Photography Products: some useful tips and a case study

The product photo represents one of the most popular markets in the photograph. Every day, thousands of products launched on the market, and they all need some photos to help their sale. But even if you have not thought professionally devote to this type of photography, you can follow this interesting article.

Sure on occasion, trying to sell an object has a second-hand market. And you can also imagine how it changes the result if your object photographs illustrate good product. The number of people interested you can shoot amazingly.

Today we will tell you the step by step process used to perform one of these pictures, and in this example we will use a photo that we had to do to a brand. Part of a project we photographed over 300 products for the launch of its online store. Without further ado, we begin.

The Stock Product “Type”

Such pictures have to be very simple. Also, if they are to be part of online promotions, we usually merging with the website where they will be. Therefore, the white background is classic and almost irreplaceable. By using a “pure white” give the photo a wide range of possibilities. We will not only use that image such but can merge multiple products in a clean banner with almost no effort.

Other details that should think about is, for example, if we want a shadow on the ground to “anchor” the product or not, if you prefer a reflection instead of shadow, etc..

Problems at First Sight

The first thing we saw was that the high density of red tones, as if the red text on orange background on red background, complicate the observation of the product by the audience, but that’s not something we can change. In addition the packaging came with some damage. In products where the damage was greatest, we had to ask to replace them. In the tiny issues we used some tricks in post production.

In my case, when we get a lot of products to photograph, the first thing we usually do is a classification schemes. That is, we group the products according to the scheme will have to use to illuminate.

For this supermarket, we had products in carton, glass products and plastic products. Glass jars and bottles lit in a similar way, so we were a group, it was necessary for plastic a different scheme, and another for cardboard.

Once grouped together we can proceed to decide the scheme of lighting of a group in accordance with the requirements and proceed with the Assembly of the scheme for the photos.

The Mount

For our example photo, we used a table of product made by myself. we have now acquired a more comfortable table commercial product. But know that if you do not have one, it’s not an insurmountable obstacle.

Riding a background of bright white plastic anchor got shimmery effect. The anchor is simply a visual reference that indicates that the product is not floating in the air, but there is a floor. If the client prefers it, we can do that this product ‘floating’, as in vegetable sausages photo, but to me, personally, anchored products we like most. That’s a matter of personal taste of the client and the purpose for which the pictures are made.

Once positioned our product, our soil and our fund must proceed to enlightenment.

We knew that we wanted a very soft shadow on the floor so we used a light source. In this case an Octabox of 110 cm and a SB900 flash to use for the majority of these photos. The octabox is located at upper 45 ° and a distance of about 1 m above the box.

The goal here was to find a balance between the lighting carton and pure white background, lighting that means finding the right power, and in these cases third step can be the difference.

You have to have a good time looking for the right thing. You can use a light meter, but it is not strictly necessary. You can also take a shot, see it on the computer, and see if you have burned something in the box and if the fund is close to pure white… If you see that you have fallen short on the bottom and the case is not yet “burned” you can add a little more power and repeat the test. The priority here is the case, as the fund can perfect it in post production.

As you can see, it is a very simple scheme, but the key is in the perfect position of our light source. A few inches more or less inclined, can alter the amount of light reaching the bottom, and there may be the key. If you do not get what you want, try using banners to prevent light from reaching certain areas where you are having problems.

This scheme only works with matte products. Add a direct light will not work with products that create reflections as glass or shiny plastic. For this type of products you need to try different schemes and various techniques to give with the right. It’s much more advanced and much depends on each case.