Mobile Product Photography: Creative Styling

1. Introduction: Hey, what's up? What are you doing? I'm officially out of ideas. I need to take product photos, but it just can't come up with anything cool. Looks like you have a fear of a blank background. What you know, like the writer's block, The fear of blank page. Hmm, I guess it does make sense. You need to check out this course on creative styling for mobile product photography. I took it last week and now I'm overflowing with ideas. Just look at the photos I took. That, that is really cool. I want to create something like that. Where is this course? It's here, skill share. I'm Stan Sonova and let's dive deep into the creative styling for iphone product photography. Whether you want to create content for your own business or you want to become a brand photographer, You can start with just an iphone in your home. No need for a professional camera or a photo studio. But of course, if it was that easy, everyone would do it. So what is the defining factor for success? It's creativity. When you don't have high quality professional gear, you need to lean into your creativity if you can come up with creative ideas for product photography and turn them into reality at home with your iphone, you can build a profitable business. In just a few months, I became a product photographer in 2020, shooting photos in my bedroom. And in just two years, I was able to fulfill three of my big dreams. I quit my nine to five job, I started a Youtube channel, and I moved to an island. This course is a deep dive into the creative aspect of product photography. You will learn how to find inspiration for your product photos, how to come up with ideas, create mood boards, style products with props, and compose your images. It's perfect for beginner and intermediate content creators. And as a part of this course, you will take your own creative product photo and get some feedback from me. To get you started on this exciting and challenging journey of becoming a brand photographer, take this course to stand out to your creative ideas. And I will see you in the next class. 2. Class Project: Thank you for taking this course. I hope it will help you to take the next big step in your creative journey. The project of this course is to take your own creative product photo, using the tips you will have learned in this class. It may seem easy, but when it comes to actually doing the task, very few people can do it. Creating this project will define how dedicated you are to building your creative career. It will be a great starting point for your portfolio too. Once completed, share your project in a project gallery down below, to demonstrate that you are committed and ready to do the work to fulfill your dreams. And I'll be happy to give you some feedback. To complete this project, you will need to find inspiration for a product photo. Create a mood board. Gather the props background and a product set up a mini photo studio at home style. The product with props, Compose your image. Take edited on your iphone, submit it to the project gallery and get some feedback. Go ahead now and download the PDF checklist with all the steps you'll need to take to complete this project. You can find it in the project description down below. My goal for this course is to deconstruct my creative process. Share it with you and explain all the details so you won't have the fear of a black background. Think of this course as a part two to my first course on mobile product photography and skill share. That one oversees a few more details like optimizing your iphone settings, finding props for product photography, and taking and editing the photos all on your iphone. In this course, we are diving deep into the very creative aspect of product photography. But of course, I will share with you some other tips along the way to, if you also want to learn about finding clients for product photography, I have a very valuable PDF guide for you. With all the methods that work for me in a step by step process of communicating with your potential clients, there is nothing as rewarding as working with clients that value you, that value your creative work, that value your time, and that are ready to pay you your worth. But of course, it does take some effort to reach those clients and keep them happy. This is a very valuable guide, and other creators don't want to share this information with you because they're afraid of competition. But I'm a very confident creator and I don't like gate keeping. You will get this guide right after you finish watching the scores till the end and leave an honest review. Take a screenshot of that review and send it to my e mail or Instagram. And I will send this guide to you for free. And please leave an honest review because I highly appreciate constructive feedback so that I can make my courses even better. And yes, I am planning to release more. Let's move on to the next class. 3. Finding Inspiration for Product Photos: In this class, we'll learn about finding inspiration for a product photography. First, let me introduce the products I will use to demonstrate to you everything. In this course, I selected this soy candle from a brand, Jana. The second product is this Asa balancing oil from Mizuno Tura. The third one are these handmade incense sticks, 100% natural from desert incense. These are the type of products that I like to work with. Health and wellness is my niche. In this course, you will see me create three product photos of these products and I'll explain you everything in detail. Some people say that professionals work even without inspiration, but it's pretty hard to put yourself to work when you're uninspired. And it's even harder when you're stressed, burnt out, or depressed. The first step to finding inspiration for your work is to bring yourself in balance. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's good to stretch your creative boundaries, but it's not good to push yourself when all you need is rest. Don't sit and wait for the inspiration to come to you. Inspiration comes in the process, you just need to get started. You just need to set yourself in motion and you will arrive in the mental space abundant with inspiration. You see ideas do not appear from thin air. They're created on the basis of other ideas. In fact, there are no regional ideas under the sun, everything is a remix of everything. Setting yourself in motion can be as easy as scrolling. Pinterest, Instagram, or checking out brand's websites. The first method of finding inspiration for a product photography is checking out brand's online presence. Go to their website. Go to their Instagram, their Tiktok, Youtube, Pinterest. Check out what kind of product photos they're posting. Already. Read a product description ingredient list. Sometimes you can use an ingredient as a pro. Don't miss out on the opportunity of conveying ascent or a flavor with an ingredient. Also, checking out product reviews can be incredibly beneficial because