Jules Design: A Toronto Commercial Photography Company

Jules Design: A Toronto Commercial Photography Company

Jules Design is a Toronto marketing centric commercial photography company.  We produce graphics to service business objectives.  To achieve this goal, we offer distinct quality and unique photographic product to accommodate our Client’s needs.

Jules Design offers the following services from our Toronto Photography Studio or via on-site service:

Product Photography Toronto

We tout ourselves to be one of the best (if not best) commercial photographers in Toronto.  Why? Jules Design uses leading edge equipment to produce our product shots.  We employ measuring devices to insure correct light colour and intensity; in addition, we have a studio built specifically for product photography.  Our infrastructure enables us to produce great product shots, efficiently at a cost effective rate.

Once the project is complete, we use advanced Photoshop skills to enhance the “POP” in our product shots.  Moreover, we will heal the product’s imperfections and mask the item onto a pure white background to help you maximize the potential use of your photographs.  For a quote on your next Product Photography project, contact Jules Design.

       
Toronto Food Photography

Food photography is more than just taking a pretty picture of a prepared dish.  Jules Design produces food photography to meet the image specifications as defined by our Clients for advertising, print, menu and food service photography applications. Our food photography service includes staged glamour food product shots, in addition to minimalistic food product shots for trade publications. Contact Jules Design to discuss your next Canadian Food Service Photography project, Food Marketing and Planogram photography assignments.  We produce images that following the food photography imaging standards as defined by GS1.   

  

Toronto Glamor Food Photography

Photography for Packaging, Marketing and Advertising

Jules Design offers staged food product photography. Our service includes on-site and in-studio food photo services. We will work with your culinary professionals to produce striking food product shots for advertising, print, and web. As we produce photographs at a standard 36-megapiexels, our product photos are suitable for most large format application including billboards, displays and trade-show exhibits.

Toronto Drink Photography

The usual presentation for Drink Photographs is either piping hot or very cold.  Who cares for a lukewarm drink? Jules Design offers advanced drink stylization techniques to make your beverage appear hot or refreshing and cold.  Our service includes product staging, glassware preparation, props, faux ice, and table accessories to bring context to your food images. 


We specialize in Toronto cold drink photography for beer, cocktails, spirits and many other related products including LCBO planogram images.

In addition to our conventional staged drink photography services, we offer bottle photography for wine, spirits and other bottle-packaged products.  With skilled expertise in diffusing light, the bottle photography by Jules Design never reveals the reflections from the light source.  If you are looking for the best drink photographer in Toronto, then contact Jules Design for your next beverage photography project.

Toronto Food Stylist Photography Services

Toronto Cocktail Drink Photography

Are you looking to present your food with extra pizzazz? Then ask Jules Design about our Toronto Food Stylist Photography Services! We use a variety of techniques, tools, props, and even chemistry to present your food product shots with elevated impact.   Costs for a Food Stylist is relative to the culinary skills required to produce the dish.  For more information on food-stylist services for food photography, contact Jules Design. 

Toronto 360 Rotating/ Spin Product Photography

Businesses that are effective at helping customers in making informed buying decision enjoy a competitive advantage. 360-product shots are an effective media format to demonstrate your product in an interactive manner. 360 degree product photography by Jules Design are smart-phone friendly and can be optimized for SEO, social media, and Google Analytics.  For more information on Toronto Rotating Product shots, contact Jules Design.

 Flipping Book Catalog

Print as a media format for product catalogs have been on the demise for years. Regardless, businesses still need a vehicle to communicate their product offerings.   One viable alternative is the online Flipping Book; a digital interactive media format similar to the paper catalogs.

Flipping book catalogs navigate in many ways like their paper counterpart; consequently, they are intuitive.  As most browsing platforms support these publications, they universally functional.  Moreover, updating content is simple and inexpensive. With indexing capabilities embedded within our flipping book platforms, searching through content is faster than paper.  Best of all, Flipping Book content can be shared via social media.

Jules Design offers the product photography, design and authoring to printed and online flipping book catalogs. For more information on Flipping Book catalogs, contact Jules Design.

