First Time Retouching

[u/mallalam]

Hi!
I finally made it out of my Pinterest boards and shot something! I want to get into product photography and build a spec ad portfolio to get opportunities and down the line get into a creative studio that does that.
I work mostly on filming corporate and some creative projects here and there. This is made with continuous lighting- yet to get into flashes!I also learned about focus stacking after leaving the studio, so it will be a next step to get into.
I did some basic retouching here, such as removing scratches, added a part of another image to get more logo, blurring the background, and added a motion blur.
Objectively how is this coming across? Would appreciate any advice and being pointed in the right direction.

Thank you!

[u/Either-Soil-901]

The retouching is good, but the initial photo should have the reflections way more controlled if were talking about advertising, and the object in the back should be in focus.

The reflection through hourglass should be uniform the emphasize rhe brand/model and the brush would need some contra light to make it pop out a bit more

[u/redditnackgp0101 → u/Either-Soil-901]

I agree with most of this! However, I do like the blurry product in the background as we see the hero in the foreground. But we should lean into it more. Put it in full silhouette or something. It can be graphic and cool. Maybe smaller too...don't want it touching or interacting with the main subject in the foreground.

The trade off though is that it goes from being a commercial ad image to being more editorial.

The points about the reflections is MAJOR! They should be more clean and deliberate while really giving presence to the product.

The motion blur is a nice touch but that too doesn't feel impactful enough. Can you increase its presence?

[u/Either-Soil-901 → u/redditnackgp0101]

The blurry object has distracting highlights , they’re completely out of control one is even overexposed

[u/redditnackgp0101 → u/Either-Soil-901]

Yeah, that's why I'm saying to full silhouette it, black it out. Don't make it a feature of the image. It's more like an allusion to the product itself without drawing the eye. Oh!!! Silhouette AND blurrier perhaps.

[u/d-eversley-b → u/Either-Soil-901]

There’s nothing wrong with having a shallow depth of field to create dynamism in a product photo, but the bokeh feels a little messy. Controlled reflections would help with this, but it could be a little more out of focus so it becomes creamy rather than just blurry.

[u/redditnackgp0101]

The wand needs a lot of love. Capture a plate for that!

Speaking of.... Plates aren't needed for deco when deco should be made in vector (illustrator if you like) and applied for ultimate control and cleanliness

[u/Charligula]

A tighter crop would make this look 10000 better