you can learn something about product that only a customer would notice and their award can inspire an idea in your head. Every brand has mission and values, and those can inspire some creative ideas too. Usually they're featured on the website. And if not, you can ask about it your clients directly. As I'm checking the brand's online presence, I'm trying to boil down their aesthetic into three descriptive words for Miss Natura. It's natural, minimalistic, and glowing. The products are natural. The packaging is natural. The ingredients are natural and simple. There are literally five ingredients in this face soil. There is nothing that shouldn't be here and it's glowing because it helps the skin to glow. This face soil in particular has this golden color that's given, glow. So those words will help me to come up with my ideas. The descriptors for the Jana Soy candle are feminine, mystic, and playful. The design is very playful. The label says, Common Baby, let my fire. I think that's quite playful. The font is playful as well. It's given feminine because of this pinky color. It gives feminine because of the ingredients Rose and ba chui, mystic. Because of the color of this jar. Dark amber color. And it has a hidden crystal inside. So you want to make this candle a part of a ritual. It also smells amazing. I just wish I could convey the smell to you through the camera. It's so good I can't wait to light it on. The descriptors for the desert incense are natural, handmade, and spiritual. The incense sticks are made out of 100% natural ingredients. The packaging gives a very handmade quality as well. It's spiritual because of the label, because of the font used here as the logo. And you also would want to make this a part of some kind of a spiritual ritual. They smell amazing to you, so I'll use all of these descriptors to help me find inspiration for product photos that I'll create for these products. The main reason why we want to learn about the brand and the product is because you want to create product photos that will fit in with the brand aesthetic, their vision, their mission. We wouldn't want to create something that strays away in a totally different direction. Our product photos should introduce a new quality, new creative aspect, new feel to the brand's visuals. But they shouldn't look out of place. For example, I would not create photos for Miss Natura in this bright and colorful, trendy style, because the main descriptor is natural and that does not look very natural. The second method of finding inspiration for product photos is researching ideas online. I recommend Pinterest, Instagram, and hands follow some product photographers photography studios or brands on Instagrams. You will get a constant stream of new ideas to your feed. There is a list of my favorite creators in the PDF checklist with all the steps for course project. So if you haven't downloaded that by now, it's time to do it. When you like a post on Instagram, the algorithm will show you even more photos like that, so you can save even more ideas to your favorites folder. I have a folder like that where I'm constantly saving new photos that I like. And I come back to it before every single shoot that I do. Just in case when I look through it, I will have some new ideas sparked in my head. Hands is another great source of finding inspiration that not many people know about. It's on a professional network and you can find some really good ideas there. Not only in the product photography section, but also in the branding section and in the lifestyle photography as well. I really like diving deep into rabbit holes and pinterest. I start by searching something like skincare, product photography aesthetic. I open up a photo that I like. I look at the photos below. I click on some photos, there, I find similar photos. And this can go on for hours. I save everything that I like on one big ongoing board for product photography, and if you want, you can have a look. I will leave a link for it down below and you can follow me on Pinterest to stay updated with that board. It has a lot of photos in many different styles. As you're looking through the work of others, you're developing your own sense of style and your taste for product photography. When I look at a product photo, I don't see a pretty picture. I see the color scheme, the background, the angle from which the photo was taken, The lighting used for this photo, the position of the products, the props, the special elements, some effects, the editing style, the overall vibe, and the atmosphere. Deconstructing photos like this is an essential skill for every photographer. This is how we learn, and we're going to talk about it in detail in one of the next classes. What I want you to take away from this class is don't just sit and try to come up with an idea in your head. Instead, go ahead and do some research online about the brand, on the product, and research some ideas on Pinterest, Instagram, and B Hands. I do those two things before every single project that I start. Get started now by selecting a product that you will use for this project. It can be something that you already own, something that you will use, or something that your friends have, and you can borrow it. Research brands, online presence. Read the product reviews and the description and start compiling some ideas on an ongoing Pinterest board. In the next class, we're going to talk about creating mood boards in detail. 4. Creating Moodboards for Product Photography: Mood board is your point of reference for the project. It will help you to stay within the same aesthetic and create a cohesive project for the brand. Usually product photo shoots start on a high note, with a lot of inspiration and motivation, and ideas ready to be implemented. But with time, you may find yourself getting more tired and less and less inspired, especially if some of the ideas didn't work out as planned. In those cases, I recommend doing two things. The first one is to take a break and the second one is to look at your moodboard. To get yourself re inspired. Sometimes I just move on to the next idea and come back to the previous one later. Of course, when you're working with clients, creating a moodboard is essential to communicate your vision for the project to them. And make sure that you're on the same page when it comes to the aesthetic and the ideas that you're going to create. If by the end of the project you submit your work and the client says it's not exactly what they envisioned, you can always come back to the moodboard and make sure that you were aligned with them on their ideas, on the references and aesthetic. There are many ways to create moodboards. I would divide them into categories, personal and professional. When creating personal moodboards, you can make them as sloppy as you wish. You can simply screenshot all the photos that you like and store them in your iphone gallery. You can create a Pinterest board. If you're only looking for ideas on Pinterest, you