V P H O T O G R A P H Y - M AY 2 0 1 7

INTRODUCTION Using those Standards, CPI company and its branches around the world are able to photoshoot and uniquely identify products and create their 360° product images in the same standards. This is provide the connection between these physical or logical things and the information the supply chain needs about them.

This guideline provides detailed guidance on how to apply standards for 360° product images to digital images associated with products of CPI company.

This document does not specify how the images should be delivered. Image delivery is beyond the scope of this guideline.

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P R O D U C T I M A G E S G U I D E L I N E F O R T H E A P I C O M PA N Y B Y A N D R E W M O L C H A N O V P H O T O G R A P H Y - M AY 2 0 1 7

W h a t Yo u ’ r e G o i n g t o N e e d 1. CAMERA

You don’t need a crazy camera system. While shooting images with a Nikon D800 sporting a 105mm f1.4 lens is awesome, it’s also totally unnecessary. A product can be clicked by DSLR, SLR, Digital Camera.

You should definitely go for DSLR cameras. They could have many functions by which product photography can be done beautifully.

2. LENS

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-85 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR is an advanced lens designed to get the most from high-resolution Nikon D-SLRs In addition to VR image stabilization, it uses ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass, which virtually eliminates reflections and lens flare for better contrast and Aspherical (AS) lens elements for minimizing aberration and improving image integrity and colour

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3. TRIPOD

In the studio, the tripod frees you from the camera, and allows you to concentrate on the lighting of your subjects knowing that the camera is both secure and in the right place. Tripod will allow you to set a lower ISO when taking picture under any lighting conditions because you can shoot sharp pictures at slower shutter speeds. Most digital cameras deliver optimum image quality with less “digital grain,” aliasing, artifacts, etc. when you set the ISO to 100 or 200.

4. WHITE BACKGROUND

There are lots of options for a white background and if you’re going to be shooting a lot, you may want to go to your local photography store and get a professional roll of paper for photography. If you’re not in an area with a good photography store, you can always head over to your frame shop/art store and get a 32x40 sheet of their thinnest white Mat Board.

5 . TA B L E A standard folding table works best, and a width that’s between 24 and 34 inch wide is ideal.

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S E T U P Y O U R TA B L E & S W E E P

We are using the lens AF-S DX 16-85 mm f3.5-5.6 VR lens ($649.99 CAN)

Once you have collected your gear together, it’s time to set up your shooting area. For great photos, you need to create what’s known as a ‘sweep’. This is simply a white backdrop that ‘sweeps’ from the vertical to the horizontal surface, creating a seamless transition between the two.

1.

E Q U I P M E N T C O N F I G U R AT I O N

For our 360° product images we are using AUTOMATIC SHOOTING SYSTEM The Foldio360.

The Foldio360 uses Bluetooth and IR sensors to connect directly with your smartphone and DSLR camera. Once you click the start button, it will automatically rotate, take photos and combine them to create one final 360 image. It’s truely simple, but incredibly awesome.

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Since, our spinning table is designed for smaller objects, we cut out a circle of larger diameter from special materials for shooting our 360° product images.

It is necessary to put the subject in the center of the table (Centre point).

Pay attention to the blue indicator on. It indicates that the table is turned on and ready to go.

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The camera is placed at 18.6° degrees angle to the gorizont.

Softboxes are installed at 18.6° degrees angle to the gorizont.

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ANDREW MOLCHANOV AM .........................................

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P R O D U C T I M A G E S G U I D E L I N E F O R T H E A P I C O M PA N Y B Y A N D R E W M O L C H A N O V P H O T O G R A P H Y - M AY 2 0 1 7

Product to be photographed on the table at all times. Height of the shooting table from the floor - 0.74m Products to be photographed with a 16-85mm lens whenever possible.

Distance from lens to the centre point ≈ 1.26m.

Distance between the middle of soft boxes is ≈ 1.44m.

Distance between soft boxes and the centre point is ≈ 0.56m.

Height of lens from the floor ≈ 1.23m. (For the top shots).

Height of softboxes from the floor ≈ 1.33m.

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2. STUDIO LIGHTS We are using Artificial lighting.The set-up is simple: the sweep on opposite side, two lights on the other opposite side, and your product in the middle. The ideal position for this light will depend on the product and the light itself, but placing it above will most likely look more natural.

3. SYNCHRONOUS YOUR CAMERA WITH STUDIO LIGHTS

The remote trigger for studio flashes and outdoor flash is used as the controller of synchronous trigger studio flash of cameras. It consists of a signal sender and a receiver trigger and works by means of the frequency modulation wireless remote control. The signal transmitter adopts the advanced circuit and components, and can transmit the coded FM wireless signal. The transmitter is applicable to the traditional or digital camera with hot shoe or PC controlling interface.

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S e t U p Yo u r C a m e r a 1. ADJUST THE CAMERA SETTINGS Firstly, you need to adjust your image settings. It’s easy to compress files and reduce their quality later but if your photos aren’t good enough, you’ll need to shoot again.You should always ensure that your camera is set to take the best quality images it can.

• Set Your White Balance (WB) to Auto.

• Turn your flash setting to off.

• Image Settings – set it to the largest quality settings: Set it to the largest JPG setting you have. In Nikon there are 2 settings to look out for: Size – sometimes L (large), M- (medium) S- (small) Pick large. This setting determines the file size, and you almost always want to shoot it at its largest file size for optimal image quality. You can always shrink an image once it is take but you can’t make it larger.

