Chris does most of his work on his own—but he shares the burden of photo editing with Path.

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Challenge

Chris has been a photographer for roughly 16 years. He started shooting portraits of dogs and children, and then started to branch out into family portraits, headshots, and eventually product photography.

Chris landed himself an awesome gig with a big box supplier that represents several brands. One of the main brands he works with is a fishing lure company.

“They need the images clipped out, and with an alpha channel and path,” Chris says. An alpha channel allows you to adjust an image’s transparency levels.

But not all the photo editing companies out there offer the option of an alpha channel. And Chris didn’t have the time to learn how to do it himself. “I had no idea how to do the alpha channel, and I was going to have to learn,” he says. “I hate doing computer work.”

“I had no idea how to do the alpha channel, and I was going to have to learn. I hate doing computer work.”

Plus, he still has to juggle shooting for other brands and vendors, as well as his local portrait clients.

Solution

About three years ago, when Chris received this request to put fishing lure product photos on a white background with an alpha channel, he began his search for a professional photo editing company that could help.

But many didn’t offer the option of the alpha channel—or they were too expensive.

That’s when he found Path.

“I went with Path because they were able to accommodate the alpha channel,” Chris says.

Outcome

Path fit seamlessly into Chris’s workflow. “Now, I take the pictures and I let Path handle the clipping, the retouching, the shadow, and the alpha channel,” he says.

“Path was able to do the edits real quick,” Chris says. And he has time to focus on the more advanced and creative edits to the headshots side of his business.

When you ask Chris about the biggest advantage of working with Path, it all boils down to one thing: time.

“Path handles the time-consuming tasks of clipping a product. And then when I realized Path also touched up photos, that has really improved my life. I don’t know how to clip an image as well as y’all.”

“Path handles the time-consuming tasks of clipping a product. And then when I realized Path also touched up photos, that has really improved my life,” Chris says. “Also, I don’t know how to clip an image as well as y’all.”

This time allows Chris to focus on shooting amazing photos and find a healthy work-life balance.

“I have more time,” he says. “The touching up has saved tons of time.”

“I have more time. The touching up has saved tons of time.”

You can save time on your photo edits, too. Give Path a shot with our free trial—no credit card, no commitment.

Let us look after your image edits, so you can get back to the fun stuff. Try Path free.

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The post Find Out How This Pro Product Photographer Uses Path to Find Balance in His Work appeared first on Path Edits.

But he gets his creative fix with his photography business.

“Photography, of course, is a very creative job.” –Eric, CiReC 360°

Let’s learn more about Eric and how he juggles his job as a programmer, his photography and film business, and traveling along the way.

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Challenge

Eric has a lot on his plate. Balancing his photography business with his day job as a programmer was already a challenge. But the real pressure came from the time-consuming nature of his photography work.

For each product, he needs 48 images to create a full 360-degree view.

“The most important thing is consistency,” he says. “One person alone can’t do [the edits] because of how much time it takes to clip one of these images.”

Plus, inconsistencies are common in 360-degree shots, making the editing process even more important. “It’s always a compromise. You can take an image with perfect lighting from one direction and the image looks fine, but in the rotation, the moment it rotates, the lighting isn’t perfect. This is the reason I did these kinds of corrections by myself. The important thing is the consistency of these images.”

The products in his photos tend to be fairly complex. “For example, there’s no need to do a 360-degree photo of a bottle. Mostly these are very technical products where you can get a feeling of the dimensions of the structure and function, for example. Or with clothes, you get a feeling of the cut and how it looks when you’re wearing it.”

At first, he attempted to do all the clipping paths himself. “I clipped about 1,000 images by myself and I realized, ‘Wow, this is a hard job,’ because time is important. The client sends me the product and they want to get back the image immediately. If you’re clipping 500 images by yourself, you can’t deliver within a reasonable timeframe.”

Despite his programming skills, which allowed him to streamline some of the processes, time constraints and the sheer volume of work meant he couldn’t deliver to clients as efficiently as he wanted. He needed help—someone who could handle the intricate and precise work of image clipping while maintaining the consistency his clients expect.

Solution

Eric turned to outsourcing. “In the beginning I wasn’t sure if it would work. I was a little afraid that everyone has their own technique—but these images have all to be handled in the same way,” he says.

