Product Photography
This body of work was created during my spring 2019 semester independent study course. I wanted to focus on enhancing my skills with product photography and still-life work after taking an editorial photography course the previous semester. I scheduled out the course to focus on shooting four different types of products starting with Jewelry.
For my first project, I photographed shoes, as well as a small section of Outshine Fruit Bars. I used colored wrapping paper to create reflective images of the shoes below them, giving the images more depth. I utilized colorful backgrounds to make the shoes pop or mimic the colors used within them. A challenge I faced with these images is that the shoes feature completely transparent mesh on the body. I couldn't stuff the shoes with paper, as you usually would, to give them shape. This is an essential feature of these Nike Training shoes, and I wanted the background to be visible through the shoes, making this feature more noticeable. To give the shoes their proper form, I stuffed paper into the toe box of the shoe, while placing small pieces of tape along the inside of the shoe to hold the tongue in place after tying them. The photographs of the Outshine Fruit Bars were a spontaneous addition to the project, inspired during a brief break from the shoes photoshoot.
I had some previous experience photographing watches for my internship with the National Watch and Clock Museum, but I had wanted to enhance my ability of properly lighting both gems and fine metals at the same time while still creating an interesting composition.
The next set of objects I photographed were headdresses that were created by my sister, Chelsea Monico, to sell on her Etsy page. These headdresses are spray-painted gold and silver, so lighting them was a challenge. I had to balance interesting compositions while still paying attention to how the light was making the colors shine. I wanted the headdress to still appear metallic even though they are spray painted wood, plastics, and jewelry.
Finally, I then branched out into photographing makeup products. Makeup is such a large part of product photography. I had to focus on properly lighting many of the glass bottles and containers. I had to research color and product choices that fit with up-to-date styles and trends, as well as create unique compositions for these products. I created both images that could be used to clearly show a product at an ecommerce site or in a store, as well as images used entice the user to purchase the product.