can create an Instagram folder. If you're only looking for ideas on Instagram, you can also create your Moodboard in Canva. If you will use Canva Teams, that will be a bit more professional because then your clients can collaborate on the moodboard and they can add their notes and their own pictures for you. Another professional method is to create it in Google Slides because it also has a collaboration feature. You will add your pictures. They will add their pictures. You will add your notes. They will add their notes. And my favorite way to create moodboards, personal and professional, are using Miller Note. Miller Note is this professional online moodboard tool. They have many templates on their website. I will leave a link for you down below to check it out for yourself. There are two main differences between a personal moodboard and a professional mood board. For a personal moodboard, you want to have everything super nicely organized. Maybe there are different sections of this project and you want to keep them separate. And of course, the second difference is nodes with your clients, you want to be super clear why you added a specific picture to your moodboard. When you're creating a personal moodboard, you already know that, like, you don't need to specify anything. But if you edit this photo, for example, your clients will think that you're going to recreate something like this. Pretty much exactly, but you edit it because you like the color scheme or because you're going to use the same props, or because you want to shoot it from the same angle, and you need to specify that on the moodboard. Now I will create three mood boards for my three product photos for dessert incense, Mona, Tura, and Jana. All right, so this is Miller Note. I'm going to use one of their templates, the Moodboard template, to create my Moodboard. Now it's ready for me to fill in with reference photos. First, I'm going to go to Pinterest, and there I'm going to search for Skincare product photo aesthetic. And this first photo here, I like it already. I like the shadow play. I like the color scheme. I like the use of rock and fabric as props. So this one is definitely going on, my moodboard. I'm just taking a screenshot of that and adding it to Miller Note. Very easy. Next let's dive into a rabbit hole. We can start with one photo with some nice vibe and atmosphere just like this one. Then we're going to have a look at what's below it. These are some similar pictures. And we're going to keep clicking until we find something that we like. This one is going to be the next one. And right below it, I already see something that I like. This picture with a Bird of Paradise flower. I have this flowers growing around me. I could use it for the photo, but what is this one? I like this one so much because like the product is balancing with the flower and the rocks. And the name of my product is Asa Balancing Oil. So this one is for sure going on my mood board, I might integrate this idea. I really, really like it. And let me see what else we can find on Pinterus today. How about this photo right here? I really like the use of stone props as a part of the background and the light play in the shadow play. This makes the product stand out so nicely. So that's also going to my Moodboard. Next let's go to my Instagram saved folder and see if we can find something there. How about this one, the photo with a stool and the products on it? I really like the composition here, so it's going on the Moodboard as well. Is there anything else in my saved folder that I could use? Okay, let's add this one, a close up of the pipet with oil. I might integrate that to my idea. Why not? After that, I'm heading to hens and I'm going to search for natural skincare, product photography. There are many different projects on hands. Not just product photography, but also website design, and graphic design and branding. So we're just going to look through some projects and see if there is something inspiring. This project right here is really beautiful. I love the minimalistic compositions and the color schemes and everything. It's very beautiful. It's just not exactly what I'm envisioning for my project. But let's keep looking. Maybe there is something else. This one has a very nice and dark mood. I really like this product photos, but I think I'm looking for something in between this project and the previous one for my ideas. Okay, this is getting closer. I think I'm going to just add this picture on my moodboard because I do like the minimalism of it all. Again, the rock is used as a prop and I like the angle from which the photo is taken, because it's very, very powerful. Finally, let me go back to Pinterest, to my curated Pinterest board with more than 500 pins, which you can follow. So you will stay updated with all of my safe ideas. And I'm just going to add this picture right there because I like the light play on this face oil. And now I'm just going to add some colors that I could use for my background or props. And it's time to add some notes to make sure that I'm being really selective about the different elements from different photos so I can combine them and make something truly unique and my own. When you are making notes for the moodboard, you will need to deconstruct each photo into different elements, like the lighting, the composition, the styling, the props, the position of the products, the angle from which it was taken, some special effects, vibe, atmosphere, editing style, et cetera. Let me show you an example. When creating notes for my moodboard, I just want to highlight a few important elements in each photo that I could potentially integrate into my final product photo. Chances are I will not integrate all of these elements in one photo. But it will give me options. It will give me a good starting point from which my creative process will flourish. I can go in a totally different direction. I can come up with some original idea and use that my mood board and the different elements just going to give me a great starting point. So I'm just highlighting a few important things. Like for this first picture, for example, I highlighted that the rock and fabrica useless props. And that there is a beautiful shadow play and that the light is very soft and bright at the same time. And I'm just making notes like that for every single picture. And that will keep me on track with my aesthetic and the vision for the project. And don't worry about recreating someone's idea. If I just used these descriptors to create my photo, it would be a totally new and original picture that wouldn't look anything like this one. But the best ideas are created by combining different elements from different photos. Your new and original and unique idea will be a remix of a few ideas. And you can add your own elements to make it extra special. My moodboards are ready and it's time for you to do your moodboard for the project using any of the methods that I shared with you before. And I hope you already started creating an ongoing Moodboard on Pinterest or Miller. Next class, we're going to talk about sealing like an artist. 