Creative Product Photography & Video on StyleShoots Eclipse
Visuals play a huge factor in the success of making a sale and selling a brand experience, especially in today’s hyper-competitive market. With how the world is rapidly changing and how it becomes more competitive with brands popping out left and right, engaging content becomes even more vital.
We’re here to help! Our expert team and stylists are on-hand creating incredible content to help drive traffic, increase sales and improve customer engagement with your brand. So, how did we do it? It’s easy! Here are 6 tips & tricks to easily elevate your creative product photography and video using our Eclipse Machine.
TIP ONE: FABRIC
Using fabric adds additional texture and colour to your image. The magnetic hooks included with your Eclipse Machine allow you to hang the fabric in any position along the ceiling or back and side walls. Adding a plinth or a box underneath the fabric creates different heights and platforms for your products to interact with.
Fabric can also be used to create the illusion of a tablecloth or linen napkin in your lifestyle content. A simple piece of cloth carefully positioned on the side of your set up can add depth while the colour and texture add warmth.
TIP TWO: COLOURED BACKDROPS
Coloured backdrops are a very easy and effective way to elevate your content. Simply hang a new backdrop with the magnetic hooks provided and place your product on the turntable. Different colours will arouse different emotions and moods to your viewers, so picking which colour to use is important. Here are a few examples:
- If you like the sophisticated look of fine art photography, all you need is a black or dark grey background and to lower your lights. This colour backdrop behind a subject will make the product both memorable and mysterious at the same time
- A light grey is a neutral colour and therefore doesn’t distract the viewer from the main subject. Your viewers eye is naturally drawn towards the centre of the image, subtly emphasising the products
- Brown and yellow tones are the colour of the season! The earthy neutrality gives feelings of comfort, warmth and familiarity
- Bright colours like Blue, Yellow and Green feel fun and energetic
TIP THREE: REFLECTIVE TURNTABLES & FLOORING
Like coloured backdrops, reflective turntables are another easy way to elevate your creative product photography. Plastic acrylic works perfectly for this. With the iPad controlled lighting, you can pull the lights in different directions to achieve your desired reflection.
You can also try experimenting with different textured surfaces like wood, tile or vinyl. Positioning these on an angle gives the illusion of flooring or a bench space. As long as it doesn’t distract from your product, it can really help to echo what your product is all about. Avoid any crazy patterns, colours or locations that don’t suit your brand.
TIP FOUR: PROPS & ACCESSORIES
Fresh food and flowers dress up your product and can be used to help to visually explain what it’s about. Food, Beverage, Beauty or Pharmaceutical products can be explained by decorating the scene with the ingredients that they are made up of. You could also include items which you would typically see with that product to give the viewer additional context. For example, a bottle of Gin could be paired with a glass, some berries and sparkling water.
Using a floral arrangement or greenery will give your image fresh and vibrant energy. You can also use these to create context, or as a prop that adds depth of field to the overall image. A seasonal flower can also be used to establish when the image was taken.
TIP FIVE: ELEVATION
Using the magnetic hooks and some wire, floating and levitating creative product photography is simple. We recommend using clear fishing wire for this as it’s strong and is the easiest to remove in post production. Create big loops with the fishing wire and hang one end from the hook, and loop the other end around your product. For a shoe, you might want to use one loop at the heel and one at the toe. Or, you can sit the toe on the floor and just levitate the heel. The possibilities are endless!
TIP SIX: PLINTHS & PLATFORMS
Mini plinths add height and dimension to your composition. They are useful in staging products in groups, or for creating the illusion of corners or walls. Wooden plinths can be painted any colour you desire, a great opportunity to create multi colored scenes or very sleek monochrome ones. Plastic Plinths on the other hand have a very reflective surface so give you the opportunity to play with interesting ground reflections and shadows.
Other materials like stone, marble and thick tile will also give a similar effect. You can use these to levitate objects and to give them a ‘stage’. Breaking up the marble or stone is also a great way to play with composition and give depth to the overall image.