Photographs are primarily there to sell what you do. Whether it’s your gorgeous products new to the market, your services or even you and the face behind the brand. It all comes down to the photographs that showcase your business values and make it unique!
How is your brand going to be noticed and, most importantly, how are you going to get potential customers to interact with 960,000 active Etsy sellers in the UK as your competition? Or over 2.35 billion monthly active Instagram users? The answer is… fresh, product photos that tick all the boxes! Here’s the run down of how to take quality product photos yourself…
HOW TO STYLE
With previous valuable experience in a leading edge product photography studio, whose clients included many Not On The High Street makers and creators, I learnt all about product styling – a rather important part of creating stop worthy product photos!
Best thing to do is just start! Place your product where you’d like it and slowly start including props one by one seeing where fits and if you need to add more.
TIP: Try to include unique props from independent shops for something a little different. Here’s a few of my favourite places for props:
COMPOSITION
After you’ve decided on your styling and props, you can then start to bring them all in – try placing them in the background and foreground of your shot (or if you’re shooting a flat lay, try putting the prop in different places to see where it looks best). Use your props as leading lines to direct the eye to the product – the main focus!
Play around with different groupings, set ups and colours here and see how you get on and how many products you get through.
LIGHTING TIPS
Lighting can make it or break it so you need to find a place where you’re able to get really nice lighting from at least 2 angles to help the light spread more evenly on the scene/products. When you’re using window light, there will be a bright side where the light is striking the product and a shadow side. You can use a diffuser to spread the light evenly or buy a pop up studio light to balance the lighting evenly.
LINK IT TO YOUR BRANDING
If you’re feeling like your product photos aren’t showing enough consistency, ask yourself if you are able to concisely sum up your brand. The art of a consistent shop appearance stems from branding. If you don’t know what your company brand is, you should figure that out before you shoot any more photos. Your product photos need to be indefinitely yours and meet your branding so it’s all on point!
With lots of thought, commitment and intentional styling, photos can connect us with our customers and grow our business online.
I’ve decided to share some of the skills and top tips on product photography in this handy guide for you! Step up your own product photography so you can take gorgeous photos from the comfort of your home. This guide includes a whole lot more info on studio kit recommendations, tips on choosing a background and how to get a good composition – to name a few. You can shop and download it here.
I’ve gone on to create a product photography studio with cutting edge styling, editing and core photography packages. So, if you need a little help to level up your product photography game even further, or just don’t have the time to do it yourself, get in touch to book in a photoshoot with me as a helping hand!