5. Steal Like an Artist: Everyone is after new and original ideas. Every brand wants to post something new and every photographer wants to start a trend that nobody has ever done before. So why are we creating mood boards and looking up references online and trying to create different elements from different photos and remixing things because the pursuit of originality and uniqueness is an illusion. Nothing is new under the sun. Everything is a remix of everything. Every new idea is created because we are influenced by something or we have a certain experience, something may appear new to us, but someone else will look at exactly the same thing and say, I think I've seen that before. Let me share with you six points why it's important to work with references for a product photography. Using someone's photo as a reference is key to learning product photography. Choose a photo, deconstruct it in different elements, and try to recreate it. You won't create exactly the same photo, but the process will help you to learn about styling, composition, lighting, and editing. There is no more effective way to learn. Using references will help you to develop your own sense of style and tasteful product photography much faster while gaining experience. Working with references for your product photos will help you to create trend. You work and that's what the brands are after they want to stand out on social media, they want to jump on trends. They want those likes and comments and sales. Someone started the trend of taking photos with transparent acrylic trays and some water. And all the brands were asking to create photos like that for their moisturizers and foaming cleansers and stuff like that. Working with references is absolutely essential when working with clients because you want to reach an alignment with them and when everything is presented nicely and organized on a professional moodboard, it adds professionalism points to you. Moodboard is one of the first things that you will show to your client. And you want to make that first impression really well, because that will set the tone for the rest of your communication with them. Using references means stealing like an artist. You use their work as your starting point. You put your own twist on that idea and you put it in the context of the brand that you're working with. For example, if you're taking photos of a candle, you can look for inspiration in the skincare niche and get some ideas from there as your starting point. And I recommend you to read the book still like an artist, if you want to learn more about the concept. Working with references allows you to work faster and smarter. When you will have a few projects in a week, you will not have enough energy, inspiration, and time to come up with all of the ideas in your head. Working with references will allow you to produce a lot of work in a shorter period of time and make more money. As you gain more and more experience working with references and deconstructing ideas on different aspects, you will start to come up with your own original ideas on your head because you've already seen a lot and you will be able to implement your ideas because you have the experience and you know how to do different things. When I started learning photography in 2011, my teacher gave me a lot of homework to find the work in the style that I like and try to recreate it that allowed me to learn faster and gain experience. And after two months of this intense learning, I started working as a professional photographer. I used to take some creative portraits of people in a photo studio and shoot some street style. So I'm recommending this method of learning to you only because it has worked wonders for me. If you're working with a client and they show you a reference that they like, you need to explain to them that you will not try to recreate something like that exactly. You will derive inspiration from it. Ask them what is so special about this reference? Why are they showing it to you? Help them to deconstruct it. Is it the light? Is it the props? Is it the model? Is it the location? Is it the editing style? Help them figure it out. Now we are ready to talk about composing images. So let's talk about it in the next class. 6. Composing Product Photos: In this class, we'll learn about composing images. I will share with you some photography composition rules and best practices to create well balanced photos. Later in the course, when I'll demonstrate to you how I take product photos for these products, I will show you the rules in action and also will break some rules, because to break the rules, you first need to know the rules. First, let's talk about the definition of composition in the context of product photography. It's the aesthetic arrangement of elements to create a visually pleasing and memorable image. It's not just capturing a pretty moment, It's incorporating principles of design and creativity to create a photo that will showcase the product in a best light. And that will resonate with viewers on a deeper emotional level. Next we're going to talk about the importance of composition. We'll cover some basic composition guidelines and then dive deeper into the advanced composition guidelines. So why is composition important nowadays? Product photos are the first point of contact for potential customers. We find out about new brands through social media and website ads. Well composed images can help to enhance brand credibility. People tend to buy more from brands that invest in high quality, professional photos. Also, well composed images can help customers to connect to the products on deeper level by evoking emotions. And of course, they help brands to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. Now let's imagine that you're scrolling Instagram and you stumble upon these two ads. Which one would you click on? Would it be the first one where the products are just positioned on the background? There are not props that shot from a angle. The only thing that's telling you something about the brand is the packaging. Or would it be the second one with some props, some shadowplay, interesting backgrounds? I bet it would be the second one. Brands using poorly composed product photos have no chance of standing out in overcrowded social media. And that's why composition is important in product photography. Let's move on to the basic composition guidelines. Some people call them rules or principles. These words are used interchangeably, but I really want you to think of them as guidelines. They can help you to avoid the fear of blank background, but it doesn't mean that you have to follow them, especially all at once. Now we're going to cover the rule of thirds, symmetry and asymmetry, composing with a light negative space and visual hierarchy. The rule of Thirds is the most ubiquitous composition guideline. It divides