Packshots vs Product Photography - Picksees Photography

Product Photography explained

Product Photography is a very important side of advertising and marketing of any product.

It is the potential client’s first introduction to your product. You need to make sure that you get this step right.

If you fail, clients can easily believe that your product is of an inferior quality.

Your potential client should feel that they need this product.

The product must therefore look inviting and create a certain mood that suits the product. For example, bath products should give a clean, fresh feeling.

Photographers create the feel and look of an image by using a variety of lighting set-ups and sometimes props.

You, as the client will have different uses for different styles of images depending on the platform that the image will be used for, e.g. advertorial in a magazine, billboard or e-commerce websites and/or social media.

In the case of e-commerce sites, clients will usually require packshots.

Packshots are images of your products or product ranges, displaying the packaging, labels and appearance of products.

We will normally photograph these products on a white background in the form of a production line. One lighting set-up will be used and hardly ever will props or styling be introduced.

I obviously charge less for these kinds of photo sessions than for an advertorial product shoot that requires specialised lighting and styling.

Costing will be determined on the amount of products that must be photographed. I charge per hour. Please feel free to contact me for a discussion and quote.

See examples below of packshots:

When it comes to specialised product photography, the ball game changes. It will usually involve a complex lighting set-up, styling, creating of a mood and props.

These photo sessions takes time and patience. It is normally done for just one product or a small range.

This will also include more difficult to photograph products, e.g. products with chrome writing or shiny surfaces. Products that create glare or some difficult to photograph liquids.

See examples below:

So clearly, not all requirements for product photography are the same and I can therefore not charge the same for packshots as I would for specialised product photography.

I would love for you to contact me with your requirements. I am always open to my client’s ideas.

Lastly, when it comes to your products, please make sure that you provide me with clean, high quality products.

If I have to apply a lot of post production editing to your product to make it appear perfect, you will have to pay for the extra time spent on editing.

Small imperfections like skew labels, scratches or bad printing on labels will make my work harder and cost you more.

I look forward to hearing from you and assisting you with your product photography needs.