Capturing a good picture is not always a piece of cake. What are the components of making it perfect every time? 🤔
Every component is explained below. Let's do this! 🚀
Prepare for the shoot
Clean the product to make sure no smudges or dust are visible.
Remove any excess labeling and packaging from the product.
If you’re shooting clothing or apparel, make sure to remove wrinkles and creases.
While you’re at it, make sure to clean the lens of your iPhone camera to keep your shots crisp and clear!
Make sure that your photo settings are set to a regular photo and not a LIVE photo. LIVE photos cannot be uploaded to our platform.
Lighting
Lighting is a crucial part of any photo. It allows you to set the mood, establish the vibe, and help the watcher focus on where you want them to. The good news is, you don't need any additional equipment to capture a good shot - natural light is totally enough.☀️
❌ Make sure to avoid these lighting mistakes:
Tips for shooting in natural light:
SHOOT BY A WINDOW (or even outdoors). If the sunlight is too harsh, you can use a sheer white curtain or a semi-transparent shower curtain to soften the light a bit. Harsh lighting will likely blur or blow out the essential details of your product. Instead, find shade or a softer indoor light source.
AVOID GLARE. Glare happens in product photography when your source of light hits a reflective surface. Look at where your light is coming from and tweak the angle of your products away from that light source or just simply use a reflector.
NO FLASH. 🙅♀️ Don’t let the light reflect on your product label. Try different angles to minimize a pesky glare or use reflectors.
ADJUST EXPOSURE. Figure out how to adjust the exposure on your camera - and if needed, make it shoot brighter or darker photos. You'll have to find a middle ground here, since overexposed photos are too bright, have very little detail in their highlights, and appear washed out. Underexposed photos are too dark, have very little detail in their shadows, and appear murky. 😶🌫️
If you're more of a visual learner, please check out these videos:
Focus
Auto-focus sometimes doesn't pick up the thing that you'd like to focus on. To focus on the object manually, simply tap on the screen where you want the focus to be. 📸
The problem with this is that as soon as you press the shutter button, the camera forgets where you focused in the previous shot. So you’ll have to tap to set focus again for each new photo. To avoid this, select the focal point of your image and lock it in while you frame your shot. It's called the AE/AF lock on an iPhone.🔐
To use the AE/AF lock on your iPhone:
Turn on your camera
Select the focal point of your picture by pressing and holding it on the screen.
A yellow square will appear on the screen.
AE/AF Lock will also appear at the top of your screen, letting you know your focal point is locked in.
PRO TIP: Experiment with the portrait mode
Sure, Portrait mode is used primarily for portraits of people, of course. But you can also use this mode to take pictures of products.😉
That keeps your subject—people, products, other objects, and more—sharp while creating a beautifully blurred foreground and background. 🖼
Background
What's this product for?
Think about this product: for example, in which room would you use it? What other items you could possibly use with this product? Choose a location and vibe that is relevant. 🌎
Avoid the clutter
Choose a clean background. A messy or distracting background pulls away from the video’s focus - a quick clean-up in the area you'll shoot is a must! 🧹
However, feel free to use props, just make sure they help the product stand out rather than detract from it. 👑
Make sure not to overdo it (your product should be the star of the show):
Composition
To make a composition look good, it needs to be somewhat symmetrical.✨ It's difficult to estimate this without any help, so we recommend turning on your grid overlay, which will divide the screen into 9 equal parts:
Tap your iPhone settings.
Scroll down the list of settings options until you find “Camera”.
Find “Grid” and toggle the switch on the right to On.
Here are some of our recommendations for different composition methods:
✨ RULE OF THIRDS ✨
The shot is divided into 9 equal segments with two vertical and 2 horizontal lines. That's the rule of thirds. This means you have to position the most important elements of the product along these lines or where they cross over each other. 🤞
✨ S-CURVE ✨
The S-Curve is a composition technique that uses lines to move back and forth horizontally through the image as the eye travels vertically through the scene. Essentially you make the S shape! 🐍
✨ PLAY AROUND ✨
Perhaps you've tried out every single rule in the book and nothing seems to work?🤔
You can just simply play around and see what looks good on camera! Maybe you'll see that just a simple Perfectly Centered, C-shaped, or Diagonal composition will do wonders for your product.
Confident Presence
Let's talk about selfies 🤳
Everyone knows what it's like to pose for an awkward photo, like a driver's license or a passport. The photos never turn out looking nice, and they hardly look like our natural smiles. That's not the look we're going for, right?🤔
Here are some tips to channel good vibes and emotions:
Have an open posture. Be relaxed, but don't slouch.
When you start feeling yourself getting tense - relax, think about a warm memory or just focus on someone special in your life.
Look good - feel good. Put on your favorite outfit, your favorite makeup, and your favorite shoes. Make sure to look presentable in your pictures and let that confidence shine through the camera lens!
How to elevate your selfie?🤳
Advanced selfies, a term coined by YouTuber Sorelle Amore; which means in her own words “my special process of taking studio-like images of myself, using nothing more than a camera, a few cheap tools, and some simple photography hacks”.
Tips for shooting an advanced selfie:
Use a Tripod. Adjusting the height and angle is key to finding what works best for your environment. A tripod will help you gain more control over the outcome of your photos and in turn, will create sharper pictures. 📸
Find your Focal point. Since you'll be away from the camera, simply place an object where you'll be sitting or standing, and use that as your focal point. 🧘♀️
Choose Your Location. Choosing your location can help an idea come to life. Are you looking for an airy, dreamy feel – why not shoot in an open field – perhaps with flowers? If you’re looking for magazine-style cover photos – what about an indoor shoot with a cool backdrop and funky props?🌎
Use Self-Timer and Burst Mode. Putting the camera into burst mode will take many pictures in one go, so you can change up your poses and angles – then after can have a look at them in the camera roll, and repeat the process until you get some bangers out of it!⏳
Editing
Editing your product images is an important step in photography. It allows you to eliminate small blemishes, lighten up photos, or even remove backgrounds.💡
Make minor adjustments only; over-editing reduces the quality of the photo and steals the spot of the product.
Once you’ve taken your images, you can slightly adjust color, exposure, tone, and contrast within Lightroom CC or any other editing app. 🖼
Keep the edits as natural as possible:
Always make sure that the label of the product is readable and not mirrored! If that's the case, find a setting to "Flip" a picture.✨