the frame into three by three grid with two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines. Every iphone has a feature that allows you to turn this grid on so you can align the subject of your photo along one of these lines, or on the intersection of those lines. Here are three of my photos where I used the rule of thirds to compose my images. Let's talk about using symmetry and asymmetry to compose your images. Both are very powerful tools for product photography and they both create totally different atmosphere and the vibe. The choice depends on the emotions you want to evoke with the photo. Have a look at the first photo. If you would divide it vertically, you would notice that the left side is the exact mirror of the right side. Using symmetry creates the sense of harmony and balance. Now have a look at the second photo. As you can see, it's not symmetrical. I showed exactly the same composition, but farther away. And I added some magnolia flowers. I played around with them to create a more dynamic and playful look. Now let's talk about composing with a light. The light significantly influences the overall mood, aesthetics and emphasis within an image. And there are two types of light, soft light and hard light. Soft light produces gradual and smooth transitions between highlights and shadows. Hard light results in sharp and well defined shadows with a more abrupt transition between highlights and shadows. In the example here, you can see a sun pendant shot with hard light. It only makes sense for a sun pendant to use very bright sun. Notice that I'm also using a very interesting shadow play here. It was created with a cocktail glass, and it resembles the reflections in the pool or in the ocean. And now this photo has the vibe of Eternal Summertime, just the perfect mood for this piece of jewelry. Here are a few more examples with skincare products. I show the first one on a very sunny day. And that's why the prop and the products are creating sharp, well defined shadows. And they become a part of the composition and styling elements. I showed the second photo on a cloudy day, but there was still some sun peeking through. And that's why you can see this beautiful light play at the background. But you can notice how the products and props are casting much softer shadows than in the first photo. I showed the third photo during the golden hour, maybe like 20 minutes before the sunset. And that allowed me to have this beautiful, well defined frame at the background. And I placed the product in the light to make it stand out and glow. The next guideline is negative space. Negative space is often referred to as empty or white space or air. It's the unoccupied area around the main subject of the photo. The use of negative space helps us to focus on the subject. It draws all of the attention to the one big element, our product, or a certain element of the product. It can also make the photo more aesthetically pleasing. It creates a sense of elegance and sophistication in product photography. There is a very fine line between not having enough negative space and having too much negative space. It's all about the visual balance. Let's look at these examples right here in the first picture here, you can see that there is not enough negative space around the products. They appear squeezed into the frame in the picture number three. On the other hand, we have a lot of negative space around the products, but it makes them look insignificant and small. Picture number two is a happy medium with just the right amount of negative space. It's important to have enough negative space around products, especially for photos for Instagram. Whenever a brand or you will post a picture, the only thing that's going to be visible from the profile view is the middle square part of your photo. And you wouldn't want anything to be cut off. So make sure to focus all of your composition in the middle square part of the photo. Now let's talk about the visual hierarchy. It's the intentional arrangement of props, products, and other elements within a composition to guide the viewer's attention to the main subject. Every element within the frame should have a purpose and certain elements should stand out more than the others. Products should stand out more than props. Now let's look at some common mistakes in visual hierarchy. The first one is distracting color. That purple prop is driving all of the attention to itself. Second mistake is distracting placement. That prop and two products on the right look way out of place. And a third mistake is distracting size. That huge prop on the right is driving all of the attention to itself. And all the props and products on the left don't really matter anymore. Now we are ready to dive deeper into the advanced composition guidelines. First, I recommend you to master the basic ones, take some photos, experiment with them, and then you can start using the Golden Ratio. Leading lines, framing, repetition and patterns, and unconventional perspectives. The first advanced guideline is the Golden ratio. It's an upgrade of the rule of thirds. Instead of using a grid that divides a picture in nine equal parts, we're using a spiral. This spiral has been observed in nature. It's appearing in the patterns of sea shells, the arrangement of leaves and flowers, it's in the proportion of certain animal bodies and it's in the galaxies. In photography, art, architecture, and design, the golden ratio is believed to create a aesthetically pleasing and harmonious compositions. When composing product photos, you can use the spiral to position your product and props and other elements. And that way you will create a more visually pleasing and well balanced photo. Next, let's talk about the leading lines. The purpose of leading lines is to create a visual pathway that draws attention to the product or to the certain element of a product. It makes a composition more engaging and interesting to look at. The lines can be actual lines present in the photo, or they can be implied by the arrangement of elements within a photo. Let's talk about framing. This is one of my favorite ways to compose my images. It's basically using objects or elements in the foreground or background to create a frame around the product, guiding the viewer's focus to it. In the first example here, you can see a Skincare oil floating in the frame. By the way, if you want to learn floating product photography, I already have a skillshare course about that. But you will need some Photoshop skills to be able to achieve this effect by framing the product with surrounding elements. You highlight its importance and guide the viewer's eyes to the intended focal point. In the second photo here you can see how I'm using two frames to compose the image. The first frame is this bathroom shelf and the second one is a shadow of that shelf. I think it's pretty genius. Here are a few other examples of using framing and product photography. In the first one, all you want to look at is