3.2.1: Product Photography

with

Mrs. Strite

Digital Photography

Product Photography

3.2.1

• Reminders & Review

• What is Product Photography?
• Types of Product Photography?
• Tips on taking Product Photography?

Agenda

• 2 DIFFERENT PORTRAIT TYPES
• The subject needs to resemble a person​
• ​The photo needs to be in focus!​
• No photos taken by professional photographers

3.1.2: Portrait Assignment:

• Candid Photo (up to 3 extra credit points.)

• Resets?

REMINDERS

• 11/20: 3.4.1. Photojournalism Assignment

• 11/27: 3.4.4. Work Day
• 11/28-12/1: No School: Fall break

November Calendar

Important Dates

• Identify major types of landscape photography.
• Categorize landscape photographs.
• Abstract, Natural, Cityscapes, seascapes, skyscapes, Representational & Impressionistic
• Identify tips and techniques used in landscape photography.

Review

3.1.3

3.2.1

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

Learners can...

• Identify the benefits of product photography
• Categorize product photographsIdentify details to be considered before starting a product shootIdentify tips for capturing good product photographs
• Apply ideal camera settings to product photographs

• 360-degree product photography
• commercial photography
• product photography

Presentation title

Product Marketing

Product marketing is how a seller gets a product ready for people to buy. To be successful, marketers need to find out who would want the product and create messages that encourage those people to buy it. In ads, pictures and images are usually included with the text. These visuals are really important because they shape how people see the product.

Product photography is capturing photographs of an item to market it to a variety of customers. Product photography is a type of commercial photography, photography used to sell or promote a product.

What is

Product Photography?

Imagine, that you are a small business owner specializing in handmade jewelry. You could go door to door and talk to customers about what makes your jewelry special, but this would take a lot of time and effort. What would you do to reach more people to sell your jewelry?

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

What Should You Do?

You might take photographs of your jewelry:

• In marketing emails
• Include them on social media
• Include them on various web-based sales platforms.

A marketing team is using this photograph in a company's advertising for a new perfume.

• What might the marketing team have been trying to tell consumers about the product?

• What is the message of the photograph?

When you search for a product online, you usually see pictures of it before you read any details. These product photos are really important because they can shape your opinion about the item right away. Many people look at these images to help decide if the product is good quality and if it meets their needs, often before they even read the descriptions.

Online Search of Products

Benefits of Product Photography:

of PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

BENEFITS

• helps the product stand out
• promotes the brand to the customer
• reaches a larger customer baseprovides customers with an on-the-spot preview of the product
• acts as a tool to potentially increase sales

Lifestyle

360 Degree

Aesthetic Detail

Group

Individual

Types of Product Photography

360 Product Photography

Still, a photographer should consider the following details before starting a product photography shoot:

• Equipment
• Space
• Background
• Lighting
• Composition techniques
• Camera angle

Getting Started in Product Photography

Digital cameras and modern smartphones are equally capable of producing high-quality product photographs.

Equipment

Reflectors and tripods are important tools for product photography.

• A reflector is used to help minimize shadows that can hide product details. Walls, ceilings, and colored fabrics can serve as reflectors, or you can make your own instant reflector from white paper.

• A tripod helps keep your camera stable and ensures that your photographs are consistently clear and sharp. The photograph shows a mobile camera positioned in a flexible tripod to take a photograph in low light, as sometimes takes place in product photography.

It is important to carefully choose the space where you will place the product being photographed.

• The space should be clean and clutter-free so that it does not distract attention from the product.

• The space also should be stable. Even simple things, such as a change in light from a window or a slight breeze, can alter the composition of your photographs.

A clean, stable tabletop, like the one shown in the image to the right, is the perfect space for a product photograph

SPACE

When it comes to backgrounds, you can get as creative as your imagination allows!

• Plain single-color, bi-color, patterned, textured, and real-world backgrounds are some of the options you can explore.

• Ensure that the background complements the product and does not distract from it.

Notice how the blue color in the background in the photograph to the right complements the sea salt and other spa products displayed in the photograph.

