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