What is Product Photography and How to Become an Expert

Product photography is a type of commercial photography that involves taking photographs of products for commercial use. Learn what it takes to become an expert product photographer.

What is Product Photography and How to Become an Expert

Product photography is a type of commercial photography that involves taking photographs of products for commercial use. Whether you are interested in taking pictures for yourself, sharing them with friends, or selling your work, product photography can be a great way to express your creativity. Product photographers must be experts at photographing products in a scene to help customers get an idea of the size of the product. The most common type of product photography is individual shots, in which a single element is the focal point of the image.

Detail photographs are used to highlight outstanding features of a product that might not be available in a competing product. Animal models are a good addition to product photos, especially when the product is related to animals, such as a pet collar, a doghouse, or a cat scraper. If you are considering becoming a professional product photographer, there are certain steps you should take. The first step is to invest in professional photographic equipment.

You don't necessarily have to have the most expensive model on the market, but it should be high-end and have a 50-megapixel camera with a 100 millimeter threaded lens. This setting blurs the background so that the context of the product is clear, but it doesn't compete with the product itself. Once you have the right equipment, you can start looking for markets that will pay for your work. Certain markets, such as national print magazines and famous food and recipe media outlets, will pay more for product photography.

This means shooting both large and small products, stylized images and white background images, close-up images and general images, and in the case of photographs of lifestyle products, you're likely to even work with models. When taking pictures for clients, it's important to inject your own personality into each frame. This will help you stand out from other photographers and make your work more memorable. You can also find your product photography niche naturally by working with certain types of customers.

If you've thought about it and you're sure that this is a style of photography you can imagine following, follow these steps to become a product photographer. Invest in professional photographic equipment, look for markets that will pay for your work, inject your own personality into each frame, and find your niche by working with certain types of customers.