He turned to Google to start searching for options and tried a few different providers. He came up short.

“I wasn’t that satisfied with their web interface, with their handling of the images. They wanted me to send the images per email, which is nonsense. I contacted one company in Germany and they told me, ‘Okay, we can do this. You can have an account on our FTP, but first we want you to buy 5,000 images from me and then we can do this.’” But Eric didn’t know when he would have 5,000 images. It was too much of a commitment.

That’s when Eric found Path.

He loved the signup process. “There was no problem. I made my account, I could upload the images. It was super nice that I got my quote immediately,” he says. “So I sent one image, I said, ‘Hey, I have 48 of these, how do you calculate these?’ And it was super simple.”

Path provided Eric with an efficient process: He would upload his images to our FTP server, and we would return the clipped images organized in the exact order he sent them. This eliminated any logistical headaches, allowing Eric to focus on what he does best—capturing stunning images and communicating with clients. Even when minor issues arose, our support team responded promptly and effectively, ensuring Eric’s workflow remained uninterrupted.

“I was very happy that Path had this organization with one folder—I can put my 48 unedited images into one FTP upload folder and get them back the same way. They’re just named by numbers. And I get them back exactly the same way and the same name I sent them to you. It was perfect from the beginning on. So from my side, there are not many things Path could improve.”

He appreciates the human touch we put on every project.

“You can’t do this by AI at the moment. And hand-drawn paths are definitely worth much more.” –Eric, CiReC 360°

“I look at the edits I get back from you and I say, ‘Hey, these people think about what they see, and they do the path this way because there are small mistakes in the product.’ The person who clips sees every mistake, and they clip it the way I want it. You can’t do this by AI at the moment. And hand-drawn paths are definitely worth much more than a masked clip by wand or something like that.”

Outcome

Eric was pleased with the quality of the edits he received from Path. “I was very happy to see the consistency was perfect. I think I’ve had between 10,000 and 20,000 images clipped by you. It was never a problem—the workflow was perfect for me. And if there was a question, support contacted me and asked the question, I answered, and everything was done.”

The collaboration has transformed Eric’s business.

“Finally, I can concentrate on photography and, of course, talking to my clients. That’s the most important thing. I’m able to put my time into the things that matter because of your help. I don’t have to worry about anything because I work on these photos simultaneously. When one set of images is finished, I load it up and I can do the next photo while it’s uploading. There’s nothing more for me to do.”

“I can concentrate on photography and talking to my clients. I’m able to put my time into the things that matter because of your help.” –Eric, CiReC 360°

By outsourcing the time-consuming clipping process, Eric can redirect his energy towards the creative aspects of his work and managing client relationships. His clients receive their images on time, and the quality remains impeccable.

Eric’s business has grown as a result. The consistent quality of the images not only meet but exceed his clients’ expectations. The streamlined workflow allows him to take on more projects without the stress of managing every small detail himself. In fact, the collaboration was so successful that Eric couldn’t think of any improvements to suggest when asked—everything simply worked.

By freeing up his time, Eric can now focus on expanding his business in meaningful ways, exploring new markets, and continuing to innovate 360-degree product photography.

Get your 360-degree photo edits with Path

Eric’s story highlights the importance of finding the right partners to handle specialized tasks. By outsourcing the complex and repetitive work of image clipping, Eric was able to focus on growing his business and doing what he loves most. The partnership not only solved his initial problem but also set the stage for future success.

The post How One 360-Degree Product Photographer Streamlines Clipping Paths of Thousands of Images appeared first on Path Edits.

For one client in particular, a major sports network, he’s responsible for all the photos for 16 teams. His main deliverables are individual headshots and group team photos—the ones you see pop up at the bottom of your screen when you’re watching a game on TV.

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Challenges

His workflow is fairly predictable, as it ebbs and flows with the sports seasons. He shoots about 16 different teams, each in three parts—the start of the season when they start training, after the first transfer deadline, and then again after the second transfer deadline.

“Sometimes it happens that I was on a Wednesday with Team A and the transfer deadline was two days later, and four days later I had the same player for a different team, different outfit.”

But this seasonality also means most of his work happens at the same time. To edit such a huge batch of images is more than one person can handle, especially on top of juggling all the other aspects of being self-employed.

