Sep 22

Sep 22 Photography | Tips and Suggestions

Fall 2020

Great photos are so important, especially for online shopping. When it is all virtual, it can mean the difference between a buyer clicking on your page or clicking away.

Becky Waehner of Anvil Metals shares her photography tips:

Think about backgrounds that are visually simple, but also hint at a story. A wooden background might suggest an antique table, or an old bar top, or a picnic table at a park. A fabric background is not visually simple, and it suggests nothing in the real world. Fabric tends to be distracting with its small weave vs. wood with a larger flowing grain pattern. Think of props that contribute to the story but don't distract. A beautiful pottery mug could be shown with a leather-bound book. Find an old one where you can no longer make out the title. It will invoke the dream of sitting down with a cup of tea and a good book of the viewer's interest.

If your product is about taste or scent, show ingredients. Scent and memory are closely linked. If you show people lavender flowers or coffee beans in a photo, they will imagine the aroma. Soaps, candles, etc. are harder to sell online than in person. Give the full experience in an image. Fir tree branches, cinnamon sticks, rose petals...whatever it takes to make the viewer be able to smell it.

Flat lays are here to stay. Flat lays are just that, a layout that you design flat on a surface and shoot from directly above. They work quite well for social media and therefore they will be around for a while. Search on Pinterest or search on social media for the hashtag #flatlay for thousands of stunning examples. They are used to tell a story. You can also use them to tell the story of your packaging and what it might feel like for someone to receive your products as a gift.

White balance is critical for accurately showing the color of your product. Use an accurate white balance, except for very unusual moody content pictures.

Soft light with big reflections and subtle gradations of light and shadow is better for most photos than hard light and stark shadows. Outside, it is usually better to shoot at the “magic hour” just before or after sunset than at high noon, when shadows are dark. A white reflector card can help a lot to bring light into shadows. Indoors, light modifiers like softboxes help a lot. Artificial lights must be the same color- this generally means the same brand of bulb.

Clipped Photos. There are reputable and affordable companies that will clip your products off the background for good clean products on white. Shots on white backgrounds are harder than you would think and often just come across as a dingy off white.

A tripod enables thoughtful composition. Spontaneous compositions can be great for low res media like Instagram, but thoughtful composition really works best. Square jellyfish makes tripod mounts for cell phones that are very affordable.

Notice that the last, lowest priority tip is to buy a fancy camera. It is great to have a nice camera, but the technique is more important. Cell phones can work for everything but a big print or the cover of a catalog. Any camera with interchangeable lenses made after 2010 will do a good job for catalog photos- if the technique is good. Newer, expensive cameras are great for action and low light, but the advantages for product photos are minor. KEH.com is a very reputable vendor for used gear. $300 is a very reasonable budget for a used Canon or Nikon camera, including lens and battery, which will outperform a $1000 iPhone.

Current trends in product photography are moving toward lifestyle images that tell a story, and social media content photography is all about stories.