Customers commissioning photos of their products for online stores are often unsure whether the white variants of the photographed items will be properly exposed. They fear that the products will not stand out from the background, will merge with it, and thus become invisible.However, let’s dispel all doubts – a white product on a white background can look great. However, it is worth remembering some important elements.
What to look out for?
To create the perfect packshot of a white product, it is not enough just to have a uniform background and lights. It is extremely important to work skillfully with light.
One of the first rules is to cut off the edges of the subject being photographed from the background. However, this goal cannot be achieved at the expense of the background itself. Well-made packshots on a white background are those in which we will not find any burn-through, even in the brightest areas.
The proper use of shadows is also significant – they should be delicate, highlighting the light shade of the product. Incorrectly introducing them can make the photographed subject appear dirty. The use of different types of light and shadow sequences also allows to highlight the texture of the material, thus showing how it behaves in light. A perfect enhancement of the product’s appeal is the use of high contrasts. This will keep the white from appearing gray.
Packshots on a white background and their advantages
Why photograph a white product on a white background? There are plenty of reasons, but we will focus on a few of them. First – consistency. Surely you know the importance of a brand’s photo and the appearance of its website. An orderly presentation of products encourages people to buy them. So when deciding on a white background with other color variations of items, it is not worth using other colors or black for white products. This will maintain the uniformity of their presentation.
Also, marketplaces strive to maintain a clear and uniform appearance, so usually one of the rules for sales is to put photos on a white or transparent background. For this reason, photos with a different colored background may be rejected. Instead of giving up on selling a white product in the marketplaces, it is worth taking a high-quality packshot on a white background.
Last but not least, the snow-white background ensures an attractive appearance of the products. Not only does it make them look clean and neat, but it also highlights their strengths while attracting customer attention.
Examples
White products on a white background can look fantastic. To convince the unconvinced, we will show how the theory looks in practice.
Photography for a cosmetics brand
One of our clients is Ministry of Good Soap, a brand of natural cosmetics. The products we photographed, for example, are bottles of serum. An extremely important procedure here was the clear separation of the product from the background. Soft shadows can be seen on its sides. Equally important are the flashes of light visible on the flasks. These, in turn, deepen the impression of three-dimensionality of the photo, and also make the product in the picture not appear gray.
A photo on ghost mannequin
We take photographs for fashion house La Mania. Packshots on the ghost mannequin, as opposed to photos taken flat, give the impression of lightness and spatiality of the product. It is also important to emphasize the shape of the silhouette. In this case, the light was directed from above, so that the clothes were illuminated at the bust. It is also worth highlighting the clearly defined edge of the photographed garments. As a result, they not only do not blend into the background, but also look very attractive.
Photos of home accessories
It would seem that photographing porcelain is a difficult challenge. However, the realization for the Dajar brand, a distributor of home appliance products and garden furniture, showed that even this is not an obstacle. Undoubtedly, plates are a flat product, which means that presenting them in an attractive way requires an individual approach. Seeking spatiality in this flattened form, we relied on creating delicate shadows to build three-dimensionality, as well as highlighting the edges, which separated the plate from the background. An additional enlivening of the product’s form was to show the shine of the porcelain.
Textile photos
Socks can also be a difficult product to present. These we photographed for Raso – a manufacturer of cycling apparel. By operating light appropriately, using a sequence of shadow-light-shadow-light, we built the spatiality of the form and emphasized the expressive and clear texture of the material. Delicate shadows cut off the sock from the background while enhancing the effect of its cleanliness. In addition, the juicy and illuminating colors of the designs enhance this impression
Summary
As we can see from the above examples, taking a photo of a white product on a white background is possible. At marshalstudio, we make good packshots as well as ghost photos with the help of skillful use of light. This allows you to cut off the edges of the product from the background, build the spatiality of the form, and emphasize the texture of the material.
The use of a white background also ensures that photos for online stores are presented in an orderly, consistent manner. This will make the products catch the customer’s eye, and thus the offer, both in your online store and in marketplaces, will gain traction. This is extremely important; after all, customers “buy with their eyes,” right?
