Smile I'm shooting: a shooting day

Have you ever wondered where the word “photography” comes from? Phos is light and grafis is writing, very poetic isn’t it? So, when we take a photograph, it’s like saying that we are writing in the light. It even sounds magical when you say it like that.

With photography we capture a reality that endures and communicate a message that goes beyond words. From its beginnings to the present day, photography has diversified and focused on different purposes. In this post we are going to talk about advertising photography and, specifically, product photography, showing tricks and difficulties in which we are involved in the day to day of a photo shoot.

Photo of products in social networks

We are immersed in an era where image consumption has become massive. Making a product attractive in a single image has become a challenge when it comes to differentiate it from a thousand other products that do the same thing. In product photography for social networks we look for that attraction. The product needs to reach the target audience in the most attractive way possible.

We have two possibilities, either to limit ourselves to showing the product, or to contextualize it on the basis of a brief concept.

Image more focused on showing the product without artifice.

In these images we play with framing and depth of field, giving the photograph a language of its own and dispensing with any external element.

More conceptual image

Playing with the possibilities offered by the product, a concept is generated around which the content of the image revolves. We can associate elements as a visual metaphor, similes can be used, or elements that accompany the product giving it an added value and complementing the information we want to communicate.

Preparing the shooting:

The first and most important thing is to make a list of the images we are going to take and the necessary elements to carry them out. And second, make a check-list so we don’t forget anything the day of the shooting.

The day arrived:

• The equipment: to take product photos it is very necessary to use a tripod, especially if we do not have a great lighting. As for the lens, it depends a bit on what we want to achieve. A 50mm is a very bright lens and allows you to play with depths. It is one of the best low-cost options. Anyway, it is always good to combine it with a lens that allows more aperture, in case you need to make an image with many elements. To manipulate the light falling on the object it is always good to have reflectors and diffusers. It is not necessary to have many of professional range to control small details, with pieces of black and white cardboard, polystyrene and white onion paper we can do great things.
• Composition: depending on what we want to achieve we can use one type of composition or another. There are rules that help us to ensure that an image is always well framed and balanced.
• Lighting: depending on the material we have, there are many lighting schemes. We can have natural light or artificial light, and within the latter, continuous light or flash light, and its multiple variants and filters.

We have everything, now we only have the post-production, where the magic begins, but we’ll leave that for another post ;).