Taking pictures at Kala House of Colour

Just before Christmas I checked out my friend's adorable pop-up shop, Kala House of Colour.  The home goods store had such beautiful products, I couldn't resist taking a couple of product shots. So much of my photography these days is of moving subjects, so my first thought was "this will be a breeze".  But I soon realized with product photography, you face another challenge. The little details matter...a lot! But before I get into that, here's a look at the simple set up I used to take the pictures: just a curved white piece of paper and natural window light.

With this first picture below, you'll see what I mean by attention to detail. In other types of photography, you can get away with tiny imperfections. Few people will notice if the picture of your adorable newborn isn't perfectly level. Not so with product photography. To help keep my camera level and to eliminate camera shake, next time I'll use a tripod.

My camera wasn't completely level, which made the candle appear tilted

In the second image, I adjusted my angle to correct the perspective

Here's another example of the little details making a big difference. At first glance, the photo below looks great, the bowl is well lit and the colour is strong. But what about the background - white is white, right? Not quite, as anyone who has picked out white paint colour knows! When taking picture of a product against a white background, you want a completely clean and bright background to let the product shine.

The background in this photo has a greyish tinge, which stands out compared to the white pages of this blog.

In this edited photo (I adjusted the White slider in my photo editing software), the background is more of a true white.

The pop-up shop has now closed, but Kala House of Colour will return this summer up north, so follow the store on Instagram or Facebook for more details. Here's a couple other photos of the store.