The Year Ahead

The new year ahead looks uncertain for many. Despite us having loads of commercial photography work, we’re taking nothing for granted. Far from sitting on our laurels wondering what will happen to us as the credit crunch enters 2009, we’ve been working hard to ensure we cover all bases. Thanks to having several moneymaking options, such as stock photography, commercial photography work and editorial photography work for newspapers and magazines, I believe we’re in a far less risky position than those that work in one set area or discipline. Without a doubt, I think it also helps having enough experience to maintain a high standard in all areas.

So to our new moneymaking venture; The Packshot People, a commercial photography business specialising in high quality, value for money product photography, creative photography and image manipulation for use in a wide range of applications including catalogues, brochures, websites, magazines, packaging, marketing and advertising. Using high-end digital photography equipment and imaging techniques, The Packshot People produces cost-efficient high definition images (50MB for packshots and up to 90MB for creative photography) with a quick 48-hour turnaround and minimal fuss.

We believe that ecommerce is a growing market crying out for value for money photography. We want to prove that professional quality pack photography needn’t be extortionately expensive and that we can offer fantastic service and a quick turnaround without compromising on quality. So how do we do it? By being super organised and putting systems in place that enable us to turn work around quickly and cost effectively. The more you shoot, the cheaper it gets and all business is done online making the process fast and simple. We also do creative product briefs for advertising but will quote for the job rather than per shot.
The website launch is expected to be February 2009, so keep an eye out on this blog for launch date.

Another recent project that took cost into account, was producing stock photography images for Getty Images as cost effectively as possible. The samples attached to this blog post are of a dancer and a businessman leaping into the air. All images were shot in two stages. I shot the dancer/model in the studio over a half-day shoot and then shot the backgrounds on separate occasions. I used a typical lighting set up in the studio to simulate a typical external light. I used a high light from above to imply the sun then filled in the rest to shape the figure as best as possible. I then found typical locations that I had in mind and shot them to match the figure. You may think this seems like a bit of a backwards way of doing things but it worked and as all the retouching was done in-house it only cost a few hundred pounds. Do let me know what you think of the images.