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/