The Secrets of Product Photography

Photo: © Ibarra Deri

Winning techniques that separate great advertising photography from catalogue photography.

Great photography is the handmaiden of successful advertising campaigns! Does your product photography pass the four-way test? One: Does it make the product so attractive that consumers will want to buy it? Two: Does it sell itself to client without much explanation from you? Does it invite copycat photography from competitors? Three: Four: Do other product photographers remember it and compliment you on it? Creative photographer Ibarra Deri will demonstrate the secrets the pros use for producing photographs that excite clients, fellow photographers, and consumers alike — including how to “pose” the product!

What will be covered

• Basic principles necessary for the understanding of what follows.
• Getting the right equipment for the right job, and finding inexpensive substitutes.
• Positioning and controlling light.
• “Posing” the product effectively.
• Finding the correct camera angle.
• Highlighting important features selectively.
• Lighting problematic material such as shiny, reflective, metallic, textured, and dull matte surfaces.
• Choosing the right background.
• Employing filters.
• Adding and positioning props.
• Working from a client's layout: identifying problems and finding creative solutions.

Who should attend

• Photographers planning to take up advertising photography.
• Professional photographers who want to broaden their skill set.
• Art directors, creative directors, and staff artists of advertising agencies who will either be shooting products themselves or working closely with a photographer.
• Advertising photographers who want to improve their skills.
• In-house staff in charge of producing product catalogs for direct-selling and mail-order.
• Hobbyists interested in improving their still-life and tabletop photography.

Prerequisites

A working knowledge of basic photography, or attendance in the PCCI basic photography workshop. Each participant should bring a digital SLR camera, and preferably a tripod.

Instructor

In this workshop, Ibarra Deri proves once again that photography is all about light, light, light. Applying the techniques of lighting, posing, and positioning that made him one of the country's most successful portrait photographers, Deri emphasizes the strengths and hides the flaws of inanimate objects and transforms "ordinary" into "first class."