“I know how much time it takes to get [photo editing] done, and to get it done properly.”

He knew he would need some help. “I did [photo editing] occasionally for a client, and I know how much time it takes to get it done, and to get it done properly.”

Solution

He didn’t waste any time finding a solution to help. “When I was getting this job to do this, I first started looking around to see where I can send my images.”

He heard about Path in the press room when he was talking to other photographers about this type of work. Someone recommended he give Path a shot—and he hasn’t looked back.

Results

This freelance sports photographer relies on Path for bulk image editing. He loves the consistency he gets in the edits from Path. And he also knows if something’s not right, he can send it back to make it right. “But there really are no issues,” he says. “They’re ready to go and they always look good.”

“But there really are no issues [with Path’s edits.] They’re ready to go and they always look good.”

He’s even considering using Path for other types of work as new projects and clients pop up. “We might have to send the pictures to [Path] if we have to use a different background. If we want to make something with a stadium or something with special lights, then we might have to use Path to separate them from the white background.”

The post How One Sports Photographer Uses Path to Edit Photos for 16 Teams Every Season appeared first on Path Edits.

They used to spend hours on photo editing too, often staying up all night fumbling through Photoshop to have images ready for a next-day trade show. “We were taking all of our photographs and sitting there for hours Photoshopping everything,” says Alee. They had a photographer, but their capacity was limited to 50 per week by how many photos they could edit at a time, and her editing costs were high.

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Once Alee and Veronique started outsourcing edits, they were able to get a big batches edited in only 6 hours. For a recent trade show, Alee remembers sending off 150 product shots to be edited and cropped. “We woke up to the edited images the next day and they were perfect.”

A story-driven children’s clothing brand

Ice Cream Castles is a children’s clothing brand inspired by a story of traveling to imaginary places. They make playful, whimsical apparel for three-month-old babies through size 10.

Veronique co-founded the brand and is now the sole owner of the company in her role as president and head designer. Alee is director of operations at Ice Cream Castles.

We’re very story-driven. Every collection is centered around a magical imaginary place that these children are traveling to on imaginary ice cream trucks.”

“We’re very story-driven. Every collection is centered around a magical imaginary place that these children are traveling to on imaginary ice cream trucks,” says Alee. “The clothes they bring back are all souvenirs and memories from visiting these places. So you have a lot of visuals, and a lot of the prints are kind of out there but relatable.”

Challenges fiddling with Photoshop

• Then: up to 37 hours editing a batch of photos
• Now: 6 hours, worry free
• Then: wasting 12+ hours for 4 imperfect images
• Now: 12 hours, worry-free
• Then: spending valuable time in Photoshop
• Now: spending less than $1.00 per image

Originally a social media marketer and now a jack-of-all-trades, Alee worked with Veronique to do everything for the business — fulfillment, inventory management, marketing, customer support, and anything in between. “I’ve got my hand in everything,” she says.

When she first started, the product photos on the website needed some attention. “The pictures on the website were all different sizes,” Alee recalls. “Some were really close, some were really far away, and some you could see the print and the colors look different from piece to piece.”

Veronique was busy running a brand and didn’t have time to do photo edits, and design isn’t an area Alee has too much hands-on experience with. But product photos needed editing if they wanted to propel the brand forward, so they invested time learning Photoshop.

“We sat there doing product shots, Googling, and getting YouTube videos for resizing. It’s just so many hours of time,” she says. Soon, the photo edits combined with a growing workload, became too cumbersome.

To create a white border and make the images look uniform, “we were taking all of our photographs and sitting there for hours Photoshopping everything.” This process was intense and time-consuming. Alee and her partner often found themselves pressed for time in stressful situations with tight deadlines.

“We would get our samples and then have to photograph everything and take them to a trade show. A lot of times the turnaround for that is two or three days. One time it was the day of — we got the samples, picked them up at FedEx, and took them on a plane with us to New York and needed everything photographed in 20 minutes.”

And as the brand grows, so do the product photography needs. “We do a ton of social media,” says Alee. “We also partnered with Zulily. We’re using the Amazon function.”