the product in the basket. On the second photo, you can see that I'm using an organic object, a cactus, as my frame. And in the third one, I'm using a circular prop. But I'm placing it at the back just to connect the left side of the composition to the right. One next guideline we're going to talk about is the repetition and patterns. It's the intentional use of repeated shapes, colors, and objects that creates a sense of order and rhythm within a frame. In the example on the left here, you can see a product photo of some Guasha and Jade rollers. And notice that I'm also using a purple flower to break this pattern, to break this composition and make it even more interesting to look at Pattern product photos do such a great job capturing viewers attention on social media because as you're scrolling the mess of Instagram photos, you're finally stumbling upon something so nice and orderly that you just can't help yourself but want to look at it. Here are a few other examples of using repetition and patterns in product photos. The first photo is a photo of incense sticks with sharp shadows. It's such a simple yet dynamic image. In a second photo, I'm creating a visual rhythm by repeating the shape of the product and by placing them on the stairs. And the third photo is a more classic example of a pattern product photo for the skin care oil. I just took one photo of an open bottle of the packaging and a closed bottle, and then I repeated them in Photoshop. And finally, let's talk about using unconventional perspectives to compose our images. It means to capture a product from an unexpected or unusual angle of viewpoint. An example here you can see that I captured the face bound from underneath through a piece of glass. This is not how you would usually look at this product in your home when using it. This unique view evokes curiosity and makes the product stand out in the social media. Let's look at three more examples of using unconventional perspectives. In the first photo, here I'm making some skincare products float. Again, this is not something you would see every day. But this allows us to look at the product from different angles and it creates a visually appealing and engaging composition. In a second example, I'm using a mirror that allows us to integrate the sky as our background and look at the product from underneath. And in a third photo, I'm showcasing a product in a unique way. Instead of capturing a perfectly intact rose lemonade bottle, I am smashing it down and adding some real roses to convey the scent and the feeling of this lemonade. I hope this photos inspired you to start thinking out of the box when composing your images. And when you've mastered the basic and advanced composition guidelines, you can start breaking the rules. Intentionally, intentionally, breaking the rules. It can be an opportunity to experiment and discover unique visual expressions and stand out with your photography even more. Break the rules when you want to create more abstract and artistic compositions and when you want to tell a story through the image. Now after learning the composition, we are ready to delve deep into the creation process. 7. Shooting Product Photo #1: Let's shoot our first concept. All right, now I'm going to take a product photo of the Aca balancing oil. And I'm going to do it at home using my iphone 12. Let me show you how. So It's the golden hour right now and I have these beautiful sunbeams enter my room through the window. I'm just going to wait for them to climb a bit higher up the wall. And then I'll move the table to the left and set up my composition somewhere here in this area. So for my props, I have a few options. These are props from btonton. They are fake stones with flat bottom. So it's easier to stack them in all kinds of ways and I could just like balance my product on the top here. These ones I found on the street, like it's just the best way to find unique props to make your photography stand out is to keep your eyes peeled for really cool stuff outside here. Same situations. I found these two cut offs on the street and I picked them up and I use them for my product photography. And I absolutely love how I can style my products and use different combinations. I'm not really sure about these props. I think they're too white, too stark for the color scheme of my project. Even though the product pops on this photo, I don't think it really works with the color scheme of the brand and the overall aesthetic that I'm going for with my product photos. So this is a no, These ones I actually really, really like. But again, right now, I think I want to go for something a little bit more textured. Because these, to me, look too perfect when compared to something like this. Something like a real stone. So I'm going through this one and I need to hurry up because the light is actually in kind of perfect position right now. All right? I have lots of background options that I could use for this project. Something that fits in with the brand color scheme. Let's try a few of them and see which one works best. And actually I'm thinking to use just one background as an infinity background for this idea. Could use something quite neutral like this. Could you use something a little bit more yellow like this? This is actually really, really good. This color, I think is very similar to the Prop color, so it wouldn't really look very good. This one is too brown. It doesn't really complement anything in here. It just clashes with the color of the packaging. This brown one, I think it's too dark. I don't like brown here. It's between these two. It's whether a little bit more warm and bright or a little bit more gray and muted. I think I'm going to use this yellow e beige color to contrast and complement this cold gray color of the props. I think this way the whole picture going to look more saturated, bright and interesting. I'm just going to use masking tape to tape my background to the wall. Here I can style those props in many different configurations. And please remember that when styling products with props, there is no right or wrong way to do it. It's all about your artistic vision and intention behind every action that you take. At the beginning, you may be not very confident in your creative decisions. You may feel like you don't know what you're doing. But with time, through consistent practice and through working with references and developing your own sense of style and tasteful proto photography, you will start putting thoughts behind every single action of yours. For example, here I've just added a piece of foilge and a flower to add some additional interest to the photo. Create that beautiful shadow, play at the background. Adding that much needed element of nature to this photo to bring life to it, to convey the sense of beauty. Whenever I'm working on my photo, I always come back to my three main descriptors. And as a reminder, three descriptors for Miss Natura were natural, glowing, and minimalistic. When I'm taking photos with an iphone, I always zoom into 1.3 maximum to reduce the lens distortion. So here it is. Here is the final photo that I've created for Inatura as balancing oil. I think it's giving natural, minimalistic and glowing all the things that we want and I think it's very eye capturing. If you were scrolling Instagram, would you stop to take a closer look at this photo? And now we are ready to move on to our next concept. 