Quality – S (Superfine), F (fine), N ( normal). You should always set it to Superfine. This setting determines the number of pixels that are used on the camera sensor. Not using all the available pixels will render a lower quality image

Set your ISO to 160

Set your White balance to Auto

Set your Color Space to sRGB

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2. EXPOSURE SETTINGS Set your camera to Manual (M) This is the best setting for this type of work because nothing will be moving or changing as you take the pictures. In manual, change your f/stop to the highest number, which will give you the greatest depth of field.

The aperture is a hole within a camera’s lens which determines the amount of light that travels into the camera. We use f/16 The shutter speed determines the amount of time that light is let into the camera with each shot. We use 160 ISO - 160 To avoid any distortion of our objects we are take product images with 50 mm.

Exposure Tip: Don’t trust the image on the back of the camera, instead pay attention to the histogram to know if your exposure is correct. The far right hand side is white, and left is black. In the example image there is a little gap on the right hand side which means that there is no pure white. Adjust the exposure till the part of the curve representing the white background is touching the right edge without going over. In this example, you would probably need to add 1/3 of a stop, or one click for more light. his is the best setting for this type of work because nothing will be moving or changing as you take the pictures. In manual, change your f/stop to the highest number, which will give you the greatest depth of field.

Metall Surface Before shooting a metal surface, it is highly recommended to wipe all metal surfaces with a damp alcohol wipe. It is also necessary to wipe all the plastic surfaces of the product with a wet and dry cloth.

For the best results of shooting any metal surfaces, you can use your own light and camera settings.

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Synchronous your camera with The Foldio 360 table 1. ADJUST THE CAMERA SETTINGS Firstly, you need to adjust remote control settings before to start shooting with the Foldio 360 table.

• • • • •

In the camera menu, select the small camera icon and click on.

Then you need to select Remote control mode (ML-L3) from the list and click on it.

In the list that appears, select Quick-respond remot and click OK button.

You will see the Remote control mode (ML-L3) icon image in the camera menu.

This means that our camera is ready to work with the Foldio 360 table.

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P H O T O G R A P H Y

2. ADJUST THE PHONE APPS SETTINGS You need to download foldio 360 app in iTunes or Google play stores.

• Install foldio 360 app in your device.

• Open foldio 360 app.

• Click on select device button to find your foldio 360 table and connect ot by Bluetooth.

• In the window that appears, select foldio 360 device and connect with that.

• Click the menu icon on the right side when the foldio 360 app connects to the table.

• In a new window, select DSLR. • Select the brand of your camera from the drop-down list.

• Now, your camera is connected to the foldio 360 table by foldio 360 app and you can make a test shot.

• If you are satisfied with the test phgoto, you can click the start button to get twenty-four pictures of your object.

• Don’t forget to delete the test shot.

Click on select device button

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Select your device

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Click the menu icon on the right side

In a new window, select DSLR

Select your DSLR camera from the drop-down list

Set your White balance to Auto

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360 Product Viewers Recomendations 1. BACKGROUND it would be beneficial to display 360° rotating product images on the new site. This requires 2 things: • Viewer: A suitable display platform/plugin • Creation of assets

2 . V I E W E R : P L AT F O R M / P L U G I N The viewer is really just some javascript code that displays a sequence of product shots, each one from a slightly different angle. It’s entirely possible to build one from scratch (e.g. https://codyhouse.co/gem/360-degrees-product-viewer/), though each platform will have a pre-built and fully tested customisable viewer, and using this would be a lot cheaper in cost terms unless there is a compelling reason to self-build.

There won’t be much to separate the viewers, though the entry-level offerings will likely include the provider branding or other limitations.

Self-hosted viewers will support asset delivery from any domain. SaaS viewers will tend to require use of their own CDN.

3 . C R E AT I O N O F A S S E T S The assets required are simply a sequence of images covering the product from all angles. Optionally, this can include multiple rows, allowing rotation on the y-axis as well as the x-axis.

Shots can be taken on anything from a DIY turntable covered by a mobile phone camera, to a professionally equipped studio. CPI engineers would be well able to construct the equipment required, though it might be more cost-effective to engage a photographer who is already set up to do this. The only difficultly might be with heavier or bulkier items, as a lot of the existing guidance on this aspect concerns small items you typically find on e-commerce stores like shoes and watches.

The platforms will generally provide some software that helps prepare and organise the shots. This can include stage editing, and more advanced features like adding hostspots.

4 . C O M PA R I S O N This is a quick comparison of 3 of the major providers in this area, representing the broad categories in the market: high-end, basic, and SaaS.

Webrotate 360 URL

Imajize

http://box360.website/

https://www.imajize.com/

Price

$299

Branding

Pro version ($299) allows removal of Webrotate branding. Own logo is $499 one off.

Selfhost

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

?

?

Multiple row 16

http://www.webrotate360.com/

Box 360

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$59

$99/month Own logo costs $299/month

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5. CLOSING Webrotate360 appears to be the best option for the price. The supporting software looks by far the most sophisticated, while Imajize, being SaaS entails an ongoing monthly charge that will rapidly net out at more than the one-off charges for the others. Box360 looks OK, but appears to be an offshoot of a CodeCanyon shareware project, and may not therefore have the most professional backing.

Conclusion There you have it!

The simple how to take your own products on white background the easy way, without having to buy tons of gear and complicated lighting.

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