How Can a Startup Create Better Product Photography?

[0:00] hi there and welcome to a new episode of

[0:02] startup Chuck So today we're going to be

[0:04] talking about how to do a photo shoot

[0:06] now since you have a prototype of your

[0:08] project complete it's about time that

[0:11] you start getting photos in order to

[0:13] start selling your product so let's talk

[0:17] about the different things that you can

[0:19] use in order to produce some pretty

[0:22] decent photos for your product first I

[0:24] want to talk about our sponsor which is

[0:28] chuckra and there a great ski and bike

[0:32] rack company currently they're selling

[0:34] their Chuck bucket for the winter and uh

[0:36] if you like their product please go and

[0:38] order one all right so now let's talk

[0:41] about photos so in order to get good

[0:44] product photos if you're doing Small

[0:46] Things honestly the best thing you can

[0:48] do is buy a photo box This little light

[0:51] box is really inexpensive and it makes a

[0:54] huge difference in getting even lighting

[0:56] and no Shadows on your product

[1:00] and that's kind of a big deal because if

[1:02] you end up with large Shadows then it

[1:04] just isn't going to look as good and so

[1:08] most products that you see out there end

[1:10] up having some sort of even lighting

[1:13] around it and you can do that with

[1:15] natural lighting but it's really nice if

[1:18] you can control it a bit better so again

[1:22] uh small items a light box is really

[1:24] good let's take an example of um my

[1:28] banana Bopper that I had at one point in

[1:31] time let me pull that up so here is

[1:34] here's the banana bopper and then you

[1:37] can see there's a little bit of a hot

[1:38] spot here on this

[1:40] side um and right here as well but other

[1:44] than that it's very clean and even and

[1:47] then the photos actually that we did I

[1:49] hired a photographer for this that was a

[1:51] friend and uh she did a great job super

[1:55] nice natural lighting and uh we took a

[1:58] whole bunch of photos

[2:00] and it really worked out but what seems

[2:03] really easy actually took a fair amount

[2:05] of work and so there's a lot of things

[2:08] to think about so for example your main

[2:10] image on Amazon it has to have a pure

[2:14] white background either like this or

[2:16] like this where there is nothing else

[2:19] around it and

[2:21] then it can't show anything else that

[2:24] can confuse the customer what's in there

[2:26] so if you want to have a product that's

[2:28] on Amazon

[2:30] most people eventually May nonetheless

[2:33] you want to have something that you can

[2:34] easily do a white background on it's a

[2:36] lot easier to subtract a white

[2:37] background if you start with something

[2:39] has very low

[2:40] shadows and then go from there and then

[2:43] the rest of your photos can be things

[2:44] that have people and showing use cases

[2:47] Etc so nice clean background for Amazon

[2:50] is one thing another thing is uh pick a

[2:53] likely place where your product will be

[2:55] used so in this case you know we're in

[2:58] the kitchen and

[3:01] uh in the

[3:03] kitchen and you know opening your banana

[3:06] putting it in a dishwasher Etc now okay

[3:11] if you're using natural lighting

[3:13] lighting you got to think about a few

[3:14] different things which is the time of

[3:16] day that you're doing it do you need any

[3:18] extra

[3:19] lighting you can get lighting stands

[3:21] fairly inexpensive if you're outside you

[3:23] can get just reflective sheets of foil

[3:27] uh to give it more natural light and

[3:30] reflect it back towards where you're

[3:31] trying to take your photo

[3:33] of another thing is who's going to be in

[3:36] your photo shoot

[3:38] so if it's not somebody that you have a

[3:42] great relationship you should probably

[3:44] have them sign or release because you

[3:46] don't want to have them making any

[3:49] claims that they don't want to be in it

[3:50] and then later on you can't use their

[3:52] photos anymore and so that's something

[3:54] that you want to consider is having some

[3:57] release papers you know printed up you

[3:59] can find things online on generic ones

[4:02] and then basically have people sign them

[4:04] just saying hey I'm okay with my photo

[4:05] being in your product another thing is a

[4:08] shot list so it it seems like

[4:13] okay I want to have a shot that shows it

[4:16] being in the dishwasher I want another

[4:18] shot that shows somebody trying hard to

[4:21] open it and then you know handing the

[4:24] product to the customer and then they

[4:26] use it and it's great and it's easy to