8. Shooting Product Photo #2: Let's shoot our second concept. All right. It's another day. And I'm ready to take a photo of the Jana soy candle. I'm going to use the natural light in the courtyard. I'm about to stab my mini product photography studio at home. And in this class I'm going to focus on different types of light and how you can use it for product photography to make it look a bit more interesting and stylized. So let's step deep into that. I'm setting up my mini photo studio in the shade, so this can be done inside a room, in an apartment, or a house. I'm bringing my backgrounds the same as I used before because the color scheme of this Jana brand is very similar to the Mzonatura. I'm just testing which of the backgrounds will work best in this light. I went for the dark brown one because as a prop, I'm going to use this leaf and it's going to create the most contrast, and it's going to create a very cozy feeling. And for candles, all I want is cozy. Then I got to styling. At first, I tried placing the candle on a stool, but it looked very boring and the colors clashed in a weird way. So I decided to introduce one of my concrete trays from Biton Fn to introduce a new color and a new texture. But one wasn't enough, so I added another one to create even more dimension in this photo. And then I taped this leaf at the back, so this is how it's looking so far. And then I wanted to make sure that I made the right choice for the background. As you can see, this yellow bash makes the leaf look dirty. We didn't want that. This gray color had a good contrast with the leaf, but it made the photo look cold and not cozy at all. This color was very similar to the leaf, so I didn't use that. This one, It's just a no, it's like a totally different tone. I definitely made the right choice for the dark brown background for my next styling element. I wanted to add some fabric, and I'm using just a pillow case. This one is made of linen and it has a very nice, luxurious texture. When working with fabric, you really need to go for high end pieces. Otherwise they can make the photo look cheap. I just fluffed it up and created some folds to add interest to my photo. For my next styling element, I'm adding burnt match sticks. I think it's a very nice touch and I really like using props that makes sense for the product here. I'm just testing how I want to introduce the fire as a styling element to the foreground of my picture, and I think it's going to look fire. And now let me show you a few lighting options that I could use for this photo. This is soft light. You can see the shadows are not very well defined. The light is bright, but it's diffused. You can get the light inside the room, or you can get the light on a cloudy day because the sunlight is going to get diffused by the clouds. This is a light play practically. It's a sunny bunny. And you'll see in a little bit how I'm creating it. This is hard light. At this point, the sun started to move and the sunbeams were entering at a different level. And they were shining bright on my scene, even under the roof. As you can see, the shadows are very sharp, well defined, and the light is bright and strong. And this is shadow play. I can introduce a shadow by placing any object. In this case, I'm using a palm leaf in between my light source and my scene. First, I'm taking some photos with a soft light. I just want to create a few different options for myself to choose from later. I'm using my mood board as a point of reference and as a way to reinspire myself. When taking photos, I always make sure to capture the same scene from different angles, closer up and farther away. If you want to learn more about taking product photos with your iphone, which settings to use? How to take photos, precisely, how to select them and edit them. I recommend watching my other course, Mobile Product Photography at home with an iphone. You can find it on skill share as well. As you can see, I'm shooting this on a very sunny and bright day, and that means I can create a light play with a round mirror. I'm just going to create a sunny bunny and direct it at my scene. This mimics the spotlight in a professional photo studio. This is such an easy way to create a stunning effect on a product photo and draw all of the attention to your product. So I'm just setting up my iphone on a tripod, and while one hand is directing the sunny bunny to my product, another one is pressing the button. My hand with a sunny bunny wasn't very steady, but I made sure to capture a lot of photos, so you can choose the best one later. And here is something that I was very excited to try out. I wanted to introduce fire as a styling element, so I just lit up a match stick and I put it in front of my scene. So this is how it's looking. Here I am, again trying to capture a lot of photos. And in the end, I actually asked my boyfriend to hold the mirror for me to create the sunny bunny while I was creating this fire effect. And now I'm ready to show you the final photo. And here's the final photo. I am very proud of this. I like how styled it is. It's definitely not the lifestyle picture. No, it's very intentional. It's very precise. I love the sunny bunny, how it creates almost a sharp diagonal shape on the surface of the candle jar. I love the introduction of the fabric to create some softness. I love the introduction of the fire. Continue conveying that element of coziness. I love the contrast of the background color with the prop and I love the match sticks. They add such a nice point of interest on this picture. I love it a lot, and I hope you love it too. Now let's move on to our third shooting concept. 