How to Take Pictures For Your Catalog Like A Pro (Even When You're Not)

 It doesn’t take a professional photographer to take great photos for a catalog. Especially when marketing budgets are getting cut, it’s important for marketers to put on more “hats” and become photographers. Even if you’ve never taken professional-caliber pictures in your life, by following these easy steps, you can take catalog pictures that will make customers pick up the phone to place an order as soon as they see the products!

1. Create a blank white background. Cluttered or patterned backgrounds distract from the product’s details. To create a cheap white background, all you have to do is hang a white sheet against the wall and drape it on the table or surface you will be placing the products on.

Another option is to buy a light box. A light box can be something as simple as a homemade box made of white poster board, or you can purchase a professional light box for about $200 to $300. The Westcott light box is a popular option.   

2. Direct lamps with bright white light bulbs into the light box or straight onto the sheet. This eliminates shadows.

3. Set up your camera to use a large depth of field. Shoot near the maximum your camera and lens will allow, say f/22. You’ll need to shoot at a shutter speed that won’t allow too much coloration from ambient light. The longer you leave the shutter open, the more “yellowish” your lights will look. To get a bright white background, shoot at f/22 at 1/30 sec at ISO 100 (shutter speed).

4. Overexpose the picture by two or three stops or the camera’s sensor might be confused and gray out the picture.

5. For a 35 mm camera, keep in the zoom range of 80mm to 120mm. Any wider can distort the picture, and any tighter takes away depth of the picture.

6. Take pictures from different angles and different depths. Get close-ups of the product and long views. The composition of the photo can really impact how well the product looks. Using the rule of thirds is very important – frame your subject to fall at one of the intersection points instead of dead center.

7. Shoot pictures near natural light. Shooting by a window or even outside on a nice day is the best way to get your photos to look professional. Natural light is the preferred light of pro photographers, which is why so many photo shoots take place outside.

8. Crop the photo in Photoshop or another image editor. If you didn’t quite follow the rule of thirds while taking the pic, you can crop it so it looks that way. You can also make the photo brighter or sharper in your image editor. You can find Photoshop Basics on the Adobe web site.

By getting the lighting just right to avoid unwanted shadows and using a white background, your catalog photos will look just as good as if you paid a $5,000 photographer to take the shots. You can now use those savings to print catalogs from a very reliable printer!