Pro product shots
Watch and learn as Dan Mold shows you how to capture fantastic high-end lifestyle product pictures at home with some basic items
Take your time and create stylish lifestyle product pictures
If you’re interested in product photography but don’t have a home studio, why not consider lifestyle product photography instead?
This niche genre is used to capture products in the real world. Such images might depict an object surrounded by relevant props (a silver wristband draped across a marble surface, next to a white flower head), or an object being used (a hand holding a glass of champagne, with a gold bracelet on the wrist). Lifestyle images are particularly popular on Instagram, with brands such as @watchgecko using them to show off their products.
This style of photography suits almost any object, but we chose to use a classic watch. Not only are watches commonplace items, but there’s one for almost every occasion you can think of. If you have a dress watch and a dive watch, for example, you could create two very different arrangements. The key is to pair your product with a few complementary items, without cluttering the frame.
The Seiko SNK809 we chose to shoot is based on classic military field and ‘flieger’ pilots’ watches, taking its cues from old military watches. Its rugged aesthetic lends itself to outdoorsy items, hence the rope, canvas bag and leather straps.
Find a good source of natural light, window light on an overcast day will give you a wonderfully diffused type of lighting, similar to that of a flash with a softbox. Though you could also try shooting at sunrise or sunset to inject some warmer tones into your still life shots and give them a completely different feel.
An LED light can also be rather beneficial if you don’t happen to have a bright window available and a piece of black card can be used as a ‘flag’ to stop harsh reflections appearing on the face of your watch.
So grab your favourite timepiece and a few other inexpensive items to dress the scene, read the step by step below and watch the accompanying video lesson to see how you can achieve professional product pictures at home too.