Tips for Compelling Lifestyle Product Photography

Product manufacturers invest a lot in marketing, and photography is one of the best ways to sell their products. While lifestyle product photography has been prevalent for a long period of time, it has become even more important with the advent of digital marketing. Manufacturers want to portray their products being used and are willing to spend good money for it. Photographer Jay P. Morgan demonstrates easy tips for lifestyle product photography with the BlackRapid Retro Strap:

Show the Talent How to Use the Product

You cannot capture the product in use unless you and your talent know how to use it. You and your talent should know how to handle the product properly. If the images you capture show the product being used in an incorrect manner, the client will reject all of those photos, adding cost to your shoot and putting your reputation on the line.

brief talent about product

Tell a Story with Different Shots

Morgan compares a lifestyle product photography shoot with a movie. You need to tell a story using wide establishing shots, then move on to some tight and interesting shots. Morgan recommends you do the following:

  • get a wide shot to show the context for an establishing shot
  • go in for tight shots of the product to show how to use the product
  • get shots from various angles and using interesting light

close up shot of product in use

Break the Ice on Set

This is applicable for any type of photography sessions. It is essential that you and your talent are comfortable with each other. Talk with them, joke with them, get a sense of who they are, let them feel that you are a genuine person. Once you’re comfortable with each other, the models can follow your instructions clearly and make the entire process a whole lot smoother. If you need multiple models for your job, Morgan suggests that you work with couples; they already have chemistry going on between them, making everyone’s work a lot easier.

Know Your Gear

Morgan likes to shoot lifestyle product photography sessions with his Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 lens, as it provides him with the flexibility to shoot wide as well as tight shots. He likes to shoot at f/4 so that the images are a bit sharper while maintaining a nice background blur. To capture a series of photos, he usually shoots it at high speed burst. This allows him to choose from multiple images in case any one of them is out of focus.

While tripods can be difficult to carry around on-location, mono pods with a foot pedal to raise or lower the camera can come in handy. In case he needs to shoot a really great wide shot, he has his 24–70mm lens as a backup.

Be Mobile

Whenever shooting on-location where he has to move around a lot and the terrain is rough, Morgan prefers to carry all his necessary gear and accessories in his Vanguard ALTA Sky 45D backpack. It lets him carry around his camera body, lenses, memory cards, and extra batteries while allowing him to move around conveniently. But when he is out on the street, he likes to pull his gear around in a wagon.

Dress to Get Down

Getting low on the ground can get you very interesting shots with a unique perspective. For instance, in the video Morgan is able to get the mountain behind the couple by getting down on the ground. So, be prepared with suitable clothing.

get down in lifestyle product photography

Frame for Added Text & Page Layouts

While framing your shots during lifestyle product photography, be sure to take a few broad shots with empty space. For instance, by keeping a lot of the blue sky in the frame, Morgan is later able to add in the brand name or additional images for advertisements.

frame for added text

Give these tips a try and let us know how your next lifestyle product shoot goes!

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