BACKGROUND

Use either natural or artificial light depending on the product you are showcasing and its intended use.

• NATURAL LIGHT, such as sunlight, creates a softening effect on the product. Natural light is ideal for photographing outdoor products.

• ARTIFICIAL LIGHT casts a hard light that focuses the eye on a smaller area. It is ideal for situations where you need to control light intensity.

The photograph on the right shows gardening products photographed in sunlight.

LIGHTING

Experiment with different composition techniques.

• Use cropping to focus only on the product.
• Use leading lines to draw the viewer's eyes to the product.

• Use the rule of thirds to place the product.

• Use flat lay, a technique where products are spread flat on a surface and captured from the top, to capture a unique perspective.

Flat lay has been used to compose the photograph to the right, which shows a spread of zero-waste cosmetic products.

COMPOSITION

By varying the camera angle, you can show a product from different perspectives. Photographs of a product can be captured from eye level, profile view, high angle, or low angle. The image to the right shows an eye-level view of a pair of sunglasses in natural sunlight.

Camera Angle

Food Product Photography

• For indoor product photography, keep your product near a window to allow soft, diffused light to fall on it.
• Experiment with the artificial lights in your house. Use different colored lights to manipulate the mood of the product images.
• While shooting a product for the first time, always shoot it from eye level and then experiment with different angles such as side angle and flat lay.
• Use both hands as a steady tripod, or place your camera on top of a sturdy item such as a stack of book
• Use furniture as your backdrop for flat lay images. Textures and patterns help enhance the look and feel of the product.
• Use your T-shirts or bed sheets as seamless backgrounds. You can also experiment with the walls and textures in your home.
• Make family members part of lifestyle product photographs. Combine your knowledge of portrait and product photography to create these images.

Tips for Product Photography

DIY Product Photography

1. Group Product Photography 2. Individual Product Photography3. Aesthetic Details Product Photography

Match each type of product photography with the correct image.

In Today's Lesson:

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Product Photography

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Summary 3.2.1

• Different types of product photography and how they can be used to market products
• Details to consider before starting a product shoot
• Tips and camera settings for capturing good product photographs

In an upcoming lesson, you will learn about advertisement photography.

Need more help?

Book a time with Mrs. Strite

Photographs Focused on Aesthetic Details

Aesthetic details product photography focuses on showing off the special features of a product. Photographers use these details to highlight the product's quality and its most attractive aspects. These photos are often used alongside individual product shots or group shots to give a complete view of the product.

Photographs of Groups of Products

Group product photography is when photographers take pictures of several products from the same line together. This type of photography shows how the products relate to each other and highlights the variety a brand offers. These group photos can be really important for a brand's marketing because they display a wider range of products. Photographers can choose to take these pictures indoors or outdoors, depending on the look they want to achieve.

Photographs of Individual Products

Individual product photography focuses on taking pictures of just one product. In this type of photography, the photographer doesn’t need to be super creative; the main goal is to show the product clearly so customers can easily see it. These photos are usually taken in a studio where the photographer can control the lighting and camera settings. They might use backgrounds that look nice with the product, but those backgrounds shouldn’t distract from the product itself.

Photographs Representing a Lifestyle

Lifestyle product photography is used by businesses to show customers how a product can fit into their lives and make things better. These photos usually feature models using or wearing the product. In this type of photography, the photographer can be very creative and has full control over lighting, backgrounds, and locations to make the product look its best.

Photographs to Present a 360-degree View of a Product

360-degree product photography involves taking multiple pictures of the same product from different angles, all against the same background. These images are then put together to create an interactive tool that lets customers rotate and zoom in on the product. Typically, the photographer uses a plain white background to keep things simple. This way, customers can focus on the product's details without any distractions from the background.

With Genially templates, you can include visual resources that impress your audience. Highlight phrases or data that stick in memory and embed external content: videos, photos, audios... Whatever you want! When giving a presentation, two objectives must be pursued: conveying information and avoiding yawns. To achieve this, it may be a good practice to create an outline and use words that will be etched in the minds of your audience.

Lighting Techniques

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Lighting Assignment Overview