The 5 most common post-production mistakes made in product photography
And how to avoid them…

In an age of endless photo editing software and apps, post-production has become one of the most important parts of a photographer’s job. Despite this, any good photographer will tell you that shooting is still paramount and post-production software should only be used to enhance good photos instead of fixing bad ones.

As it is unlikely that any product photography used online will be left untouched, we bring you 5 of the most common mistakes made in post-production that you should avoid in order to ensure you get the perfect shot.

1. Leaving the background unattended

When shooting products, white backgrounds tend to be used for clarity. Although your background might look whiter than white when you’re in the studio, don’t neglect to pay attention to it when editing, using the brightening and whitening tools available. By ensuring the background is as white as can be, your products will pop the way you would like them to.

2. Over saturating images

Although we like photographs to pop in order to attract the eye of the consumer, upping the saturation on your images too much can end up in them looking unnatural or cartoonish. In order to avoid this, think about holding back during post production.

3. Cropping in all the wrong places

Although you might be tempted to cut out unwanted subjects from the peripheries of your image, you need to leave some negative space in the shot in order for the eye to be drawn to your subject. If you crop too much your product will appear squashed in to the frame, if you don’t crop enough then your product will appear lost in the photograph, surrounded by too much white space.

4. Increasing noise

‘Noise’ is a word used to describe visual distortion in photographs. It can come in various forms, but mainly it will cause an area of the image to look grainy. Too much editing can result in increased noise due to image deterioration, so try to avoid toying with your images too much.

5. Over sharpening

Although sharpening is useful when combating noise or when trying to bring out that finer detail in product photography, too much can ruin your image, creating a light rim around your subject or highlighting aspects of your image you would rather not see, such as creases in clothes.

Commercial photography is best when taken care of by the experts, so if you would like to speak with one of our product photographers or find out more about our packshot photography services, give us a call on 020 8799 7440 today.