Since it is totally impossible to cover everything about photography in one article, we will list the most popular (and liked by customers) types of shots and will outline how a photography process usually goes. Then, you will match your specific product to a photo style and to the equipment required and will focus solely on this small photo segment. It will save you time, money, and frustration and lead to making decent product shots fit for being displayed on your eComm page.
6 Popular Types Of Product Images
– Single product shot. As you can guess, this image hosts a single product in all its glory. It underscores the uniqueness and the craftsmanship of the item and features little to no props. Devices, clothing items, and accessories all look best in solo shots.
– Multi-product shot. It works well for a range of products when it’s important to underscore the selection of items on offer. Socks in different colors or prints, oil or juice bottled in bottles or cartons of different volumes, chips in various flavors – all these products look nice when ranged by size/color/taste in the same image. Such shots simultaneously inform about the available positions and entice customers to pick the preferred ones.
– Close-up. Jewelry, watches, small makeup or body care items, and earphones need to be presented in close-up to demonstrate the minute details.
– Scale shot. If you need to show how big (or small) the product is, place it together with something of universal size, something customers will immediately recognize. It reduces the level of purchase dissatisfaction and returns rates by giving customers the right expectations right from the start.
– Lifestyle. Some items just ask for being shot in action, like sportswear, bikes, sports gear, summer party equipment, you name it. Lifestyle shots require models, a proper environment, and props. They are like movies frozen in time, telling a whole story just in a single frame. The creation of lifestyle shots is a true art and often requires additional expenses.
– Product package shot. For cosmetic products, supplements, and other products where ingredients matter a package can be included in the shot. It makes the goods look more reputable and expensive, and the text on the packaging often says something important about the quality of the product (organic, vegan, medically approved, etc.)
How It Is Made: Product Photography
Now that you know what shots to make, it’s time to explore how to make them. The process is basically the same, it is the instruments and props that may differ.
Preparing The Product
This step is obligatory for every kind of product. Clothes need to be freshly pressed and clean, shoes shiny (fingerprints removed from the new leather surface, suede brushed in the same direction), and plastic objects free from any smears or stains or – again – fingerprints. Food is a separate point of concern: veggies and salad leaves have to be perfectly fresh, pancakes fluffy and golden-brown (not burnt), and the meat juicy and appetizing. Make arrangements whether you will prepare products for the shoot or a studio will do it themselves on the location (if you employ professionals).
Preparing The Background And The Support/Pedestal
This step differs for smaller and bigger products as well as for lifestyle shooting sessions. For smaller products, you will need a reasonably big sheet of white or color paper to clip onto a stand (or to tape to a wall). For bigger products and model shots you will need a full-scale white or colored sweep plus a stand for it. Smaller objects need to be perched on something like a table, a stool, or some fancy support (marble slabs, mirror-like surfaces, etc.); bigger ones can stand on their own.
Lifestyle images require additional permission for shooting in a chosen venue, renting it, and orchestrating the transfer of goods, models, and a team to that place (and back).
Placing The Product
Place the product against the background on the pedestal/support or individually. Check how it looks through the camera. Now is the time to adjust light: add more, reduce it or place sources of light at a different angle. Make sure that the product looks good when shot from various angles (back and side included).
Smaller items like necklaces and earrings may need more work. You can place them on a white mannequin, attach them to a fine fish line, thus suspending them in the air, or use white paper on cardboard as an improvised display board.
For lifestyle shots, you have to have a script, share it with models, and get them to perform what is required in the script for each individual shot.
Adjusting Light
As said, when the product is placed, it’s time to check the light and adjust it. Take an image, check it and adjust (or make more shots). Remember that your best friends are bouncing cards and reflectors. They can help shed light on the sides of products that are shaded heavily or make it more diffused. Yes, lifestyle shots also need light planning, so rent the equipment in advance.
Postproduction
Even the perfect shot will benefit from some editing, and product shots will definitely need it. Removing reflections, adjusting colors, and erasing a crinkle or two, – it’s a normal process in product photography, so don’t skip it.
It all may sound complicated, but when you start exploring the details in the product photography segment that interests you, the things will brighten up. And if you need professionals who can do the job flawlessly, we can recommend creators of product photography in New York who can literally work magic with their cameras and reflectors. Let the miracle happen for your products!
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