Toronto Photography for Amazon.ca and Walt-Mart vendors

Canadian Amazon Product Photography Service

Amazon and Walt-Mart are the world’s largest retailers. Businesses that seek a new distribution channel may significantly benefit from a selling partnership with these merchants. To list with these retailers, the responsibility of supplying product photographs often falls on the vendor.  Jules Design offers product photography services for Amazon and Walt-Mart that coincide with their imaging standards.  Contact Jules Design for more details on mass-merchant product photography services.     

Toronto Bulk Catalog Product Photography

Inevitably, some product photography projects may require an inordinate number of product shots. In addition, some assignments may require an embedded clipping path within the image, Pantone accuracy and or time and cost restriction.  Whatever your product photography needs, Jules Design can create a business solution that is right for you. As required, we can build on-location, multiple product photography stations to produce your product shots within a tight deadline. 
 
Pricing for on-site Catalogue Photography service begins with projects over $1k. Discounted bulk product photography rates begin with assignments over $10,000.
On-site catalogue photography services by Jules Design are convenient, fast and accurate.  We have designed a scalable process to shoot and Photoshop images with speed and quality.  As cost restrictions can be a hindrance for large catalogue photography projects, we have developed techniques to produce large quantities of images at a discounted rate.  Contact Jules Design to discuss your next Toronto Catalogue Product Photography project.

Mail Order Product Photography Service

For Clients without access to a reputable commercial photographer, Jules Design offers mail order product photography services.  Serving the North American market, simply ship us your items and we will photograph, edit and return your merchandise per your specifications within 5 working days or less.

Toronto Photoshop Editing, Graphic Design and Marketing Communication Services

Product shots are often only a component of a much larger marketing initiative.  Consequently, Jules Design offers comprehensive marketing communication and graphic design services to service these business needs.  Our repertoire includes layout, graphics creation, video production, scripting, and copy writing services.

Jules Design produces custom packaging, display, marketing collateral, web graphics and more.  As a marketing company with advanced graphic capabilities, we produce all of our marketing content in-house. In-house marketing expertise insures quality output by local minds who understand the Canadian market.
As a marketing centric company, we preoccupy ourselves in creating content that speaks to your brand, your pre-existing brand equity, your business goals, strategies and current business tactics in place.  By understanding the big picture, we can produce content that is better suited to your business needs. Contact Jules Design to discuss your marketing communication and content creation projects.

Toronto Video Production Company

Jules Design produces professional corporate videos at a cost effective rate. We produce videos for television and web broadcast to communicate business ideas. Clients eager to reduce costs may do so by taking on the script writing responsibility. In turn, Jules Design will film and produce your video complete with graphic, music, scene and text overlays.

Jules Design uses cutting-edge tools to produce better commercial videos. Some of equipment includes advanced Adobe editing software, shoulder mount cameras, teleprompters, video lights, broadcast quality microphones, green screens and lavalieres.  Subject to the demands of the assignment, we produce videos on-location or in-studio.

Toronto Headshot Photography

Headshots pictures are descriptive photos of an individual to tell the world who you are. In many ways, Headshots are like product shots as they convey a brand- in this case your own! Jules Design offers Headshot photography for public professionals including business executives and performers such as actors, singers, and writers. Our images are produced on average at 36 megapixels, therefore our headshot photos are suitable for billboard displays if applicable.
Before a typical headshot photography session, we will coach our male and female Clients how to pose. Moreover, we may apply some basic cosmetics to our subject to insure negligible facial shine. A typical photo shoot will produce about 100 headshots.  From this total, we will ask you to select 30 for final editing from a thumbnail We offer in-studio and on-location photography service.  We use premium equipment and tools to insure accurate colour, detailed sharpness and correct imaging exposure.  Contact Jules Design to discuss you next headshot photography project.

Toronto Boudoir Photography

Jules Design offers fashion and boudoir photography. This service feature dramatic backdrop, cosmetics, staging and Photoshop editing.

Toronto Boudoir Photography studio

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Quality Controls to produce the best Product Photography in Toronto

To produce advanced product shots, Jules Design uses objective measuring devices to account for light colour and intensity variations.  The following are some of the tools we use to insure, consistently the best commercial photography in Toronto.

