“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansell Adams
Photography can make or break the look and feel of your brand. Without professional and consistent looking photography, I am afraid to say, you may just come across as a hack.
First perceptions are everything.
That’s why today we are sharing with you some great tips to get your product photography looking like a pro took it. Yippee!
TAKING THE PERFECT PRODUCT PHOTO
- Make sure you get the lighting right. Product photography lighting, sooooo important. You need to either have natural light in the room you are shooting (a big window close by) or studio lights. Make sure you set up the product facing the light. Here’s some handy hints on working with studio lighting. Or if you plan on shooting your product outside, do so in the very early morning or late afternoon when the sun is not too harsh. Slightly overcast days are also preferable.
- Use a tripod. You do need to slow things down and do them properly to get the best result. I am one of the worst offenders at wanting to tick things like product photography off my list, and giving it a good old go with my hand held camera. No. Doesn’t work. You need to create crisp shots without any movement. You can get a pretty cheap tripod online but sometimes they turn up and are so flimsy that they won’t even hold up your camera. You are best to go old school and head down to your closest camera shop. Get them to advise you on the best tripod for your camera and your needs.
- Crap in, crap out. Set your subject matter for the shot so what you see through the lense is exactly what you want. You don’t want to have to rely on photo editing to get the shot. You should only need to do some slight tweaks through the editing process to enhance, not to reconstruct. Get the composition right, the crop right, the lighting right as we have already mentioned. A very wise teacher once said to us… if you put a crap photo into editing software you are going to get a crap photo out again.
- Learn to edit. Although you shouldn’t need to do much in the editing process, there is still an art to editing photos. You may want to tweak the saturation, eliminate a few dust spots or adjust the colour balance. There’s different photography editing software on the market. We love to use Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. Whichever program you choose, you can do a course with a paid professional or there are plenty of great free tutorials on YouTube that will help you navigate your way around the software.
- Get inspired by other brands. Some say that there is actually not a single original thought, everyone is inspired by something! So get out there and have a look at how other brands you love are displaying their products through photography. Put together a moodboard or a Pinterest board to narrow down the look you want to go for and then use this as a basis for putting together your compositions to shoot.
- Understand the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a well-known compositional rule in photography, and it is probably one of the first things you learn about as a new photographer. It is a guide on where to place people or objects within the frame to ensure it is most appealing to the viewer. But remember, rules are meant to be broken. So study it, know it, use it, but then also feel free to break out from the rule when you feel the need to be a rebel.
- Props are your friend. Use simple props to enhance your shot. What objects make sense to have around your product? Will this help tell a story? Props can help transform a boring shot into an interesting one.
- Consistency. Whatever look you develop for your product photography style, make sure you carry it through. People like familiarity with a brand. Once you create a hot style that resonates, work this style until it becomes your signature.
We live in a visual world. People are attracted to creativity and style, so don’t compromise when it comes to your product photography. Follow the above tips and make it look hot, hot, hot!!!
We can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Love,
Jodie + Em xx