They’ve hired a product photographer for lifestyle shots, but editing still takes a lot of time, especially considering channels with different requirements. Plus, their product photographer caps out at 50 photos per shoot. “[Our photographer] doesn’t have time to edit for us,” she says. “I know I could get more out of her.”

At a certain point, they knew it was time to look for help. “We would have loved to be able to take pictures ourselves and have them edited professionally without having to pay an arm and a leg for a photographer,” Alee says.

“We would have loved to be able to take pictures ourselves and have them edited professionally without having to pay an arm and a leg.”

Taking the photo edits off their plate

Veronique did a quick Google search and found Path. “The pricing was very competitive, as well as the different turnaround times,” Alee says. “It’s fast. It takes an extra thing off of our plates that we don’t have time for anymore.”

With prices so low, there was little risk. So Veronique decided to give it a try.

She and Veronique like that they’re able to provide direction for the photo edits while not having to do it themselves. “We both have a really good work ethic and we’re both really controlling,” Alee explains. “So, I like being able to have something that we control from start to finish and [direct] the aesthetics and where we want to take things.”

“Our cost with Path is less than $1 per image, and the different turnaround time options are a great way to save some extra money.”

They also love the flexibility in turnaround time and how it works with different budgets. “Our cost with Path is less than $1 per image, and the different turnaround time options are a great way to save some extra money,” she says. “I know that if we have a week, it’s going to be cheaper and it’ll still come out the way I want. We really like the consistency.”

An effortless photo editing solution

Now, they outsource their photo edits to free up the time they’d otherwise be fumbling around in Photoshop. Ice Cream Castles sends as many as 75 photos to Path in a single batch — and up to 150 in urgent situations.

“Path allows us to just take the pictures and send them,” Alee says of outsourcing their edits. “Then we get them back, and they’re all on a white background. The size we need, the resolution we need — and we don’t even have to think about it. It’s alleviated a lot of our stress with product pictures. We average 50-ish new products per season and take front and back images of most pieces.”

Path has come in handy for tight deadlines, too.

“One time we needed 150 product shots edited and cropped urgently for a trade show that was happening the day after we received our samples. [Veronique] stayed up all night editing — and the entire flight to New York and the next day so we could have line sheets for the trade show. [Now] we’re able to photograph all of the products and submit for editing in the same evening. We wake up to the edited images the next day, and they’re perfect.”

Same-day turnaround saves the day for these time-pressed situations. When they still DIYed their edits, it took three of them 12+ hours to get four poster images ready for a trade show booth. That’s all changed now that they work with Path. “When we need something by the end of the day, it’ll be there,” she says.

“We just used Path for the first time to edit our lookbook images, and it worked out to be around $3.25/image to make all of the background colors consistent, to do image masking, and to add a natural-looking drop shadow to all of the images,” says Alee. “We got them back in 12 hours, which is amazing.”

Alee also needed to make sure she was working with a company that could scale with their changing needs. Businesses experience fluctuations and busy periods, and sometimes they have big batches of photos to edit.

“The amount of pictures we’re able to get back in such a short amount of time is one of the things we absolutely love about Path. There are several times each year where we need a relatively large amount of photos edited really quickly, and doing it in-house takes up so much time.”

Outsourcing photo editing has also allowed Ice Cream Castles to get the best bang for their buck when it comes to the professional photographer they work with, who takes about a week to turn around edits.

“Our photographer is very talented, but it costs us so much extra for the editing,” Alee says. Now, they can get more shots from her.

Like many busy professionals, time is a hot commodity. When they started outsourcing to Path, Alee and Veronique were able to invest their time in other more impactful activities to contribute to business goals. And they don’t have to spend so much time tinkering with their photography skills.

“We now have the freedom to shoot products on any surface with any lighting because we know Path will come through and deliver consistent, quality imagery every time.”

“We used to spend 5–15 minutes per product shot editing them ourselves, and they would never be cropped uniformly or saved to the right size we needed for our website and vendors. We just didn’t have the extra time to put in. Now we can get 50–150 images back in 6 hours if we need to, and all we have to do is upload them completely unedited and untouched. We now have the freedom to shoot products on any surface with any lighting because we know Path will come through and deliver consistent, quality imagery every time.”

Now that editing is off their plate, Alee and Veronique have gotten back in touch with their passion and creativity.