• We always shoot RAW
  Light colour temperatures can vary; consequently, Jules Design always photographs in the RAW file format. Doing this enables us to adjust colour correct with accuracy as RAW images contain billions of colour variation, whereas JPEG images contains only millions of colour variations.
• We use a gray card to colour correct our product shots
  Many years ago, Kodak developed the gray card.  This neutral card is a reference point for cameras to adjust exposure and light colour.  Surprising, few photographers use a grey card; we think this is out of laziness or ignorance of proper photography technique.   To Jules Design, the gray card is an indispensable piece of equipment necessary for every photo shoot where colour accuracy is critical.
• We use a light meter to insure accurate exposure One of the most important pieces of equipment in our camera bag after the camera is the light meter.  This device tells out how to set our camera for correct exposure.  A great Photographer does not guess his or her camera settings.  
  
• We shoot tethered
  When we photograph, we shoot tethered.   In other words, we connect our camera to a computer when we photograph.  By doing this, we can scrutinize our images for quality. Issues that may arise include uneven illumination, product imperfections, blur and more.  As the monitor on the back of a camera is tiny, examining photos there is ludicrous.   The screen at the back of a camera is too small to see subtle image imperfections.
  

We are a credible Commercial Photography company

To serve our Clients well, we constantly invest in our Commercial Photography Business.

The following are some examples:

• Insured 5 Million General liability
  Lets face it, bad things can happen.  This is why we feel better about being insured; and so should you. If something detrimental happens, Jules Design is accountable to compensate any significant eventuality.  Certificate of Insurance available on request.
• Pro Grade Lenses
  Better lenses produce better photographs.  Jules Design does not skimp on buying the best glass the camera manufactures have to offer.  Our reputation depends on it.

Process Driven Photography

Toronto Product Photography Studio

To insure best practices in everything we do, we create processes. This approach allows us to efficiently provide consistent image quality. 

• 36 Megapixels of high resolution
  Our images are suitable for print, web and most large format applications. 
  
• We have a commercial photography studio
  We are not just a team of guys who own a camera.  We own a real studio and we produce commercial photography products.  We optimized our studio for food, people and product photography.  By virtue of having a studio space, we can store and use various light diffusing tools at our disposal. Conveniently located is central Toronto near the DVP, our commercial photography studio is ideal for Client hosted photography sessions.
• Service Service Service
  Jules Design integrates marketing with graphic design to produce a holistic business solution. Unlike most agencies that do not understand specific media formats, we do. This enables us to propose better solutions that meet your business needs.  Moreover, as a direct source for photography services, you will ave money.  You are not paying a third party to execute your work when you hire Jules Design. 

Commercial Photography Cities Served

Jules Design offers product photography to the following cities: Toronto, Mississauga, Concord, Woodbridge, Brampton, Markham, Scarborough, Oshawa, Woodbridge, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, Burlington, Oakville, Whitby, Etobicoke Milton, Ontario, Canada, The USA and North American Clients.

Do you have any ideas for commercial photography services that I should offer?  If yes, let me know!

Product Photography Toronto - investing in your business

Product Photography Toronto

I am a Toronto product photographer operating a commercial photography studio in Toronto. Here, there are many photographers, and competition is very high. To accommodate this situation, the good studios must communicate their competency to rise above the trash.
 
I regularly engage other Toronto product photographers. I am amazed how often little these individuals invest in their business.  Regrettably, there are a few barriers of entry to become a photographer. Essentially, all you need is a camera. However, if you have the ambitions to be a good photographer, you need more resources than that.

To create any successful and competitive commercial photography business, you must invest in it substantially. Photographer should regularly invest in:

•  Photo equipment (strobes, stands , diffusers, crossbars, backdrops, light meters)
• Marketing of your commercial photography business
•  Photo Editing Software
•  Computers
• The best camera and lenses you can afford
• Developing Photography efficiencies, techniques, differentiators, processes and
• Relevant photography skills

This blog outlines some of the big resources you need as a photographer to be successful (besides the camera).

A.  Good working knowledge of the camera

It surprises me how many commercial photographers do not know how to use their camera. They simply buy an awesome camera (if that) and think they are ready to shoot at the pro level.  Many photographers surprisingly shoot in the Auto or Aperture Priority mode. To me this is stupid.  If you plan to call yourself a professional photographer In Toronto, or anywhere for that matter, you should know how to use your camera. The basics of exposure are not complicated.  If you are a professional photographer, learn how to use a camera in manual mode!

B. Light meter

My light meter is my most important tools in my camera bag after my camera.

