How you can make the most of your online store with Product Photography

What is the perfect recipe for taking great product pictures – simply a digital camera, mixed in with a tablespoon of patience and a tea spoon of enthusiasm – topped off with a sprinkling of light and you are set to make the perfect dish.

Digital cameras are great – they allow you to point and click and try again until you have the perfect picture.

We suggest a digital camera for convenience, control and long-term cost savings. Foremost look for a camera with a broad lens with multipoint focus. Secondarily get a camera with 5-plus megapixel resolution. A 2 megapixel camera is be fine for many common page product photographs with tight cropping but is inadequate for images larger than 3" square.

Most importantly keep the background simple! Patterns and lines distract from the product. Use plain fabrics and avoid patterned lace. Try using paper that is wide and comes on a roll for a more professional look such as backing wallpaper.

Try not to angle your camera so that it appears as though you are looking down at the product. This could imply inferior quality to your product. Conversely, don't angle your camera to look up at your product. As a general rule if you set your camera exactly parallel to the product then raise it about six inches, your angle of view should fall at the ideal point.

Use lots of light to illuminate the picture. Digital cameras are more versatile with lighting so you should be able to adjust your settings in order for your pictures to be just right. If too much light or the flash is too strong it wipes out the details of your product in the final picture. A handy hint here is to cover the flash with a piece of white tissue paper to diffuse the light. Also shoot near a window to take advantage of the natural daylight to take perfect North East product pictures.

There are many reasons why a photo can become out of focus, but this most commonly occurs when you are shooting out of the camera lens's "focal range". In other words you are simply too close to the product. Try backing up, some cameras need up to four feet of distance between what you are shooting and the lens to focus correctly.

Nothing is worse than taking the time to shoot a photograph only to have it turn out blurry. Especially for Product Photography Newcastlealways use a tripod because the wide aperture setting and indoor lighting will require long exposure times.

Cropping refers to the amount of empty space around the product in the photo. If the image is cropped too closely the product can appear to be boxed in. Too much space and the product can lose impact.

If you are taking pictures of complementary products try to use goof colour combinations. This rule also applies to the product and its relationship to the background. A brown basket on a bright pink background may not be a good choice but putting it on say a green background will complement each other.

If more than one product appears in a photo be sure not to shoot them together too closely. Don’t place one product too far from the other from front to back, a distance of as little as 4 inches can make the other products out of focus. For standard catalogue product shots you want the whole product in focus.

By following these simple tips you can improve your picture taking. Always remember, take your time, pay attention to the details and most of all have fun! Your patience, enthusiasm and creativity will always shine through in the final product photographs for your online store.

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