New shoes…

Footwear fan Will Fahy on shooting shoes

This series of images is from my ever-growing collection of photography within the footwear industry. I work as an in-house photographer, creating imagery for a footwear retailer in Somerset. Shoes can be extremely detailed, so it’s my job to show the consumer these details in all their glory.

I have been photographing shoes since about 2006, when my role as an IT technician slowly transformed into a full-time photographer for the same company. I developed the I Shoot Shoes website in 2016 after realizing that this work would sit much better within its own constantly evolving website.

Most of what I shoot is studio based, I develop the concepts and take inspiration from anywhere and everywhere I can. I do enjoy getting out on location too, but working to strict deadlines and low budgets mean that most of my location shooting is within 10 or 15 minutes of Street, Somerset, which is where I’m based. Sometimes, for summer shoots, I’ll head to Weymouth for a day or two – the sand is really nice there, plus we can get fish and chips for lunch!

I started shooting around 2006, when I had little to no experience in product photography at the time – but over the years I’ve taught myself about all aspects of photography and lighting, and experimented until I got the required results, then experimented some more.

Sometimes an idea for a shot will come out of nowhere, other times it’ll be carefully planned and the only limit is my imagination (and budget). I keep a back catalogue of my imagery to help when inspiration is low – I can take previous ideas and redevelop them to have a fresh and unique look that they didn’t have.

I currently use two Nikon D750s, coupled with 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. The D750 has an incredible dynamic range – I’m amazed by what I can pull out of the shadows and highlights, while keeping the integrity of the image. This is helpful when I’m shooting white shoes and need to bring a bit of detail back into the texture. Accurate colour is an important part of the whole process, and I know my Nikons will produce true-to-life colours,

Sometimes an idea for a shot will come out of nowhere, other times it’ll be carefully planned and the only limit is my imagination (and budget)

which reduces the time I have to invest in colour correction.

Room to zoom

While many product photographers advise using prime lenses in the studio, as they’re renowned for their sharpness, the quality of Nikon zoom lenses make them a pleasure to work with – they provide the flexibility I need working in a relatively small studio and out on location. The build quality is incredible; my tripodmounted 70-200mm once overbalanced and took a nosedive from seven feet high in the studio onto a hardwood floor. The lens hood shattered, but the lens itself didn’t flinch. The 24-70mm lets me get close enough to capture all the detail in the shoes, while the 70-200mm is incredibly versatile in allowing me to blow out the background if I need to, and will stay the super-sharp throughout its range.

I think I’m in the minority of people who can really say that they really love their job. I feel I’ve grown well as a photographer alongside the business. I’m very hands-on with my approach, I like to build sets, splash paint around and bring life into an otherwise inanimate object. I’m often quizzed by my work colleagues as to why I have shoes hanging from the rafters…

I’d say the main challenge is keeping the imagery fresh – it’s too easy to look back over old imagery and re-hash those ideas with the new footwear.

Studio work poses very different challenges than when I’m out on location. When I’m in the studio I rely heavily on imagination, inspiration and experience with composition and lighting. Out on location this all still applies, but I also I need to know where I can find backgrounds that not only suit the footwear, but are also interesting and do not distract from the subject of the image. When shooting for catalogues, I’m often required to shoot out of season, so I sit waiting for that bright sunny day in winter, with my flip-flops lined up, or for the inevitable rain storm in June with a pair of Wellington boots.

1 Timberland Fulk Ox I used some painted pallet boards, propped the shoes from underneath and fed some wire through the laces, to make the shoes look like they’d fallen 2 New Balance Splash I  first shot the shoe in position, then wrapped it in cling film (so I didn’t get paint on it) and made a series of small splashes, until I felt I had what I needed. Finally, I  put the images into Photoshop and isolated, blended and positioned the separate splashes to create a big one 3 Hunter Argyll Welly boots aren’t the best looking footwear, so I focused on the most interesting part. Narrowing the aperture killed the ambient light, using a direct light with a honeycomb filter helps reduce spill from the light source and brings a dramatic feel to it