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Carolina Product Photographer | Kate Benson Photography | The Mad Olive e-commerce: photographer and consultant

by kate benson | Jun 29, 2017 | Professional Photogr..., Charleston e-commerce ..., Product

(Just taking a picture while I pour the beer for no other reason than to see if I can do both at the same time and make it work)

Tomorrow I’ll be shooting a creative still life shoot in studio and on location here in Charleston, SC. The client is The Mad Olive, a wonderful couple who reached out to me asking for help making the transition from an Etsy storefront to their own website. In an incredible story of entrepreneurship, the two started their Etsy shop selling custom engraving/etching on many different gift products. Quickly sales grew and they were soon giving up their other occupations, hiring help and full time. That store lead into another Etsy store which grew in success even faster than the first.

When Lauren called me, we discussed the art direction and I guided her through the steps of making choices on how to present the images to clients. We knew that this would be two shoots, an e-commerce shoot and a creative still life shoot with props and set. They love soft shadows and color pallets but wanted to move away from the Etsy style of images for their website and marketing photography (Etsy shots are usually prop and set heavy, as well as really busy). A neutral background color was selected and I sent them previews of the shooting as we went along. One of the cool things about being and e-commerce photographer is finding a way to keep images consistent and fit together despite the varied subjects and materials being captured. I also love consulting for e-commerce and helping guide my clients to find images that will reach their customers more effectively. What works for Etsy isn’t what works best on your own websites most of the time.

In the spirit of being excited for tomorrow’s shoot, here are a few of my favorite shots from The Mad Olive’s new e-commerce photography. All the product will have etching superimposed on it later. But shooting them blank allowed their team to have maximum return on their investment (love that ROI) for each image since it will be able to get used multiple ways. Here are a few beautiful wood products:

Not surprisingly, my favorite shots were the more finicky glassware shots. I love playing with reflections!

And on that enticing note, everyone, have a safe and happy July 4th weekend!

Charleston Fashion Photographer | Kate Benson | Zacasha 2016 Boho

by kate benson | Aug 9, 2016 | Professional Photogr..., Charleston advertising..., Charleston Fashion Pho..., Fashion, Product

How do I talk about Zacasha? Do I write about the designs that you can’t help but want to collect all of? Do I talk about how fascinating a business Jennifer created and how it just exploded into something bigger and better than anyone ever imagined? I guess you have to know Jennifer the owner and designer to know what Zacasha really is. Working with her free spirit and creative mind is like chasing genius. You can try and follow along as best you can but will never catch up. She works and reworks everything she contacts and you can’t help but be swept up in the spirit of this creative process and applaud the art it produces.

I shot their 2015 campaign and this spring (yes, it’s taken that long to write about it) I photographed the 2016 campaign. Jennifer had 2 days of shooting, a Boho day and a 1920’s day. These are a few of my favorite images from the Boho day.

The colorful free feeling of the boho shoot mirrored Jennifer’s spirit. It was such a privilege to work together again. Jennifer on top of being a very talented designer and business woman also is a fantastic stylist and art director.

I have to start with those shots of Tamara from Elite Miami. Tamara really got excited at the casting, her boho energy matched the brands, and on set, she moved and danced in the true spirit of the shoot. She chameleons into the character you give her and won the hearts of everyone on set.

Our second model was the gorgeous Jade from Wilhelmina. Her exotic beauty was a perfect canvas for both our shoot days.

There were way too many beautiful shots to choose from, I shot close to 2,000 photographs that day. So as you can imagine, the idea of going through them all and choosing favorites has been overwhelming!

So here are just a few more, and maybe, with any luck, I’ll get to go through these later and find my true favorites. In the meantime, let me know which of these is yours. I’ll take any help I can get editing this batch!

This last shot really captures how I feel trying to pick a favorite.

Charleston Product Photographer | Amazing Amazon Photography

by kate benson | Jul 27, 2016 | Professional Photogr..., Advice, Charleston advertising..., Charleston commercial ..., Charleston e-commerce ..., Charleston Ecom photog..., Charleston Ecommerce p..., Charleston Photographer, Charleston Product Pho..., Charleston Still Life ..., Charleston website pho..., Charlotte product phot..., e-commerce photographer, Ecommerce Photographer, Product, Product Photographer C..., Still life photographe..., Still Life Photographer

It may not be common knowledge but I have a second business and website that I’ve been building called Product Photo Lab (PPL for short). The website is still in the works, but there is some basic content up there. Finding openings in my schedule to fix and revise the work in progress that is PPL is really tough. Recently though, despite the website not being as ready as I would like it to be, I’ve been getting contacted and doing some work through it. This isn’t my usual work, as you already may have guessed by the title of this blog post, but I’m really excited that the website is starting to generate some calls, and therefore enthusiastically making time to do the work.

One of the unexpected places that I’ve been contacted to produce images for is Amazon listings. These shoots are usually pretty quick but the clients are looking for something a bit more refined to help their products stand out and hopefully get that coveted number 1 ranking on Amazon.

I’ve learned quite a few of tips on how images sell on Amazon in this process. Products in environments and in use will generally outsell those that are just plain white shots. Additionally, Amazon does require the first shot to be on an all pure white background (which has some specifics to it as well, most of my readers already know what “pure white” is but if you don’t, it’s is a rating of 255 in all color channels). So this has presented interesting challenges (which I love). One client, had a glass water bottle that he sold as a set of 6 and single. Here was what the bottle started with:

Photographing a clear empty bottle isn’t very flattering. So I filled it with water letting the light gradient throughout the inside (trick one).

Then we put very carefully selected liquids into the bottles so the colors wouldn’t get dark and murky (trick two).

Lastly, I asked how he felt about fresh plants in the bottles, which he seemed willing to entertain, and viola!

I was able to product a collection of photographs for him where the shots met Amazon’s specifics but the shots had enough color and vibrancy to pop off the page when compared to other bottles! Happily, he is already on page 1 for his requested search terms and selling like crazy! After discussing what the client needed, I composited 6 of these shots together to create his opening image on Amazon. Here is a look at what he sent me for art direction (also what the competition happens to be showing).

This is what his listing looks like this today:

As I mentioned before, I’ve worked with quite a few Amazon clients lately. Here are a few more shots just to give you an idea what being a product photographer in Charleston is keeping busy with!