2007-10-04T06:31:47-07:00 Practical Ecommerce info@practicalecommerce.com http://www.practicalecommerce.com/ Copyright 2007 Confluence Publishing DBA Practical Ecommerce http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/524/Photography-More-Than-a-Decent-Camera/#comment3792 2007-10-04T06:31:47-07:00

I found this article very helpful. We are cookbook publishers and in addition to product shots, we frequently take food shots for web use (opting to use professional photography for book covers). The links you included in the article are an asset. THANKS Sheila Simmons, Publisher, Great American Publishers http:/www.greatamericanpublishers.com

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/524/Photography-More-Than-a-Decent-Camera/#comment3401 2007-07-31T11:36:15-07:00

Great Article. I found it to be very informative and helpful Thanks

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/524/Photography-More-Than-a-Decent-Camera/#comment3352 2007-07-21T02:09:35-07:00

I misspent a couple of decades as a freelance commercial photographer in Los Angeles, doing many procuct catalogues for everything from furniture to diamonds. I've traded in my Hasselblads for digital hobbying at this point, but if those years taught one lesson, it was that to take a good product picture, you have to pause for a moment and think about it: think about what the designer accomplished when creating it, what makes the product likeable, and, most importantly, what a potential user (read 'buyer') might find striking and appealing. Then circle the thing, find the angle (then lens or, in today's terms, zoom setting) that best captures what you decided to emphasize, and then move the lights until you've got it. After several thousand shots, the lighting will be the easiest part.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/524/Photography-More-Than-a-Decent-Camera/#comment3349 2007-07-20T15:21:08-07:00

I love the fact that you really address the issue of lighting. As you have made clear in your article, lighting is the key to good product photography. In my photography class in college, we had to do product photos, I hated it. It wasn't as fun as shooting some of the other assignments, but now I am so glad we did it.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/524/Photography-More-Than-a-Decent-Camera/#comment3346 2007-07-19T21:51:25-07:00

As an amateur photographer, I dabble in taking (eccomerce) photos of products and I agree that is much more difficult than it looks, and lighting is such a key component to the finished photo. I'm mildly dangerous with the camera, but still working on getting better lighting. I was a little surprised that there wasn't any discussion on the topic of software mentioned at the beginning of the article. Software like Photoshop can address many of the sins of photography - poor lighting, shadows, focus, color correction, undesireable background, etc. to make a OK picture look "great". It can't however correct pictures that don't capture the key elements of the subject. I also use a Photoshop filter add-on program from Alien Skin called Eye Impact to add those nice shadows that make a flat photograph look more 3-D. Really adds that extra punch when the original picture background doesn't have the right shadows to give a sense of depth. Very helpful article. Bob www.adsvalue.com