There is a common idea in product photography that every professional packshot photographer will be aware of. That is the idea that waiting to take a shot until an action is at its climax is the best way to deliver the desired product photograph. In many cases this does work, wanting to wait until the model is in the exact position planned to show off a drink, or posing with a piece of sporting equipment.

However, we believe those moments between starting the action and finishing it offers a fantastic way to tell the story of your product. These moments will be called the in-between moments of a shot, but we do appreciate there is some debate about the terminology.

What is an in-between moment?

To make things a little more complicated, product photography defines this moment as both the decisive moment in a product shot as well as the opposite moment. When we say the decisive moment we mean that moment in an image when everything is in perfect alignment, capturing the brand tone, theme and emotion that you wish to portray to customers.

In-between moments are often viewed as that point before the climax of a shot, such as someone reaching for a bottle of beer as opposed to drinking from it. As a packshot photographer, you will have a wealth of experience working on similar photoshoots where you want to capture someone eating or drinking the product, but have you thought about those moments before?

You may discover that these in-between moments provide a unique perspective, a quieter insight into the product that is still easy to relate to.

What kind of narrative does it provide?

This is an interesting question to answer for those that work in product photography because it may just open your eyes to some new ideas.

Let’s start with suspense. Clearly, we all want to create suspense and drama in product photographs that require that kind of storytelling but it can be difficult to do when the person is already drinking from the bottle. With an in-between moment, you can capture those moments of reaching for a bottle or ordering from a waiter. It can build that story you wish to create as a packshot photographer across multiple images on a social media feed or in a magazine.

Aside from the suspense and drama, it is a fantastic way of adding variety and personality to your product photographs. These images will seem like different moments in time, differing from the uniform actions that have become a little predictable in the world of product photography.

Summary

This may seem like a relatively obvious concept to some in the world of product photography but we feel it is a trick that many forget to utilise. The job of a packshot photographer is to create interest and draw those potential customers into the brand’s story. By adding layers of suspense, interest and originality to the images is an effective way to deliver these results, especially when combined with those traditional action shots.