7 Best Tips for Impressive Product Photography Backgrounds
Product photography background is an important factor in making the photo beautiful and impressive. They highlight the subject, helping the photo have its own identity. How to choose and arrange a professional background? The 7 best tips in the following article will help you know how to set up a background with the best quality.
What is Product Photography Background?
A product photography background refers to the surface or setting behind and around a product in a photograph. It enhances the product's visual appeal, highlights its features, and creates a context that complements the product without overshadowing it.
So, is setting up a product photography background important? The answer is definitely yes.
When creating an eye-catching and suitable background, the photographer will be interested, increase the “mood” to work to produce a quality photo set.
Create attraction for the photo when it is widely published to the market, attracting customers's attention when looking at the model.
Create a story for the product itself, helping customers understand that product more deeply.
However, for the same type of object, you cannot use the same product advertising background for two different lines. For example, the same cosmetic brand, but the product photography background used at night will be different from the day. That is enough for us to realize the importance of setting up a suitable product background.
Determine the high-end or mid-range customer segment to create a suitable background
Customer segmentation is an important part of a marketing strategy based on identifying small groups in the target customer segment to provide appropriate messages and content. Thereby supporting the development of a strong connection between the product, brand, and customers.
One of the customer segments that businesses are interested in when implementing their product promotion strategy is the income segment (high-end or low-end). This is a segment aimed at groups with the same annual or monthly income. Businesses will learn what they care about most, their preferences, and spending behavior, thereby implementing effective marketing campaigns.
Product photography in general and product photography background setup, in particular, must also comply with the financial conditions of the customer because each income level has its own characteristics. High-income people are mostly interested in product/service quality. Middle-income people aim for moderate products. They have the ability to spend on high-end items but the frequency of purchase is not high. Low-income groups are interested in expensive products/services, but the main goal is still quantity and price.
Based on each of the above characteristics, the photographer will arrange product photography backgrounds suitable for the needs of the partner.
Learn about the product to set up a suitable product photography background
The main ingredients and effects of the item help the stylist set up a reasonable product photography background, provide quick information, increase the highlight and message for the entire photo. Viewers will no longer feel bored because of reading a lot of words. Instead, the product photography background will offer part of the information and even the meaning of the product.
Photographing cosmetics and skin care is a case where this rule is often applied. For example, for a product whose main ingredient is aloe vera, the background will often prioritize bright colors with the tool being a green aloe vera tip. Setting up a product photography background like this helps viewers easily define the product information, create connections, and increase the appeal of the photo.
Choose and arrange the lighting for the photo
After choosing the right style, you need to plan the lighting arrangement. Light sources in photography are divided into two types. Natural light from the sun is preferred, but most photographers still use additional light bulbs to increase brightness. One thing you need to keep in mind when using light is how to take product photos without shadows.
Choose photography equipment
Even if you have an eye-catching product photography background and a "high-end" product, you cannot ignore the presence of specialized equipment. That is the camera, tripod, reflector, computer screen with camera connection, product stand, lamp, etc. Currently, the market has countless photographic equipment, so you should consider their quality and price.
Decorative objects have the function of supporting the product
To make the photo more special and vivid, stylists often arrange additional decorative objects for product photography backgrounds. However, they should not be overused to avoid confusing the layout and overshadowing the subject. Therefore, they should only have the function of supporting the product to stand out.
To make decorative objects highlight the subject, factors such as color and image layout are important. A common basic mistake in arranging decorative objects for photography is using too many different colors in the same frame. In addition, not clearly defining the shooting layout will also lead to the situation of using decorative objects in a "random" way. This leads to the situation of obscuring and "sinking" the product to be advertised.
Therefore, to overcome the above errors, the setup person should clearly identify the main color, secondary color, and accent color in the photo. At the same time, choose the appropriate shooting layout to adjust the details of the product photography background most effectively.
The main background color highlights the product
In a photo in general and a product photo in particular, the main color is the first element that affects the viewer's vision. It helps to evoke emotions, convey the message and meaning of the photo effectively. If red represents passion, desire, excitement, green represents perseverance, endurance, generosity, youth, etc.
When choosing a product photography background, the color factor also needs to be paid attention to. To have a background that matches the harmonious color, highlighting the subject, there are 6 basic color-matching principles that photographers cannot ignore:
Monochromatic color matching
Monochromatic colors are the most basic colors. They are the main colors in the background of the finished product photography. These colors are only adjusted by shade, that is, from dark to light to produce a secondary color.
Analogous color matching
Photographers will match colors with a main color and different colors according to rank. In the rank, it will be divided into first rank (combining 2 colors), second rank (combining the first-rank color with another color).
