The 3 stages of a product photo shoot

Poor photography and styling can hurt your business. Weak images don't allow your products to shine and can lower the overall tone and quality of your brand. Trust me, beautiful product photography plays a HUGE role in getting your products into the shopping cart of your customers.

A lot more work goes into making a beautiful prodcut photo than you may realise. There are three stages of a product photoshoot. I find that most makers who are just starting out skip stage 1 and 3 and just do 2.

By making sure you complete the entire 3 stage process your images will improve exponentially. Here’s a breakdown as well as a video example of the process in action. Enjoy!

STAGE 1: PLANNING

Before we pick up a camera and start clicking, there is some planning that needs to be done. You need to think about how to will use your images, decide exactly what you want to create, make a shot list and a moodboard and build your set and source props.

STAGE 2: SHOOTING

Next its time to shoot your products. Shoots can last anywhere from a couple of hours to a full day. You’ve already planned all your props, styling and backdrops. So on shoot day you’ll be focusing on lighting and camera to capture some great shots.

STAGE 3: EDITING

You’ve shot some quality product images, but now you need to know how to turn them from good images into great ones! Thats where editing comes in. You can make small tweaks to your images make them pop.

Here is a short video that illustrates the entire process:

OK, so there you have it. I hope this blog has been helpful and gave you some insight into how the process works from start to finish. As always, if you create anything awesome please share your pics in the Facebook Group Photography for Makers - I’d love to see your work!