Picture Sunday: shooting the Sennheiser HD700

The star of this weeks’s Picture Sunday is the HD700. Check out our other Picture Posts HereHere, and Here.

Late 2012, The Headphone Book hired me to shoot a couple of images for their spring catalogue. It was my first commercial shoot in several years, and the first I had done without proper equipment. To my name, I had the following Nikon strobes: SB24, SB28, and SB700. I also had a Nikon D800 and a Zeiss 100/2 Macro Ai lens and a 600mm x 600mm black acrylic board. They needed the photos pronto. I huffed it to the nearest home centre (a two minute walk) and came back, squared away. In my hands were two squares, both styrene, both roughly 5mm thick.

I propped them up on pillows, about a metre from either side of the headphone, and a final flash hitting the back of the acrylic board. It was a tight fit. But the output was good, and I had my first client since 2009 or 2010 or so. Woohoo! Today I use much larger lights, but employ the same principles: shine light on what’s important, angling the object to show off its best stuff. That’s all it takes.

Of course, headphones – cables in particular – can be tricky to shoot. In order to make good images, you have to be inventive (and sometimes destructive). But a little bit of equipment can go a long way. I ended up writing a bit about the HD700, particularly happy about how comfy it was. My first year back was tough: I didn’t have the dosh to purchase a studio, so I made do with sub-par space. Now I have a clutch of good clients, a dedicated macro photography studio, and headphones and earphones and jewelry on the brain and behind the lens 24/7.

Relevant links

L’s take on the HD700
Sennheiser HD700 Unboxing

5/5 - (4 votes)
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Back before he became the main photographer for bunches of audio magazines and stuff, Nathan was fiddling with pretty cool audio gear all day long at TouchMyApps. He loves Depeche Mode, trance, colonial hip-hop, and raisins. Sometimes, he gets to listening. Sometimes, he gets to shooting. Usually he's got a smile on his face. Always, he's got a whisky in his prehensile grip.

5 Comments

  • Reply July 14, 2016

    hd fans

    how come your hd700 has serial number there?

    • Reply August 9, 2016

      ohm image

      These are not my HD700. I have no idea at all if this is normal or not. These phones were in just for a magazine shoot.

  • Reply August 8, 2016

    China Home Life 247

    We offer the Light Weight Headphones which is very affordable and has a vry good quality, Frequency Response:20~20KHz, Cord Length:2.2m±0.15m, Rated Power:40mW, Power Capability: 50mW, Plug:Ø3.5mm Stereo. For more information, please visit our wenbsite at: http://chinahomelife247.com/

  • Reply August 9, 2016

    ohm image

    Sure looks like it.

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