[4:28] open that's a very simple thing is think

[4:31] about who's my customer how might they

[4:34] be using this and just sketch out on

[4:36] paper first in words and then maybe with

[4:38] a drawing like stick figures for example

[4:41] showing how you want each shot to be so

[4:46] that you don't forget about any shots

[4:48] that you want to have there's a lot of

[4:49] prep that you can have before the photo

[4:51] shoot to make sure the photo shoot is as

[4:54] useful as possible because the last

[4:56] thing you want to do is show up to your

[4:58] photo shoot

[5:00] and you uh have a photographer there and

[5:02] you have a limited amount of time and

[5:04] you don't know what shots you want to

[5:05] get and you may not end up getting the

[5:08] ones that you thought about 3 days

[5:09] earlier in the shower and so you want to

[5:12] make sure that you actually take the

[5:14] time to prep your shot list ahead of

[5:17] time so that way when you're in the

[5:19] photo shoot and you're all excited In

[5:21] the Heat of the Moment that you can then

[5:22] go back through your shot list and you

[5:25] can say oh this one that one Etc and it

[5:28] doesn't even have to be

[5:30] product uh uh things you sketch up you

[5:32] could find example photos of similar

[5:35] products online and just put them in

[5:38] your shot list as I want you know

[5:41] something that looks just like this and

[5:44] then that way you know you have that

[5:47] example and it's really good because

[5:48] it's exactly what someone else had done

[5:50] right Bank off of other people's work uh

[5:53] let's see here um for your shot list

[5:57] think about your different targets and

[5:58] demographics

[6:00] you might have different advertising

[6:02] going to different groups you might have

[6:05] one group that's really interested in

[6:07] one aspect so take the uh the Chuck

[6:09] bucket for example you can have people

[6:12] who are really interested in golfing and

[6:14] you could try and have a bunch of photos

[6:16] around golf bag uses and golfing and Etc

[6:19] and then you can have a whole bunch of

[6:21] people who are really interested in

[6:24] skiing and you have a whole bunch of

[6:27] photos for skiers and then another group

[6:29] might be snowboarders Etc and so it's

[6:33] good to think about each different

[6:35] demographic that you're trying to or

[6:38] Market group you're trying to sell to

[6:40] and have different shot lists for each

[6:42] of those because you don't want to

[6:44] constantly be moving skis into it and

[6:47] then take them off and then move

[6:48] snowboards into it and then take them

[6:50] off and then forgot you want to get

[6:51] another shot with the skis being

[6:53] efficient is really important in your

[6:55] photo

[6:56] shoots uh terms of equipment so if

[7:00] you're just doing for example uh the the

[7:03] light box so here for example is

[7:09] a um tripod with my camera and the light

[7:13] box and then I literally just stuck this

[7:16] rolling pin that I'll start selling on

[7:18] Etsy soon in there

[7:22] and you don't really need you know a

[7:24] whole lot more than that you can have

[7:27] your kitchen table right or wherever you

[7:29] plan on using this and yeah it's funny

[7:32] right you get a close-up photo and it

[7:34] looks like this kind of staged what

[7:38] people never see is that the rest of it

[7:39] looks cluttered in the background but

[7:41] who cares you're going to crop that down

[7:43] right it's all about having you know the

[7:47] functional photo that you can crop down

[7:49] that you can get to for our shoot for

[7:53] the cheuck bucket the other day we

[7:56] basically you know didn't have perfect

[7:59] lighting but you could uh raise the

[8:04] levels up you know and postprocessing

[8:06] the important thing is we actually have

[8:08] very few shadows in these photos which

[8:10] is really important is not having a ton

[8:12] of Shadows is nice and then so golden

[8:16] hour is a great time to do this in the

[8:19] evening right when the lighting is is

[8:21] kind of flat and then you can just um

[8:26] take you know decent high-r photos and

[8:30] then increase the gain on them um or you

[8:33] know increase your exposure during the

[8:35] the time and then um you know never can

[8:39] have too many photos you know you might

[8:41] have one actual photographer but then

[8:44] maybe you have you know other people

[8:46] shooting on their phone and you never

[8:47] know who's going to get a better photo

[8:50] it's it doesn't hurt to have too many

[8:52] photos

[8:54] um so let's see

[8:58] here um uh so what other equipment