9. Shooting Product Photo #3: Let's shoot our third concept. All right, I'm ready to take a product photo of the desert incense. And for this idea I'm going to go very natural and very minimalistic. And in this class I'm going to focus more on backgrounds. How to choose backgrounds, how to set up backgrounds so that you will have a good variation of photos using the same backgrounds within the same project or from one project to another. Let's dive deep into that. It's gotten very sunny again, so this is the prop that I'm going to use. I found it in a garden and I really, really like this piece of driftwood, I guess. I'm thinking to create a very simple composition to make this incense sticks a part of the nature. And I will need to just probably lean it on the background, put the product, position it somehow, and then take a photo. That's going to be very simple. Now, backgrounds, You've seen these bad boys before. These are just the backgrounds that fit in with the color scheme of my project. This is a big benefit of working with brands in the same aesthetic, in the same niche. Because you can reuse the same backgrounds and props from one project to the next and keep your costs down. However, when you are working for clients, especially for bigger clients, you can include costs for backgrounds and props, for models, locations, whatever you need into your quote, so they will pay for that. I have a couple of papers here and these are some craft materials. These are foamy, plasticy, synthetic kind of materials from the craft store about choosing the right backdrops. Since I'm not working with any kind of liquid products right now and I'm not planning to do any product smear or product swatch. I can work with materials like paper and whatever this is, this is something plasticy, foamy, but it can easily absorb some spill on it. If I want to work with products like that, I can put a piece of glass on top of my background to keep the color and the texture, but keep it protected from the liquids. Alternatively, I could also use specialized vinyl backdrops for product photography or something else, like a bathroom tile, for example. I really like using those because they have interesting texture and color, they look very unique. And in some cases, I can also use walls as my backgrounds, especially if they have a nice and luxurious looking texture. This is not my favorite, so that's why I'm going to use my other backgrounds. When it comes to choosing the color, I always come back to the brand and the aesthetic of the brand and the brand color scheme. And I'm trying to make everything work together. This background color looks very similar to the color of my packaging. It complements the color of the wood. It's very natural as well. It makes the picture look very calm. I kind of like that. If I were to shoot my product on the background without the wood, it would look really, really boring. But since I'm breaking it up, this can work. Here is our next contestant. It makes the photo look more bright because it's much lighter than the previous one. When I put it next to each other, this one is so, so gray. While if it's just alone, it's more beige gray. But since this background is so bright and such rated, it makes the product look very dull and gray And it does not stand out. The background is drawing all of the attention to itself and I don't like that. So this is enough for me. How about this background color now? It's very saturated brown. And it complements the color of the text and the logo on the packaging. Which I think it's quite flattering. It's very interesting. So now, how about brown background? The prop practically disappears on this background. It does make the product stand out more and it is a vibe. The difference between the background and the prop is just the texture and the product here is the main character. I wouldn't always go for this look, but for this idea, I think this is so far my favorite. I really like how the product shines here. Our final contestant is this background and it's just not giving, it's just not the same as the brown one. I fell in love with the idea of creating a monochromatic look. So we are going with this. Okay, so I'm never skipping this step before taking any photo. I'm going to clean my lens. I'm really happy with the photo that I've taken. Now, I want to take a minute to show you a few different ways of how to set up your backgrounds. Even if you have two background colors like this and that, for example, you could already take four different photos. The first way to set up a background is to set up an infinity background. You don't see where it starts and where it ends. There is no lines over here. There's nothing overlapping. It's just one continuous color. But it's going to give me a gradient on a photo. I could potentially style my product somewhere here and take a photo, and it will be one continuous background. Another way to set up a background is to use one color on the wall, another one on a table or on the floor. And when I'm taking a photo of my styled scene, this is just an example. I wouldn't style it like that. Okay, I can do it straight up or I can do it from this angle or from that angle. And that way there will be this diagonal line on the background. For the same projects with the same colors, I can also set up this background as an infinity background and I can swap them. So this background would go on a table and this one would go on the wall. And that's how with just two different backgrounds, we can create at least four different photos. If you add some light play on it or some shadow play. If you take some photos with a hard light and some soft light, you're going to have a great variety of photos for one project with minimal resources and minimal investment. 10. Conclusion: So now, after you've seen me create three product photos and you've seen my whole creative process in detail, you're ready to take your own creative product photo. You have everything you need to get started. And it may seem like a small and significant thing to do, But when it actually comes to doing the project, you may find that it's not as easy as it seems. It only gets easier with experience. You wouldn't want to find yourself in a situation when you took on a client project and figured out that you're unable to deliver. You're unable to deliver on your promise. But in business, all we want to do is underpromise and overdeliver. Making this little project happen is a major step towards making your dream of becoming a brand creator come true. I hope this course got you inspired. I hope you're overflowing with ideas and ready to get to work. Don't postpone anything. All it usually takes is just the first step. And as I mentioned before, you don't even need to get up from your couch. You can open Pinterest or Instagram on your phone and start researching ideas online. If you also want to learn about finding clients for product photography, I have a free PDF guide waiting for you. Go ahead and leave a review under this course and send the screenshot to my Instagram or E mail. I'm happy to listen to and implement your feedback to make this learning experience even better and more fun for you. If you haven't watched my previous course on skill share about mobile product photography, I highly recommend you to check it out as well. Because there I dive in much more detail about finding props for product photography. Working with the natural light, Optimizing your iphone settings, taking and editing photos on your iphone. I made these two courses to work together, and with the PDF guide about finding clients, you will be ready to start your creative career. Meanwhile, join my Youtube community, subscribe to the Stancino channel to hang out with me on the island to take some product photos and to design the lifestyle of your dreams with me. I hope my course helped you on your creative journey, and I'll see in my next one. Peace.