Product Photography

I’m a believer that we often buy with our hearts. How a product makes you feel is a powerful sales tool. Whether it’s a new Patagonia fleece giving belief you can hike that fjord or a fresh pair of Nike’s to help push past that extra mile. When we see advertising and buy that product, we become part of that brand’s story.

Product photography which depicts this ‘lifestyle mecca’ can be as effective for sales as your product’s build quality, reputation and price point.

Let’s go through my steps to capturing product photography. For the purpose of this journal, I have decided to photograph Chichester Harbour gin.

Step 1
Set the mood

The initial steps for many photo projects are to decide the style and mood of the shoot. This means a better understanding of the product and the audience to whom the content is targeting.

Step 2
Finding the location

Researching locations before a shoot takes place is an invaluable investment. This will give extra confidence on the day and can save time whilst photographing your product. The strongest locations are often abundant in variety and personality.

Drone shot of chosen shoot location

Step 3
Establishing the shot list

It is important to get familiar with the product and the key shots requested by the client. If there is the opportunity to spend time with the product before the shoot, I’d attempt to include test shots in a pre-production document for both myself and my client to reference on the day.

Step 4
The result

With ‘Steps’ 1, 2 and 3 complete, I spent a couple of evenings at my chosen location photographing the product. The result was a series of photos that position the product in an aspirational coastal environment.

ALL WORDS, VIDEOS & PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHT TO MATT ANKERS 2022