Complementary color matching
Complementary product photography background color matching (or contrasting colors) are colors on the color wheel that are opposite each other. Usually, designers will choose a main color, then find the "opposite" color to that main color.
Triadic Complementary Color Scheme
The photographer will choose a main color for the product photography background, then use the isosceles triangle to find the remaining two complementary colors to create 3 primary colors.
Rectangular Tetradic Complementary Color Scheme
This is a complex color scheme in product photography. The rectangular tetradic is basically no different from the 2-color contrast scheme, but instead, the designer needs to find 4 colors. Usually, it will be a pair of warm colors and a pair of cool colors.
Split-complementary Color Scheme
Split-complementary color scheme is similar to the complementary color scheme, but you need to choose at least 4 colors for a basic alternating color palette. With this principle, the designer will be able to create many different color palettes with new, flexible color pairs that need to create highlights.
Take advantage of 3D product photography background
The technology era makes product photography easier and faster in the background setup stage. 3D product photography is an optimal choice for the cost, time, and effort that many brands prioritize. Steps such as preparing props, decorative items, arranging concepts, post-production, etc. are all simplified.
The most important thing at this time is that the photographer takes a photo of the product subject on a plain, monochrome background and combines it into the 3D product photography background that has been selected for the most harmony and quality.
Background brings high visual efficiency, increasing the aesthetics of the image. Currently, there are many backgrounds that are loved and chosen for use when taking pictures.
Some impressive product advertising backgrounds
Product photography is essentially recording that product along with certain meanings. Usually, it will be the most prominent part of each photo. Everything in the product photography background will contribute to enhancing the value or explaining something related to the product. Thanks to the background, the photo can relatively fully express the author's intentions, such as uses, ingredients, fuel, outstanding features, etc.
Beautiful images help customers easily receive up to 90% compared to written words. Therefore, setting up a reasonable setting to show all the strengths of the product through the photo plays an important role. Applying this method, most marketers cannot ignore the use of images to promote their products.
Currently, there are many types of product backgrounds, such as monochrome backgrounds, backgrounds with decorative objects, outdoor scenes, etc. Depending on each type of product or customer's goals, photography service providers can arrange different product photography settings and tools. However, no matter how creative, you should still arrange the product to match its background to achieve optimal advertising effectiveness.
White product photography background or set layout with accessories
Monochromatic product photography backgrounds are often used, especially when using product photography backgrounds for advertising on e-commerce sites. Backgrounds with bright colors such as white or even pink, yellow are still widely used because of their popularity and basicity.
When using a bright product photography background, the product will be emphasized more than other neutral colors. At that time, customers will immediately pay attention to the product without having to go through other complicated images of the photo. In addition, when using these backgrounds, photo editors can separate the background simply without being affected by decorative objects.
Black background or 3D shadow product photography background
Products that have a certain gloss and reflectivity should be photographed with a dark product photography background then cast a reasonable shadow. This is often applied to jewelry, gold, and silver, products with metal shells, etc. Although applied according to the model, this is still an unexpectedly effective way of taking advertising photos because of the difficulty of this type of product.
When taking product photos with a dark background, the photo easily highlights the color of the packaging design. From there, it creates an attraction for customers every time they look at the photo. Along with that, the shadow of the object will create a mysterious and luxurious product.
Multi-color product photography background with accessories
Product photography backgrounds with accessories require the photography team to have good background setup skills. Only with a professional artistic eye and experience can the photo background become an "assistant" to enhance the remaining subject in the photo. When arranging the scene, it is necessary to create a unified and logical entity to make each photo reasonable.
There are many ways to create a theme for the product, which can be random or a theme based on the function, use, or origin of the product. Based on the original idea, you can choose decorative objects according to the right meaning. When taking photos with such unique ideas, not only consumers and users but also potential customers will pay attention to the product.
For example, the product is extracted from gotu kola, which is a natural benign ingredient. Therefore, when taking photos of this product, the brand will use gotu kola as a product photography background to highlight its ingredients. It is especially useful for cosmetic products because women often pay attention to skin safety.
In addition, if there is an investment in professional product photography, businesses can spend time creating advertising backgrounds according to event milestones or trends at that time - Christmas holidays, company birthdays, Tet holidays, Black Friday, etc. However, such images are only for advertising campaigns in a short period of time.
Conclusion
An impressive product photography background can make all the difference in showcasing your products effectively. By implementing these seven tips, you can elevate your photos to a professional level. Remember to choose backgrounds that complement your product, use consistent lighting, and experiment with textures or props to add depth. Post-processing can further enhance your images, making them more appealing to potential customers.