This guide will help clients take photos of products in the right way, this will provide the best results. The guide is there to show how should a product be photographed. These photos are then used in projects such as 3D Virtual Shelf.
Photography requirements
Priority | Description | References |
|---|---|---|
Must | Product sides and how to orientate the product, What is front and left and right of a product. when taken photos of a product, the front of pack is the side that is displayed on the shelf (facing the consumer). Left of pack is the side that is left of product and not the left from the perspective of the camera. |  |
Must | For 3D product reconstruction, whereby we stitch product images together to form a larger label/texture. We need to make sure we try to remove all shading from the photos, i.e. having even lighting so the photo looks Flat. this is to help avoid seam problems such as shown. Please make sure you flood the product with even lighting to avoid as much as possible the shading/shadows on the edges of a product |  |
Must | Make sure the Front image is the front from how a product will be shown on the shelf. The front is always the side shown when the product is placed on the shelf. | |
Must | all images must be named by barcode EANs/UPC Example photos to take for products: Boxes - we 6 photos in total: UPC_1.jpg UPC_2.jpg UPC_3.jpg UPC_4.jpg UPC_5.jpg UPC_6.jpg Each image is for one side of the box. Cylindrical objects - We need a 14 photos in total. 12 photos will be take every 30 degrees of the products, then the last 2 photos is from top and bottom Keep in mind that then naming is like the above. UPC_1.jpg (Front) UPC_2.jpg (+30 degrees rotated) UPC_3.jpg (+30 degrees rotated) UPC_4.jpg ... UPC_5.jpg UPC_6.jpg Packet/bag objects - Things like potato or crisps packets, we only need 4 photos. front, back, top and bottom. | You can download all the files and samples from this shared folder |
Recommended | Always use diffuse lighting as direct lighting will be reflected and thus create a glair/highlights that will interfere with the photo, this can be very unsatisfactory on reflective items such as crisp packets/foils. | |
Recommended | keep the same zoom per product possible. | |
Recommended | Set the zoom to capture the largest part/side of the product, this will help in keeping the same Zoom | |
Recommended | Keep the same lighting and contrast, exposure, iso and all other factors affecting the levels of brightness/colour through out the whole shoot/project. As this will mean we have consistent results | |
Must | when taken photos of plastic wrapped/bagged produce, i.e. crisps packets.. make sure you try your best to straighten the edges out. | |
Must | If packaging is damaged, i.e. box has a dent or so. try your best to fix this, before taken a photo | |
Recommended | Check that glair or exposure is not affecting the colours, never use direct flash as it can lead to hotspots on the photos. |   |
Must | Always take photo at the correct orientation, for instance, if a product is shown on the shelf up right, then the photo must be taken with the product upright, | |
Must | height measurements of bagged products such as, bread loafs, must be measured from the base to the plastic ring/clip. this means we ignore the excess plastic. in CM | |
Must | use a big white object to place the product on, this will help to avoid us from having a bent base of the product, as is the case when you place a long product. Try to also straighten the wrapping so that we can see the product branding clearly |  |
Must | Always keep the product at the centre of the Camera's lens, if we have a big product then the camera lens is pointing at the centre of the product. if it is very small then we do the same, raise/lower the camera to get the camera lens inline with the product. |  |
Photo Resolutions, What Megapixel?
The higher the better, anything above 14+ mega pixel , must be taken by a DSLR and not using iPhones/mobile devices with very importantly a good lens.
JPEG MINI Application
Use JPEG mini to reduce the photo sizes with-out loosing any quality.