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Grocery Product Photography Solutions and OCR | PhotoRobot
Overcome the challenges of photographing objects that don’t stand on their own with this perfect setup for spin photography of bicycles.
Today, you’ll learn just how quick and effective PhotoRobot is for 360 product photography of bicycles. Photographing bikes can be challenging, especially with 360-degree photography.
Any product that doesn’t stand on its own can present these challenges. With bikes, you either have to prop them up, or they need to be suspended in the air. You can then photograph the bicycle from all angles, but you still need to combat the “wobble” products get during rotation.
Thankfully, PhotoRobot has the perfect automated photo studio equipment for photographing bicycles from all angles. Join us in our dark studio in the video below to see for yourself.
As you can see, we’ve chosen to photograph this mountain bike by suspending it on nylon strings. PhotoRobot’s Cube_V5, along with our software for automation and control, then handle all the heavy-lifting. Want to learn more? Keep reading to discover the magic of PhotoRobot for 360 spin photography of bicycles.
For this photo shoot, we have a heavy-duty portal and PhotoRobot’s Cube_V5, one of our smallest yet most versatile robots.
While we can use a bicycle stand to prop up our bike, we instead use nylon strings to make it stand on its own. These nylon strings are much easier to remove in post processing than any kind of physical support or bike stand.
On top of this, we can also ensure that the bike remains perfectly vertical at all times. This way we can photograph it from all angles during rotation, quickly and with minimal wobble. For photographing bicycles in 360-degrees, we simply find this setup the best.
In our photography setup, we have a 1,5 m long bar equipped with several pulleys and clamps. These make life in general much easier on operators when suspending objects in the air.
For one approach, you can hang the bike from an up-right position, attaching the nylon string to the handlebars and saddle. You can even combine this with one of PhotoRobot’s turntables for spin photography mounted at the bottom. This will then synchronize with the Cube_V5 on top.
Instead of photographing the bicycle in the up-right position, in the video we take a different approach. We hang the bike upside-down, attaching strings around the bike’s spokes and tires.
This makes removing the nylon strings in post production even easier. All you need to do is be careful when setting up the lights, keeping in mind that they should be in the reverse position.
Now, for the real PhotoRobot magic: our non-stop spin feature. Standard start-stop photography just doesn’t cut it for photographing bicycles suspended in air. Every stop makes the bike wobble for what can seem like ages, ultimately making it impossible to photograph all angles in any timely manner.
To avoid the complete nightmare of standard start-stop photography, which everybody else uses, PhotoRobot has its non-stop spin mode. In this mode, we do not pause the rotation to take each photo.
Now, as the rotation begins, there will be a natural amount of wobble until the bike stabilizes. To work around this, PhotoRobot software allows you to define a set time to allow the object to self stabilize.
The photoshoot itself will then start after this time, ensuring the bicycle is in perfectly smooth rotation before taking photos. In just a few seconds, PhotoRobot takes photos 360-degrees around the bicycle, and uploads them to your computer or, better yet, the cloud for immediate post processing and retouching.
Even with the cool-down time for the bike to stabilize, PhotoRobot has taken 36 images 360 degrees around the product in under 2 minutes. This also includes image processing and online publishing.
Our high-resolution results show picture-perfect details from the handlebars to the spokes, tires, pedals and frame. The nylon strings weren’t retouched here, but you can imagine the final results after a little more time with the photos.
Contact PhotoRobot and discover our solutions for yourself. One of our technical strategists will help with your spin photography of bicycles, cars, or products of any shape, size, or transparency.