The light meter helps me measure the light intensity emitted from my strobes. It will helps me assess the balance of light intensity around the circumference of my subject. Better yet, it will tell me how to set my camera.

I have met Commercial Photographers in Toronto who believe they can estimate the intensity of the light from their strobes by experience and by eye. This is a physical impossibility. There is no way the human eye can measure light down to the fractions of an aperture F-stop by visual observation.

If you are serious about getting good exposure for your product photography, get a light meter.

 

Our approach at product photography Toronto is to play every image for keeps.  By the time my camera fires, the exposure is perfect or pretty darn close. On a typical shoot, my keep rate for product shots is about 80%.

Multiple strobes

Strobe lights are essential to good product photography. Fluorescent lights just do not cut it, and neither does available light. These forms of illumination are inconsistent and require long exposures. Moreover you run a greater risk for camera shake. Invest in light that will help you shoot at 125^th of a second or greater at F16 ISO 100 and your image quality will enhance dramatically.

Photoshop

Surprisingly, many product photographers do not use Photoshop to produce their product photography; instead, they use Adobe Lightroom. This is the wrong application for commercial product shots.    Lightroom lacks masking capabilities and healing tools.  If you are doing wedding photography, then go ahead and use LR, as this application is adequate for adjusting colours and exposure.  However, with Lightroom, God forbid your Client asks you to fix her crooked teeth or thin her wide bum.  Lightroom’s photo editing capabilities are very limited.

I use Photoshop everyday to edit my images.  Photoshop is a great program but it is over rated.  Many Photographers depend on Photoshop to fix their images; I use this program to enhance my images. There is a huge difference.

If I did my job well, my photos will be good for immediate use. A bad photographer will need to edit their images substantially; especially if they are unfamiliar with using a camera. Moreover, a severely Photoshoped image looks like shit.  Noting beats a native image with accurate exposure in the onset.  Editing a good image is a breeze; making it pop is a synch.

Photographers who give their Client’s unedited images are essentially giving them a half-baked solution. A good product shot should be traced out of its background and supplied to the customer with an alpha channel for comprehensive marketing communication use. An image with a transparency layer will allow the client to use the photo for overlay or   superimposing applications.

The Product Photography Toronto philosophy to Photoshop is to shoot images perfectly.  Only use Photoshop to make mild adjustments.  Minimize rebuilding images whenever possible.

Light diffusers

Different items have different demands for correct illumination. Photographing a bottle for example, is not the same as photographing a T-shirt. As some objects are more three-dimensional than others, lighting from multiple angles becomes a necessity. In addition, spreading the light evenly over some object is much more critical than others to represent the product well.

A good tripod

For catalog photography, consistency is key. Photographing the item from a consistent angle of view is critical to the client to maintain a uniform appearance.

A studio

A reputable  photographer does not work out of his living room or basement. I am anal about this aspect as a studio is a proper working environment to meet with clients and it is optimized to produce better images.

If you are looking for a great product photographer in Toronto who habitually invests in processes,  equipment and method to deliver outstanding quality, then kindly give me a call

W: www.julesdesign.ca

E:  jules@julesdesign.ca
 
http://www.product-photography-toronto.com/
http://www.product-photography-toronto.com/

Product Photography Toronto

Product Photography Toronto
Technique to produce your product shots

In Toronto, I run a product photography studio. As a photographer working hard to make a living, I service Ontario, Canada and the GTA. My primary trading zone for my commercial photography business is Mississauga, Scarborough, Oshawa, Brampton, Concord, Vaughn, Toronto and Milton.  I have also done product shot assignments in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge but due to proximity, it is much more efficient to work in the surrounding Toronto market.

Being a product photographer is fun but it is hard work.  The hours are long and I spend a substantial amount of time marketing my advertising photography service.  To win business, I try to different services such as

·        Photography Lessons

·        Conventional Product Shots

·        Amazon product photography

·        360 Spin (Rotating Product Shots) Photography

·        Drink Photography  and Food Photography

·        Graphic Design and Photoshop services

My approach is to offer photography solutions that my customers cannot find elsewhere and that my competitors are unwilling to learn. As a rule, I try to avoid services that other photographers offer in mass.  I do not shoot weddings, I do not do baby photography…. There just is not any money in it. Business will always pay more for photography services than consumers do.  Moreover, it is appropriate to cold call a business, doing this with Consumers is less proper.

