Introduction to Product & Commercial Photography

Product Photography Product photography is the art of capturing consumer products (still based objects) for the purpose of advertising, selling or marketing products. Examples are; pictures of new iPods, cameras, cars, watches, toys and food items.

Product Photography These pictures can be place in magazine advertisements, product based websites (best buy), flyers, brochures and promotional booklets.

Advertising Photography Advertising photography refers to taking images for a specific business, photographing products for catalogs or taking images to sell as stock photographs ie.

Food Photography Food photography is a still life specialization of commercial photography, aimed at producing attractive photographs of food for use in advertisements, packaging, menus or cookbooks.

Product Photography For the most part the process of food photography is like any process in the art of product photography.

Product Photography Product or commercial photography is a collaborative effort, usually involving an art director, a photographer, a lighting director, a prop stylist and their assistants.

The Magic of Food Photography The actual photography takes place in a studio under controlled lighting conditions. The food is carefully controlled and sometimes artificial. The light, background and setting is carefully prepared.

5 Steps to Better Product Photography 1) In order to ensure your images are sharp, make sure you know how to focus your camera. Digital cameras with auto focus are often difficult to focus precisely, especially when shooting small objects. Most digital cameras are designed to easily focus on large objects but have difficulty on small subjects.

5 Steps to Better Product Photography 2) Use a tripod, even the slightest movement while taking a picture will cause motion blur. The closer you get to an object the more obvious the motion blur becomes. Even an inexpensive tripod will make a big difference in the sharpness of your images. For really sharp images it makes sense to invest in a good, sturdy tripod.

5 Steps to Better Product Photography 3) To get the largest area of your subject in focus put your camera in aperture priority mode and set the aperture to the highest number possible. The closer you get to your subject the more important this becomes.

5 Steps to Better Product Photography 4) Use soft lighting. Your camera's built- in flash will rarely give good results for product photography. For soft lighting either shoot outside on an overcast day or use a light tent or use a soft box.

5 Steps to Better Product Photography 5) Use image editing software like Photoshop. It may seem like it's faster to use an image exactly as it was shot. But in reality, it is difficult to shoot an image precisely how you would like it to appear in it's final form. Image editing software allows you to crop an image, adjust it's exposure, colour and resize it.

Soft Light You will often read that soft lighting is the best type of lighting for product photography, and that is true. Test the light using shadows, if the shadows are dark you have harsh light, dull shadows indicate soft light.

Process Identify what product you are shooting Figure out what the image will be used for ie. print ad, website, flyer Configure your lighting and background Know your equipment (camera, tripod) Set-up your shoot (creative) Edit image in Photoshop > Design Ad

NEXT STEP Elements and principles of a print magazine advertisement How to edit your product photography in Photoshop How to design an ad in Photoshop