EYE FOCUS | FEATURE
Product Photography Basics
Taking a photo is easy; taking a good photo is “hard.”
With a few tricks of the trade, you can produce great
product photos with your smartphone.
YOU WILL NEED:
• A smartphone with a decent camera (anything 2017+
will suffice);
• A smartphone with the ability to use a manual/pro mode
(if your phone doesn’t come with this standard, there are
apps you can get);
• A smartphone tripod (easily found on Amazon for under
$20); and
1.
• A decent lighting source (a product photo booth, an area
with lots of natural light, or portrait-style softboxes)
Framing Your Shot
The type of photo you want to take dictates how you
frame your shot.
1. Backgrounds: Product photos for Instagram/etc.
should be done with a single-colour background. White
is usually best to showcase a product, but other colours
can work well when done tastefully.
2.
Photos for your website can also use a single-colour
background, but adding some texture (such as using ce-
ramic tile as your backdrop) can really level up a photo.
While not a perfect example, photo 1 would really
stand-out on an Instagram grid that was otherwise
all-white.
I love photo 2 as it simultaneously showcases the frames
while demonstrating the life that surrounds them. The
bokeh in the background is a wonderful touch.
3.
2. Props To make things more dynamic or to convey
a sense of lifestyle ownership, consider looking at how
props can change the mood of a photo.
Photo 3 does two things really well: it showcases a va-
riety of frames, while also providing leading lines that
help the eye focus on the important parts of the image.
Photo 4 really pops and elevates the frames; the books
bring colour, texture and a sense of professional polish
to the photo that the frames alone could not.
20 EYE FOCUS February Digital 2020
4.