How do you properly prepare for a product photography session?
Let’s break it down into a few steps.
The first step is to get clear on what product(s) you need photographed. What are the products, how many do you have, and will you be needing any group photos of them together?
Once you have figured out how many products you need photographed, the second step is to figure out how many photos you need of each product and/or group.
This will determine how many photos you need in total. Many product photographers charge by the number of images delivered, so this is an important thing for them to know.
Next, the third step is to gather inspiration and ideas for how you want your products to be portrayed. This can including taking a screenshot of a photo you have seen on a website, magazine, or in an email. You can go on search engines like Google and Pinterest and search for example images. You can also save social media posts with photos that you really like. Gather as much of this inspiration as you can, so that you can send it to your product photographer. This will help them understand “the look” you are going for.
The fourth step: have a general understanding of how you will be using the product images. For example, will you be using them on your website? Social media? In email campaigns? On ads? This is great for both you and the photographer to know so that the proper amount of negative space and image size is created. This can also effect the cost of the photoshoot, as some product photographers charge a royalty on images used for large marketing campaigns.
Lastly, or the fifth step: be prepared to go through a few iterations of photo ideas on your shot list. You and your photographer may go back and forth on ideas several times before finalizing anything. This is to ensure that the final images are up to your standards and that you are happy with the results!
