Tips for Photographing Your Product Packaging

Content creation is so important for small businesses, but getting professional photos for all your content can be expensive. That’s why we’ve put together some tips for small businesses to get professional looking product and packaging photos yourself. Get ready to stand out on social media and watch the orders start rolling in! 

Camera

A digital camera is the best option for taking your own product photos. You can find some affordable options on digital cameras from more and more retailers. However, if you do not have access to a digital camera and don’t want to invest in one just yet, the latest smartphone cameras are capable of taking high-quality photos. It can be helpful to use a tripod in order to stabilize your camera or phone in order to reduce blur and get a sharper image.

Lighting

Lighting. Lighting. Lighting! This might be the most important aspect of your product photoshoot. The two best options for lighting are natural light or studio light. The kind of light you should use really depends on your product, the purpose of your photoshoot and ultimately your personal preference - check out the examples below to see natural light vs. studio light. 

When relying on natural light, you should be sure to set up your photoshoot by a large window that lets in lots of light. Pro tip - try shooting throughout the day to see when you get the best lighting. For studio light, there are many tools you can purchase, even with a low budget. It is important to make sure you have light coming in from all angles in order to avoid shadows. For small to medium products and packages, portable photo studio boxes are a great option. These are compact and provide full light coverage. 

Placement

When staging your products and packages, there are many things you should consider. You may want to use props to highlight certain aspects of your product or brand. If you will be using props, you should keep them to a minimum. You want to make sure the product is the main focus of the image. 

Editing

For product photoshoots, it is best to keep editing to a minimum, especially if you don’t have a background in photography. We recommend staying away from filters, which can reduce the quality of the image and look unprofessional. Try to keep the image as natural as possible. Stick with slight adjustments to the brightness, highlights and shadows. Our favorite editing platform is Lightroom, but there are many other free apps that can be used as well. Once your photos are complete, you can use platforms like Canva, to easily create content that can be used across all social media platforms.