Showcase: Product Photography
Claudia Montano uses her Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 ultra-wide-angle zoom to show her clients’ brands in their best light.
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By Jenn Gidman
Images by Claudia Montano
Claudia Montano started off shooting macro photography when she was just a teen, taking pictures as a freelancer for Samsung’s marketing department. As she got older and started venturing more into the world, Claudia fell into travel photography and set up her Perfectly Claudia website, featuring work she created for hotels and travel brands.
Then the pandemic arrived, and travel ground to a halt. “All the business I’d built up vanished,” the UK photographer says. During lockdown in the county of Cornwall, Claudia started researching skin care and purchased plenty of new products to test-drive—which is when she hit on the idea to try her hand at product photography. “I decided to do a few test sheets and see how it went,” she says.
Claudia ended up falling in love with this type of photography, and her own style soon emerged, which she describes as “muted, with subtle movements from water and shadow.” “I appreciate that every week I get the chance to do something creative, even if I’m shooting in the exact same space,” she says.
The Tamron 17-28mm F/2.8 Di III RXD ultra-wide-angle zoom has become Claudia’s lens of choice on her Sony mirrorless camera for this type of work. “I purchased the lens for my travel photography, and for astrophotography,” she says. “Then I realized how invaluable it was for product photography, especially for when I’m taking pictures of products on shelves. Being able to go as wide as possible in those cases is critical. I also love that F2.8 aperture, and how crisp my images come out. Finally, the 17-28mm picks up colors really well, which is important when you’re working with a brand’s color scheme.”
CLAUDIA’S QUICK TIPS
Embrace simplicity.
Unless there’s a specific client request, I try not to have my images appear too busy. How simple I go, however, depends on what I’m photographing. For instance, the Toulane products on the shelf are rather muted colors, so I wanted to keep things simple, with other muted colors and not much else crowding that space. For the other two images here on the shelf, they were a bit more colorful, so I felt I could lean into that by incorporating other natural elements into the space (in this case, flowers).
17-28mm (28mm), F8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400
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17-28mm (23mm), F9, 1/200 sec., ISO 400
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17-28mm (28mm), F9, 1/160 sec., ISO 400
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Unleash the power of shadows.
Shadows are one of my favorite elements to include in product photography. They fill in some of the negative space, but without making the image too crowded. They add a touch of life to a place in the image where there might otherwise be none. If I want the shadows to be a little more subtle, I’ll use softer light. If I’m looking for more dramatic shadows, I’ll use harsher lighting to achieve that effect.
Mix up your perspective.
For products on a shelf, you can shoot from so many different angles. You can shoot a “hero” shot—that photo that your client will want to position on their main landing page to represent their entire line—at eye level, or even from below. For shots involving water, meanwhile, it makes more sense to shoot straight down on your subject, so you can capture those perfect ripples in the water.
17-28mm (28mm), F8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400
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17-28mm (28mm), F8, 1/200 sec., ISO 400
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Shoot intuitively.
I don’t consciously follow traditional photographic rules, like the rule of thirds. Instead, I simply set up the scene in a way I think would look best, then make small adjustments using my gut. I also find that my travel photography background often seeps into my product photography. I tend to work from the bottom up, so you might find there’s typically more negative space at the top of my images, which is the same way I approach a lot of my landscape photos.
17-28mm (28mm), F8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400
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Dedicate yourself to learning the craft.
I know one of the things photographers hear the most is to “practice,” but it’s so important, even if you have a lot of experience in another type of photography. When I realized that my new niche was going to concentrate on products, I started shooting every day of every week for months. I had to relearn how to take pictures and edit them for commercial photography. My edits for my travel photos are so much different than those for my product photos, because it’s an entirely different look I’m going for. Plus, while you’re doing all of this practicing, you’re not only learning new skills—you’re also building up your portfolio, which is never a bad thing.
To see more of Claudia Montano’s work, check out her websites and Instagram accounts.
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