“Just having fun is really important for us. If you’re not having fun, the creative work suffers, and a huge amount of what we do is the creative part.”

“Path has taken something that we don’t like to do off of our plate. It’s allowed us more time to do other things that need to get done.”

Find the time to fall in love with your work again

Path can handle photo editing jobs big and small. Forget fiddling with Photoshop. Get back to the work you love to do.

The post How Ice Cream Castles Reduced Product Photo Turnaround from 1 Week to 1 Day appeared first on Path Edits.

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So how did the bald “hair” care brand launch, and where do they get such great product photos? We asked, and this is what they shared with us:

Launching with a remote team

Like many ecommerce businesses, the Cranium Care crew launch crew was lean but mighty, comprised of a group of remote contractors (plus Melissa and Adam) located all over the world. “We were living in Shanghai at the time,” says Melissa. “It was a lot of late-night phone calls and trying to figure out times where we could get everybody on the phone together in different time zones. That was a little bit crazy.”

To put the team together, Melissa and Adam turned to their existing networks and connections. “Everyone on that team is someone we kind of have a personal relationship with,” Melissa says.

She went to college with their copywriter, their art director is a close friend of the couple, and they pulled in a product photographer also located in Shanghai at the time. “They’re all people that we know personally and pulled together,” she says. “That helped a lot in terms of bringing everyone together and creating a sense of community and ownership over the projects.”

To keep the team on track, regular communication was key. “We had weekly calls with everybody on the team as much as possible, so everybody stayed on the same page and up-to-date, and we could share ideas and all of that,” says Melissa. “Then I would get on calls individually with people as needed in between.”

Each person had a clearly defined role, too. “None of them are full-time employees, but we’ve worked very closely together — especially at the start to get everything in place,” she says.

Getting product photos on a budget

With a lean team and budget, Melissa, Adam and co. have to get creative but intentional in developing product photography. “A lot of our money is going towards product development and launching a couple of new products that we have in the works,” says Melissa. Because of that, they need to be budget-conscious while also getting images that will contribute to their bottom line.

“We have to balance [business development] with the fact that it’s really important to us that we keep our branding really solid, and so we will find the money if we have to in order to use somebody who we are confident gets what we’re going for,” she says.

To find that balance, Cranium Care uses a mix of 3D renders and lifestyle product photography. “We outsource the renders,” says Melissa. “For lifestyle photos, we’ve worked with a professional photographer and also use in-house photos.”

“It’s mostly renders on our website,” says Melissa. A 3D render is a digital graphic made on a computer that is made to look lifelike and replicate a product photography. They’re cost-effective because you can easily outsource it and you don’t need to find budget to coordinate an entire photoshoot — two main reasons Cranium Care uses them on their site and social media. “Having the renders done is probably less expensive than doing a custom photo shoot, and then all the work that needs to be done to touch them up after,” she says.

“I was intent on getting renders done,” Adam says. “I knew we would do product photography, but I wanted that to be situational. I thought renders would be a lot more versatile.”

“It’s hard to get a really nice photograph without a professional setup,” says Melissa. “The renders are just flawless. They’re so easy to work with for other things, so they’re super multi-purpose.”

Melissa says renders have been invaluable for repurposing for various uses. It’s easy to swap out backgrounds and give the shot an entirely new aesthetic. “Someone who’s good with Photoshop can take those and put them in any context, so they’ve been a really great resource,” she says. “They have paid for themselves easily.”

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Repurposing images to maximize investment

Cranium Care outsources their photo editing. They need images for more than just their website — print and online marketing materials also require high-quality imagery. “We’ve used them in all of our printed assets,” says Melissa. “We just went to a trade show recently, and we had a printed brochure, so of course they were really useful for that.”

“[Our photographer] would take the [lifestyle] photos and then add the render and bottles into it to make a lifestyle-type photo,” says Melissa.

On Instagram, they change up the imagery to keep from a monotonous feed. “We have a mix of product photos that are the actual bottles in context,” says Melissa.

 

 

 

 

 

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Moving forward with outsourcing your product photos

While overall, outsourcing to a dispersed team has worked well for Cranium Care — much of their success hinges on this collaboration. “We’re learning more about what to look for, what to ask for, and how to be a little bit tougher in vetting people,” says Melissa.

