Blog Photography: Working With Backgrounds
When taking
photos for your blog it’s important to get the background right so that it
makes the main feature stand-out. It
helps to pick a theme for the mood you are trying to create with the
product. A light or pretty background
will enhance the look of a ‘happy’ product whereas a dark or plain background
will make a product look more ‘sad’. So
here are a few backgrounds that I like to work with.
Light
The most
important thing when taking any photo is probably to get the right
lighting. This can obviously prove hard
sometimes because we don’t have natural sunlight 24/7 but we can fake it by
getting a really bright light over the product or even a lampshade. If I can I try to take my photos in natural
sunlight and will sometimes put them on the window seal as I think this looks
really affective.
White
White
backgrounds are always great as they make anything stand-out. Really simple but effective. They also add a bit of light and nothing is
going to get hidden or blended into the background.
Shelves
Putting products
onto an empty shelf can look good as it almost gives a ‘shop floor’ look and
can look quite professional if done correctly.
You want to make sure the shelves or the wall in the background doesn’t
clash too badly with the product so it’s still the main focus of the photo.
Wrapping Paper
Laying products
down on top of pretty wrapping paper can look good especially if it is a plain
product that you are showing and you want to add a bit of colour and fun to the
photo.
Magazines and
Notepads
Following on
from the wrapping paper, if you don’t have any you can always use any magazines
or even notepads that are lying around.
I think it looks really cool and on trend to photograph products laying
over the cover of Vogue or stacking a few magazines up and standing the
products on top. This is one of my
favourite backgrounds.
Textures
Another way to
brighten up a photo could be to place them on top of a funky scarf or rug. I have a shaggy sheepskin rug at home which I
like to take photos on. It’s white so
still makes colours stand out but it is a bit more fun than just a plain white
wall.
Table Tops
I have grey
marble table tops in my kitchen so if I want a more darker look perhaps if I have
a rather light product I will photograph them on here. It’s all about finding a background that will
contrast and make your product stand out.
Props
This can be
quite a hard one to work with as you don’t want them to overpower your
product. Sometimes you can edit the
photo to blur the props out but this can take extra time so it depends how long
you want to spend on it. It can be nice
as well if it ties in with the theme of the product you are displaying. Candles work great as props!
So those are my
tips, I hope they helped you. I’m still
far from satisfied with my photography skills but practise makes perfect and
the important thing is just to work with what you’ve got. Unfortunately most of us are not lucky enough
to have a Pinterest worthy house!
Lauren xx
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