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Product Photography Tips & Tricks
We take pride in our photographs, they advertise the endless possibilities that our ingredients are capable of. We want you to be captivated and intrigued by our creations, so our imagery is key and a major part of our promotion, as with any business.
As you’re aware the technology industry is increasing rapidly and in turn so is the photography world. The attentiveness and inspiration from images is an ever growing interest; social media and the digital world are expanding and more photography based media are becoming popular and the preferred medium.
Sites such as ‘Instagram’ and ‘Pinterest’ are among those, with video platforms like ‘YouTube’ and the more recent ‘TikTok’ on the rise every day. People spend a matter of seconds on a page before they judge the business, so first impressions are extremely important. You need them to be drawn in by your creativity and consumed by your beautiful and enchanting photography, within the first glance!
Gadgets
The first step is to decide what camera you are using, depending on what the outcome is used for. We use a DSLR camera for our main photography, product images on the website, social media posts, blog images, videos, advert design etc. However we tend to use a phone/tablet camera for more intimate shots especially for our social media stories. Such as boomerangs and video clips, as well as photographs and as a means of grabbing a quick process shot.
Impressions
Remember you need your photography to sell your products for you, so no slacking when it comes to the technicalities. There are many styles, techniques and processes people use so you need to find the style that best suits you and your products. Take all these features into account:
Lighting
Once you have your camera, you now need a good light source. Ask any photographer and they will drill into you the importance of lighting. Natural light or artificial light are both beneficial and both create a variety of results. The question is which one do you need and when?
There is no right answer for this, as both are useful depending on your desired look. Natural light is light produced by the sun or moon, whereas artificial lighting is light made from bulbs, torches, lamps, strobe lights, streetlights etc. Artificial light tends to be more direct and easily adjusted, whereas natural light tends to be gentler and varies greatly.~
You can adjust either lighting using screens, reflectors and shadows to emphasise areas and add a dramatic feel. However sunlight is free, so as a beginner it is definitely worth experimenting with to find your niche. Natural lighting is also great if your products are naturally sourced and environmentally friendly as it sticks with the aesthetic of your creations as well as its ingredients.
We use a mixture of lighting but our main set up is a mini studio using two strobe lights and a white back drop. We also take advantage of the outdoors; recently we had a marine theme project where our products were photographed at the beach. So it all depends on the final outcome required and the actual product you are photographing.
Background
There is nothing worse than getting the perfect shot and realising you have something ugly in the background. Trying to recreate that with the same lighting, the same effect and the perfect angle is very frustrating. Always check your background first!
We use a variety of back drops from plain white to textured stone often using background tiles. These by the way are genius! They give you the most amazing surfaces and realistic views but are actually just printed hardboard. It makes it look like you have an exotic location and perfectly frames your products to create some stunning imagery.
Changing your background can also change the feel and mood of your photographs. A darker background can add depth to an image whereas a lighter background creates a strong contrast and makes colours pop. You just have to trial and experiment to work out what accentuates your product and boosts its characteristics.
Decoration
Essentially you want your products to look attractive in order to entice potential buyers and inspire other creatives. Nothing a little decoration can help with! Just remember too much clutter doesn’t create a clear focus, you want your consumers to be drawn to the main product with added details to frame it. When photographing our soaps we like to have the soap roughly in the centre, drawing your eyes and directing your focus. We then decorate by using ingredients relevant to that soap, nothing too big that it will over power or make the photograph look too busy. You can have different compositions of your soap, some in a block, some already cut into bars. This shows the potential of your products through the use of photography.
One of our recent makes was this Raspberry & Lemonade Cold Process Soap, a perfect summery soap. As you can see we have tailored our background to match our soap and used small amounts of decoration to emphasise our product. This tells a story of the ingredients through the combination of photography and imagination.
Remember too much decoration can be over powering and actually put people off. Use your natural space to produce an inspirational draw and to beautifully accentuate your creations.
Composition
A very popular and increasingly used style of photography is ‘flat lay’. This style is a bird’s eye view looking directly on top of your products. Used widely across the cosmetic and food industry it is a great way to display your products in a clear and warm setting while adding character and distinction to your final photographs.
As you can see it gives you the opportunity to play with those background tiles we talked about, as well as be minimalistic and organised. It works amazingly with compositions to create a variety of looks. You can play with cosy and warm or in contrast you could go for a more uplifting and light finish. The possibilities are endless; I would recommend having a browse through Instagram to see how popular this photography design is.
Quality
This comes down to the medium you have chosen, the lighting you have used and how you have combined all the different aspects. The darker the image the higher the chance of it being pixelated, you want a crisp, clear finish. The general higher resolution photographs are 300ppi, this is often reduced to 72ppi for social media. This is so that your photographs can be easier to find and quicker to open. You don’t want a potential customer to be turned away because it is taking too long to load, let alone not being able to see your master piece.
All the factors above really affect the final quality of a photograph. You don’t want a badly lit, fuzzy, cluttered, low quality image. That is why it is important to learn all the product photography tips & tricks that you can before starting. Any preparation is good preparation; practising and experimenting will help you to produce some stunning, creative and visually attractive images telling the customer a story just by one glance.
These are our product photography tips & tricks, just the basics in order to help you to achieve your desired outcome and visually show your passion through your products. Now go and take some wonderful photographs!
Let us know if this was useful by commenting below.
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