The post Getting Product Photos on the Cheap: How Cranium Care Outsourced Everything appeared first on Path Edits.

Some retailers outsource everything, hiring a freelance photographer or even shipping products off to a company like Products on White Photography. Others bring everything in-house, building their own internal photography department.

And others still fall somewhere in between — maybe taking their own shots and outsourcing the photo editing, or hiring a freelance photographer for occasional product shoots.

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All of these options have made us curious, and I’ve set out to talk to as many ecommerce brands as I can to find out exactly how they create the product photos that promote their products.

That’s when I connected with Carla Kabbabe, founder of Toronto-based high-end jewelry brand Claurete. Kabbabe has successfully built her brand and loyal customer base on their Shopify website, prioritizing owned channels over third-party marketplace selling. Let’s take a look at how she put together her photography team, how they manage shoot day, and what successful product images look like at Claurete.

Developing the brand

Kabbabe used Shopify’s user-friendly website builder, which made it easy for her to find a theme with a visual aesthetic that matched the look she was going for. “We’re high-end, but we’re also a fun brand,” she says. “It’s not too traditional.”

“Shopify made things really easy with the whole theme. I’m a big fan of Shopify. – Carla Kabbabe, founder, Claurete”

But Kabbabe knew that she needed more than a nice website design to convey the message of her brand to customers. She needed photography that complemented that casual-meets-luxury identify of Claurete.

At first, Kabbabe didn’t have the team in place with the skills to pull off a brand photoshoot. She knew she needed to enlist some expertise, first trying to outsource the photography but then deciding to move it in-house. “It wasn’t so easy to communicate back and forth, because we were still trying to figure out the details behind the photos, and how we’re going to translate to the consumers that this is what we do,” she says.

So Kabbabe set out to build her own creative team to bring the brand to life, hiring a team of marketers with backgrounds in photography.

Building an in-house product photography team

When Kabbabe initially set out to assemble an internal team, she looked within her network. “Because I’ve been in fashion for a while, I was lucky enough to build my network within that niche,” she says. “Having that really helped me know who I wanted to work with.” That’s how she found her first hires: a marketer, social media specialist and photographer. 

But it wasn’t ALL as easy as that. She also went the recruiting route, posting job ads and vetting candidates. The combination of talent-seeking approaches helped Kabbabe put together a talented, creative, and collaborative group of professionals.

Kabbabe says it was key to find marketing professionals who also had some sort of photography background. Having a background in photography herself, this makes it easy for the team to communicate and stay on the same page. “It was easy for me to use the language that most photographers use,” she says.

She also recommends having an open mind when hiring talent. “I wasn’t so picky because I understand if someone is earlier in their career, but I know they’re talented and going to excel in the future, I can be patient,” she says. Teams aren’t always perfect from Day 1, sometimes you need to develop your team as a leader.

“In business, you have to have the mindset that not everyone is going to have the perfect set of experiences. – Carla Kabbabe, founder, Claurete”

However, she notes that if you’re on a tight deadline, you might not have time to mentor talent. In that case, she recommends looking for more qualified freelance professionals.

How Claurete manages photoshoots

After Kabbabe had a solid team in place, she set sights on their first shoot together. They rented a studio space which supplied lighting equipment, and brought their own DSLR camera and tripod.

Prior to the shoot, Kabbabe drafted a plan to make the day go as smoothly as possible. She created a vision board to communicate her creative goals with the team in a simplified way. The vision board told the story she wanted to convey for each collection, reiterated the Claurete brand identity, and set the stage for the overall look and feel of every image.

To make your own vision board, Kabbabe recommends having a creative brainstorm and considering what the brand message is that you want to tell.

The first shoot, held both indoors and outdoors, was also made possible thanks to the hired assistant. This person was key in guiding the placement of the jewelry for each shot, Kabbabe says. “Because we’re working with jewelry, it’s easy to get shadows in the shots.” The assistant helped mitigate these effects while Kabbabe and her team focused on the creative.

Now, Kabbabe and her team have multiple photoshoots every year. “It depends on how many collections we want to launch,” she says. In 2017, they have 24 shoots.

“This wasn’t all related to the jewelry,” Kabbabe points out. Claurete launched six collections, and had 12 photoshoots focused on product shots. “Each collection had two themes that we were going for.”