Toronto product photography technique  

My Clients use my commercial photography for advertising applications. Over the years, I have refined my product photography technique to produce better photographs. Some of the methods I use to produce my photos for my product shots include:

·        Using a gray card to make sure that the white balance in my product shots is correct

·        Use a light meter to make sure that the exposure in my photographs is accurate

·        When I shoot product shots, I always shoot tethered to a computer to review my images for composition and artifacts like blur.

·        I always use a variety light diffusers for product photography because different object need different illumination when being photographed

Photoshop to Edit your Commercial Photography

·        My Toronto studio also includes a copy of Photoshop on hand (of course!) to do quick mock edits.  I do this to look at the Photo in RAW format.

·        Photoshop is great when producing any kind of Product Photography. 


Under used Features when Editing Product Shots with Photoshop

One of the most under used features in Photoshop is the Adjustment Levels feature.  This feature heightens the white, mid-tones and blacks.  It just makes the colors punchier.  I recommend that any photographer get to know this feature regardless if you are a Toronto headshot photographer, a wedding photographer or a commercial photographer who shoots products  

Learn also to use the pen tool.  I cannot fathom presenting product shots to my Clients without this apparatus.  The Photoshop Pen Tool allows you to mask images; in other words, trace out the background.  This is critical to overlay the images on pure white or with a transparency layer for catalogue photography use.  All of my Clients in Toronto expect this- so I do not understand why many Photographers do not offer this value add service when editing product shots.  My best guess is that they do not know how to use Photoshop.

Anybody can be a photographer, not many are good

Anybody can buy a camera, so the barriers of entry are negligible.  Often the Client has no way to qualify if a Product Photographer is good or not.  Here is a list of qualifiers to determine if you are a good photographer.  If you do not have this infrastructure is not in place, I have to question your legitimacy as commercial photographer:

Are you a good pro photographer?

·        Do you shoot in Auto Mode.  If you are a pro photographer using your camera in auto mode, you suck.  You do not know how to use your camera and you are shamefully selling your Clients garbage images. I don’t care if you own the best camera in the world, using a camera in Auto Mode is pathetic if you are a professional photographer of any sorts.

·        Do you use Photoshop.  If you do not know how to use Photoshop, stop being a Photographer until you learn how to use this photography software; you are likely providing your Clients an unfinished product.

·        Do you use a light meter?  If you are using strobes to produce your images you need a light meter; period.  There is no way to visually estimate the amount of light your strobes put out.  You need a measurement tool measure the light intensity of your strobes.  Anybody who does photography with strobes without a light meter does not know what they are doing.

·        If you need to spend more that 1 hour to edit your image, you are not a very good photographer.  Photoshop is a useful tool to edit images but it is not a crutch.  Most images should be very usable in a few minutes even if you input a clipping path.

Other qualifiers to determine if you are a good professional photographer

·        Do you have a full-frame camera?  Full-frame cameras are typically the dividing point between a pro camera and a good camera. Full frame cameras typically have better image quality and less noise.  As a caveat, there are some decent pro crop sensor cameras out there.  

·        Do you own a backup camera?  You should.  Cameras sometimes crap out during studio product shoots in the gentles of conditions.   A pro photographer should always own a spare camera

·        Do you have more than one camera lens? I could never run a photography business on a single lens.  Theoretically, if I had to, I could but it would really hinder my creative flexibility.

·        Do you use strobes? Strobes for in-studio product photography are critical to produce product shots.  Fluorescent bulbs suck (different blog).

You do not need a Mac to be a professional photographer
·        On a semi related note, you do not need a Mac to be a professional photographer. Macs offer no functionality over PCs to provide or edit better images.  Mac computers are more expensive, they do not operate faster, and getting plugins, hardware and software is harder for this platform.  Do not expect a better ROI for a Mac then a PC if you are running a photography business.

 


A good product photographer should have the tools for the trade.  At my commercial photography studio inToronto, I continually invest in new tools and methods to improve the quality ofmy product shots.

If you are looking for a great product photographer in Toronto who habitually invests in processes,  equipment and method to deliver outstanding quality, then kindly give me a call

W: www.julesdesign.ca

E:  jules@julesdesign.ca