It’s worth waiting for! We knew this portrait would be ideal for our children’s book author. With everything set up, we waited…for the sunlight. The breath taking explosion of light bathing our subject was exciting. While leaning on a white piano the elements of the room worked together to give us this lovely portrait.
We used a Paul C Buff Einstein flash with a 10% grid.
To serve multiple needs this also holds up in an intimate close up head-shot.
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Website photos can go beyond the somber to this fun shoot. It captures the fun spirit of this staff portrait. (We took serious shots, too – but these won out!)
Using 64″ Paul C Buff PLM umbrellas, two Einsteins to get that beautiful deep separation of tones.
A large staff group shot needs a bit of pre-planning. This session greatly benefited from color coordinated clothing. Body language is a subtle way to bring the comfortable warmth of a large group and takes patience to arrange.
Lighting for a large group gives depth. We used 64″ Paul C Buff PLM umbrellas – one on each side.
Talk about cold!
This industrial photo shoot had special needs. Part of which was the temperature of -4 degrees. It took a team of 3 to make this shot work and time was the driving factor, as Southern Californians, we aren’t acclimated for cold. The outside temperature was over 80 degrees.
After an all day shoot this was the last shot due to the temperature, noting the extreme temperature change would be asking a lot of the camera. The lift operator suspended the photographer upwards with the client sprinting through the aisles to trigger the motion sensor-ed facility lights. This gave a window of 30 seconds to grab the shot before the lights shut off. The temperature was taxing to our breathing and stress on the camera equipment. It took 8 hours for the camera body and lens temperature to return to room temperature, no damage to the camera or lens. We were in and out in about 5 minutes, taking 3 shots.
Using a Canon 6d with a 14 mm 2.8 Canon lens.
This freezer operates between 35-50 degrees for refrigerated foods. We shot in here before the subzero freezer and it was breeze.
Time to update your website? Make it personal by adding photos of the people your clients interact with over the phone or when visiting your business. Stepping away from the classic group staff photo and adding a little creativity with a blend of Southern California casual can give your website personality and an air of friendliness. Let your website speak for your business with staff photography.
This diffuser product begins with a lush reflective foreground and organic items to complement the style of this product. Shooting on a specialized surface gives the refection we were after fading into white. This is achieved by a lot of light precisely directed.
For a dramatic style we pulled in a textured background, a simple brick and keeping our organic theme – a few accents to give this diffuser a new face!
Read more about product styling.
The beauty of clear shiny glass. Lighting glass requires a toolbox of gadgets to achieve the final product image on white. A specialized surface gives the reflection in the foreground at the base of the glass diffuser. In order to keep any shadow from interfering with the transparency looking front to back means flooding the background with light and strategically placed strobe flashes. While striving for glass on white be careful not to lose the definition of the bottle. We used a number of light modifiers and redirected light as need to create this final image of lightness and clarity.
Product on a white background has become the standard for product images. Whether to use a full shadow, or slight shadow, or no shadow is the next question. But when you’re ready to show off your product creativity opens a fabulous door. The above photo of spice jars keeps three of the four jars in focus, with a slight out of focus on the third jar, for a subtle statement.
The next photo is a lovely simple composition, still on white for an open, floating feeling, adding the spoon for a touch of lifestyle. A subtle product styling idea.
Still keeping the product styling simple we’ve added an organic feel using wood for the presentation. These are only a few ways to style your product. Keep your own product as an alternative to stock photography for your website.
Finally adding a full background frames the jars using a brick for strong base statement. The first jar has the strength and focus, allowing the other jars to become part of the background. You get the idea of the vast possibilities when you’re ready to take bring your product front and center in your website and promotion.
Amazon has strict requirements for its product photography. All products need to be shot on a white background. Sounds simple until you realize “white” is a precise hex color # 255, 255, 255. While there are multiple ways to achieve this result for this product we used a specialized surface to give a beautiful transparent, “floating” feel. The studio strobes have to be precisely placed to pull this off. Flooding the white background with light bathes the dog whistle in pure white. Just what Amazon desires. Also helpful to our client was a captioned photo of parts. See more product photography photos.
taken on-site at auto repair shop
As a photographer I can appreciate stock photography. Well lit images, with models, shiny clean cars and wonderful macro photography. For business owners they have been a resource for a long time to get professional photography onto their website. Consider lifestyle photography for polished original images of your business.
As the internet has evolved users have become savvier with higher expectations. In a visual world photos are seen faster than website copy is read, which gives them the potential to deliver a message quicker. Users have become cynical: “Are we supposed to believe that model works at your company? And are these people always that happy discussing one piece of paper?” On top of this skepticism you run the risk of these same images being seen repeatedly on other websites – and worse…a competitor’s site. Show pictures of real customers, your staff, your product, and your location. A professional photographer not only brings proper equipment, but helpful insight into staging scenes to cover all your photo needs from staff to facility, and services.
Use your photos on your website to deliver your message with text laid across the image. Make a bold statement – and keep it real.
Google has taken an interest in photos and how to give more weight to original photography versus stock images. That is reason enough to take a closer look at professional photography for your business. Google is secretive in many of the “how” they make their decisions, rather than waiting to figure it out, take heed and make a change.
While everyone has a smartphone/iPhone and can take good photos – at some point you will need a professional photographer to take your business photos to the next level. This is especially true when your business is a product, or your product is you – as a service provider. We hire professionals when we want the job done right – from plumbers to electricians to photographers. It’s your business; put your best face forward to the public.
