Download Product & Commercial Photography

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. www.istockphoto.ca.
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 builtin 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
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Elements and principles of a print
magazine advertisement
How to edit your product photography in
Photoshop
How to design an ad in Photoshop