You might recognise the picture above from the front page of the Giles Babbidge Photography website. Here’s a little about how it was produced.
One of my favourite types of location to photograph at is a factory or warehouse. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a computer assembly plant, a clothing manufacturer, a storage facility, whatever – there’s just something about the lighting that really lends itself to atmospheric images. I love the softness of the overhead illumination, and by working with the available light I can get a real sense of the subject matter in its simplicity.
But it’s not all roses. For example…
On arriving at this particular warehouse, the conditions appeared less than favourable, photographically-speaking – a very dimly lit building with no windows, and what light there was fell to the ground in dirty patches.
First up, then, I had to stop and re-think. Given these conditions, how best would I illustrate the primary elements we were trying to get across – specifically, the overall space, capacity, professional methodology and organisation of the client? Thankfully, I was given a saving grace in the form of the key subject matter itself – bright yellow boxes.
Step One: I ditched my initial idea of using flash lights to save the day, in favour of persevering solely with the ambient light. Ok, so exposures would be in the region of 1-4 seconds, but you’ve got to love those gentle tones. So…
Step Two: I needed camera support. Enter one tripod and a handful of grip equipment.
This picture should give you some indication of the working conditions – basically a range of brightness spanning the dark corners at the ends of the shelving, right the way through to highlight areas nearer the roof. This particular scene was actually one of the brighter aisles.
At ground level, with the camera locked solidly in position, I was now able to work with the ISO set right down low at 200. Lovely, smooth, noise-free images.
Lens choice varied between the ultra-wide depths of my 10-20mm and a lens you’ve probably not heard me talk about for a while, an 18-70mm. The latter used to be my ‘go-to’ standard lens, but doesn’t see so much action these days, since I tend to shoot on an FX-format camera, meaning it produces vignetting in the corners of my pictures. Sure, I can always crop the image later – but you know me!
And yes, my FX-format camera does provide a cropping window at the taking stage, cutting out that vignette, but that’s not always a practical option to use as it creates rather a small window through the viewfinder.
So then… Ground-level stuff is all very well, but sometimes you just need a little something extra in order to pack some punch. This could take the form of injecting some colour into the frame, or it could be the process of stepping away from the camera and looking back towards the shooting position to see if there’s something you’ve missed. Or… and this is where things get interesting…
Step Three: Get a crane and get up high! Around 26 metres, in fact – near enough the very top of the building.
Still working with the available light, I switched from the tripod to a Super Clamp/Magic Arm combo, which was attached to the basket of the crane. Standing perfectly still, and with no cross-winds to contend with, I was able to get the shot you see up top, before mounting my 80-200mm to the camera platform in order to isolate my subjects (warehouse staff) from their surroundings for some nice profile/in-action pictures.
With any shoot like this, what I am trying to produce is a varied set of images which informs would-be customers not just about the product, but about the process, too.
The use of multiple tools such as various lenses, clamps and lighting enables me to do this. But remember, that really is all they are – tools for the job.
Invariably, the pictures are right there in front of you… you just need to know where to look.
