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Should really have titled this product placement! But we all know that the risky titles get more hits!!!
This is Nutino, a new character I have been involved in creating. He is a mascot for Nutino a wonderfully tasty hazelnut treat!
I was asked to take some stills for their website to go along with some of the TV ad’s I made. The setup I used was an old blind as my back drop, a backlight to highlight the white on the blind and then I used my flash to bounce off the ceiling.
Love to have some C&C as this is a new process for me.

Mal - i love the lighting effect, nice and even with minimal/no shadow. The bear looks somewhat soft though, or not completely in focus? Perhaps it's this old CRT monitor I'm looking at (I'm not at my usual desk/at home).

nice porn star pose.
no shadows, well done.
the bear does seem a little soft like geoff mentioned.

I'm not sure I needed to see him showing off brown stuff that gets made from his nuts...

I am with everyone else, like it but a little soft

Why is it making me hungry??

Killakoala wrote:Why is it making me hungry??

Squirrel-o-phila.

Thanks for the comments.
RE the softness, it is a real issue with these sort of characters, when we were filming the TVC's the DOP would either get focus on Nutino's nose or eyes. Which is what I did on this shot.

It is strange how the fur makes the picture lok soft. But if you look at the lettering on the shirt you can see that it is sharp which means that the fur should also be sharp.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could make the fur look sharp? Or is that just not possible as fur will look "soft" no matter how "sharp" you shot is.

A touch soft. Get it?

Seriously though, that is what I thought even before reading the other comments. Maybe use a tripod next time.

You could perhaps whiten the background a little as well, though I think it's pretty good as is. Lighting is fine.

Cheers

Edit: the lettering on the shirt looks ok, but I think the lettering on the product and the rest of the image in general could be sharper.

macka wrote:A touch soft. Get it?

Seriously though, that is what I thought even before reading the other comments. Maybe use a tripod next time.

THanks Macka, a tripod was used. as the shutter speed was slow. 1/5 at f11
I have a funny feeling that I may have left the VR on which I believe is a no no when you are using a tripod with the VR len's.

Mal,

If you look at your post a couple above, you see why we have a 800 pixel limit on pics. We have to scroll to read each sentence. Your first pic is over 1,000 pixels

Mal,
My other thought is I would treat this just like a portrait and get the eyes sharp (plus any writing, labels, etc to keep the advertisers happy)

Perhaps he needs a comb/brush?

Glen wrote:Mal,

If you look at your post a couple above, you see why we have a 800 pixel limit on pics. We have to scroll to read each sentence. Your first pic is over 1,000 pixels

Opps Change made.....

Does this version look better? My only problem with this one was the strange colour that happened around the head area.

Mal,

I think I prefer the first one. Even before reading your comment, my eye was attracted to the funny blur around the head. Maybe you just need to give it a bit of a mow. The extra fluff on the fur will likely always look soft.

Note that sometimes when you resize for the web, some photos can become a bit soft. Look at your original and see.

Cheers,

André

hahaha.glad my models are not that hairy........i had a good ole chuckle when i logged in.......not what i excpected at all

Dan

He is too cute...and I can already hear my son whining in my ear for some Nutino....*groan*

I love it! I prefer the first picture and even if I tried I couldn’t find any technical fault. It is simply excellent. Now, because it is Nutino and it is meant to be a squirrel and not a bear, I would suggest a different pause so it looks more like a squirrel. Maybe it should show its tail for after all you want to sell a product. What do you think?