10 Things You Need To Know About Product Photography
No matter what business you’re in, the chances are you’ll need some form of product photography. Here we have 10 things you need to know about product photography before you get started.
1. The right camera is the one you have
It’s easy to get caught up in equipment, but purchasing a £1500+ camera will only help if you know how to use it. If your phone camera is the one you’re most comfortable with, use that. When you’re more confident it may be worth investing in higher grade equipment, but until that point we suggest saving your money and honing your skills.
2. Lighting is important
Good lighting is one of the key elements to a good product image. You’ll need balanced light with no harsh shadows. You’ll also need to be able to replicate the light you decide to photograph with.
3. Consistency is key
Keeping your images consistent will help your customers recognize your brand. Stick to similar backgrounds, lighting styles and prop choices for every shoot you do.
4. Filters are bad news
Instagram and other social media platforms have the option to add filters to your images. While they have their place, it’s not on your product photographs. Your customers need to see exactly what they’re purchasing. No filters.
5. Delete Nothing
It’s tempting to delete every image you don’t feel is up to standard straight from your phone or camera, but resist the temptation. There are two reasons for this.
First: an image may not be what you’re looking for today, but will come in useful at a later date.
Second: you can’t learn from things you immediately deleted. If an image isn’t up to standard, you need to work out why so you can improve next time.
6. Perfection isn’t everything
Showing your customers exactly what they’re purchasing is more important that the image being 100% perfect. We’re not saying you should use bad images to advertise your work, but that dot of dust you see when you zoom in to 100% is not worth agonizing over.
7. It’s more difficult than it looks
Creating high quality, consistent, on brand, product photography is much more difficult that it may appear. Getting every aspect of your images right every time takes hard work, patience and practice. Be prepared for it not to be easy.
8. Planning is essential
Without having a plan for your product photography you won’t get the most out of any session. We suggest starting by creating a business mood board and style guide.
9. Think Long Term
When creating your product shot list, think about your website, social media and printed material for at least one year ahead. It’s much simpler to capture multiple shots of the same product in one session.
10. Time = Money
Outsourcing your product photography will save you time. You can then reinvest that time back into your business, doing the thing you love most.
At Fat Cats Photography we create beautiful product images to help you tell your brand story. If you’d like to talk about how we can help your business, contact us.