[9:00] tripods cameras extra batteries memory

[9:04] cards um one thing that makes a big

[9:07] difference clean clean clothes so you

[9:12] know

[9:14] these these clothes were new for this

[9:16] shoot so it makes it so they're nice and

[9:19] crisp and it makes it seem like the

[9:23] product is nice and clean so clean

[9:26] clothes washed cars clean t

[9:29] tables um you know brushed teeth brushed

[9:33] Hair Etc make the people who are using

[9:37] your product attractive and then that

[9:39] will you know make your product look

[9:41] attractive and then um plan on lots of

[9:45] takes you know the better you do a good

[9:48] shot list the less often you'll have to

[9:50] redo

[9:52] photos but you know be prepared that it

[9:55] might take another time out to go back

[9:58] out and get get a photo just the way you

[10:00] want you might be slightly off in what

[10:02] you had and then um if you oh this is a

[10:06] big one if you are going to ever print

[10:09] banners like large banners for booths or

[10:11] for trade shows and I'm going to have a

[10:13] whole another episode on how to do uh do

[10:15] trade shows you want to have as high

[10:18] resolution photo as possible because if

[10:22] you have any photos that are low

[10:24] resolution or grainy when you blow them

[10:25] up to 8 foot by 10 foot they're going to

[10:28] be noticeable and you're going to notice

[10:31] that uh graininess in those photos so

[10:33] higher resolution is definitely worth it

[10:36] when you are eventually going to use

[10:37] some photos

[10:39] for um banners and things like that and

[10:43] then um last but not least is basically

[10:47] like b-roll footage is great during

[10:49] photo shoots so you can use that on

[10:51] Instagram and Tik Tok and all those

[10:53] things for your social media for your

[10:55] products which is great people like

[10:57] seeing processes and then um how to find

[11:00] a photographer is kind of the last thing

[11:02] I'm going to speak about so I mentioned

[11:04] earlier

[11:06] that you have a few options for

[11:08] photographers you can try and find most

[11:10] people have a friend who's a

[11:12] photographer whether professional or

[11:14] amateur you can ask a professional

[11:18] friend photographer what their rate is

[11:21] and maybe they'll give you a friend rate

[11:23] you can find usually most amateur

[11:27] photographers are really interested in

[11:30] trying to show their skill and they're

[11:34] really excited to help you out with your

[11:36] project they're going to be missing a

[11:37] lot of or maybe half of the

[11:40] skills that a professional photographer

[11:43] would have picked up over the years so

[11:46] you might not get as good of shots as

[11:50] you would get with a professional

[11:51] photographer you probably won't get as

[11:53] good of shots as you would with a

[11:54] professional photographer you're paying

[11:56] them for their years of experience of

[11:58] knowing exactly ly how to frame up shots

[12:00] and get the lighting good and then also

[12:02] their secondary editing and then last

[12:05] thing you can do is of course just try

[12:07] and uh you know put a posting out in uh

[12:11] newsletters Craigslist things like that

[12:13] and try and find somebody who would be

[12:16] willing to work with you there's

[12:17] probably lots of product photographers

[12:20] around you and you just don't know it

[12:21] you just have to go out there and look

[12:23] so that's my episode on photo shoots

[12:27] there's not really a ton involved but

[12:29] the biggest thing I would say again is

[12:31] plan your shot list and really try and

[12:34] make it thorough before you go out and

[12:37] not only that a thorough shot list and

[12:40] then also having a thorough list of

[12:44] items to bring with you will save you a

[12:47] lot of headache if you know all the

[12:51] items that you need to bring with you

[12:53] then you won't forget something that's

[12:55] important on the photo shoot you

[12:58] wouldn't want to get all the way to the

[12:59] photo shoot and realize you actually

[13:01] forgot the product you had everything

[13:02] else but you forgot to bring the product

[13:04] or you only brought one and so again

[13:07] having that thorough shot list and that

[13:09] thorough list of items to bring will

[13:12] really help you out in the long run plus

[13:14] you might find out you need multiple

[13:16] cars to bring things to places Etc all

[13:19] right if you like what you heard please

[13:22] like And subscribe check out all the

[13:24] rest of the other videos on Startup

[13:26] Chuck and I'll see you guys next time