Kabbabe’s tips for your next product photoshoot

Think ahead

“Have a futuristic sense of how you’re going to get this done,” Kabbabe says. She recommends thinking of everything — including location, weather, the timeline, models, the products, etc. And don’t leave your shoots until last minute. Shoot the collections months in advance of their launch so you have time to repurpose the assets and build your promotion plans.

Have a backup plan

Expect the best, and plan for the worst — it’s an adage that rings true here as well. Kabbabe mentioned a recently scheduled photoshoot that had to be canceled because of snowstorm and subzero temperatures. You can’t control the weather, so it’s best to have contingency plans in place should your original not pan out the way you thought. “Working with that mindset help you eliminate the chances of something going wrong and makes it easier for you to get the most out of the photoshoot.”

Get the most out of your shoot

On the note of maximizing your resources, Kabbabe also recommends asking photographers to take multiples of each product — it’s better to have too much to work with than not enough. “When I know that the photographer is good, I always ask them to take multiple shots in different settings,” she says.

Remember the people

Yes, the photoshoot is all about the products, but you can’t forget about the people who are making it possible. Kabbabe kicks things off with clear communication with the entire team involved on shoot day, including a written schedule and plan to supplement the vision board.

She also says it’s important to take care of your team, alluding to one beach photoshoot on a hot day for which she had to get plenty of water in advance. “It’s simple stuff like that, making sure everyone’s health and wellbeing is taken care of, that really makes a difference.” Remember to give staff breaks when they need it, and offer just enough guidance to make the day go smoothly without micromanaging.

“You can see how the models are having fun in the shots. – Carla Kabbabe, founder, Claurete”

Post-shoot processes at Claurete

After shoot day’s wrapped, Kabbabe and her team have to cull and edit the images. They start with eliminating any shots they know they won’t use, so they don’t spend any time or resources on prepping those files any further.

Editing the product photos

Basic edits are minimal. “We don’t overproduce the photos because we want the consumer to see the jewelry for what it really is,” she says. Claurete’s goal is to represent the jewelry accurately through product photography, so customers receive a product that meets their expectations.

They also have the occasional retouching job to clean up images and remove anything floating in the background that’s not meant to be there.

Organizing and sharing photos

Kabbabe and her team use a shared Gmail account so everyone can access the files wherever they are. They organize the shots by date, project, and the name of the photographer so everyone can quickly and easily find what they need.

“This makes things organized, even if there is back and forth,” says Kabbabe. “We’ve tried so many different ways of organizing the photos, and this has been the best way for us.”

Repurposing photos for social media

Facebook and Instagram are two key pillars to Claurete’s digital marketing strategy, and they also maintain a presence on Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. Because everyone has access to the files, various team members can easily find what they need and resize the photo for use on social media.

They also lay out the various images they plan to use on social to make sure there’s a cohesive look and feel. Then they schedule the posts through Buffer.

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Understanding the photos’ effectiveness

One question I always love to ask ecommerce brands is, “How do you know your product photos are effective in engaging your audience and converting users?”

At Claurete, they look at a number of indicators. “We look at the reach or impressions on Instagram,” Kabbabe says. “And if people are interacting positively, commenting, tagging their friends, or liking the post.”

They also go the extra mile to solicit direct feedback from customers. “We’re very focused on the consumer,” she says. “Before we even launch any product, we normally have a chat with our customers and ask them to take a survey about each piece.” That helps them assess whether the design will be a hit, and then once the shots have been taken, they survey again.

“We ask people what they think about the photos and if they get a sense that it’s high-end,” she says. “If they say yes, that means the job was done well, because that’s what we want to convey.” To Claurete, accurately representing the brand and products means success.

Moving forward with your product photography

“It’s first thing in the ecommerce: If you don’t have good photos, what do you have?” she says. “I’ve realized the importance of taking good shots, and I’m glad that you’re able to see that through Claurete’s photos.”

For more product photography resources, check out these articles:

• How to Improve Product Photography: 7 Things You Can Do Today
• A Product Photographer’s Guide to Lighting for Photoshoots
• Martha Stewart Photo Stylist Shares Her Best Tips for Your Product Shots

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