The Return of Canadian Product Photography

| by JP Danko | blurMEDIA Photography | Toronto Product Photographer |

I have been getting a lot of interest lately for product photography.  Businesses looking for Canadian product photographers or Toronto product photographers.

That’s a bit of a change.

For the longest time, businesses seemed to ignore the importance of high quality product photography.

At the bottom of the spectrum, small online sellers have been using iPhones to take simple snapshots of their products.

Even the trend with large businesses has been to have their designers snap product photos to use in their copy, just to save a little bit of money over hiring an actual professional product photographer.

Online Competition

I think the trend of do it yourself (DIY) product photography is starting to turn around, mainly because of the huge competition for sales online.

Savvy marketing professionals are beginning to rediscover the edge that quality professional product photography gives them over their competition.

Product Photography Studios

When a potential client calls me looking for a product photographer, I usually just send them to one of the internet product photography studios that specialize in simple product photos on white – such as POW – Products on White.

(Our specialty is more people in action using products).

Product photography studios like POW – Products on White charge a ridiculously low rate of just $40 to $60 per image – so its pretty hard to compete with them on rates alone.

However, I have been starting to hear from Canadian companies that don’t want to go through the hassle of shipping products across the border to the US just to have them photographed.

Instead, Canadian businesses are looking for a Canadian product photographer.

To fill that niche, I have been looking at a few options for taking more product photos in our studio.

Product Photos

A very simple method of taking product photos on white is to use a light tent.

However, I find product photos that were taken in a light tent are usually unimpressive.

Of course, light tent product photos are a million times better than most of the DIY product snapshots you usually see – but to me without shadows or highlights, they just look very flat and boring.

Product Photos Need Shadows and Highlights to Look Interesting!

To create product photos with shadows and highlights, I use the more traditional method – a soft box on one side and a reflector on the other (or sometimes two softboxes, or more…).

Every product is different and it takes a keen eye to see how each individual product needs to be lit.  The most important thing to consider is how reflections from the studio lights show up on the product being photographed.

Usually, we try to accentuate the lines of a product with nice clean reflection lines – especially for reflective products and glassware.

Product On White Backgrounds

Here are a few examples of product photos on white that we created in our studio.  Products on white are classic catalog product photos that marketers use to show their products in a clean, simple, elegant way.

 Products on Black Backgrounds

Here are a few examples of product photos on black backgrounds that were produced by our studio.  Products photographed a glossy black background are a modern way for marketers to make their products pop in a world where everyone else is using a plane white background.

Any Questions?

Are you a Canadian product photographer or Toronto product photographer?  Have you seen an uptick in sales? Are you a Canadian business looking for a Canadian product photographer?  Leave a comment below!