Product Photography FAQ | Prolenz Studio

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Product Photography FAQ (Detailed)

How much information about my shoot do you need to get started?

The quick answer is “as much as possible”. Before sending out a contract, there’s a number of things we need to know:
– The exact number of shots you’re ordering
– Description of your product(s)
– Are there any group shots
– How you would like them shot. Knowing the angles, product placement, shot straight on, at an angle, etc is critical to ensuring that the photos we take will fit your vision
– Drop shadow, cast shadow, reflection
– Final Image format, if you are not sure, ask us, we can guide you
Without that information, we execute our ‘best judgment’ for photos and creative direction.

What if I’m not sure how I’d like my products photographed?

If you don’t know exactly how you want your items positioned in the images, tell us. We will help you by providing a storyboard for your product, access your style guides for each item and pose the item accordingly. You can even have multiple guides for items that will result in multiple poses and images.

Can I just call you and get a quotation by phone?

You can call and discuss your project during standard business hours.
But the best way to obtain the most accurate quotation though is via the email form on our contact us page. By having all of the information about your project in front of us, in writing, it allows us the time and space to draw up a more accurate, more detailed quotation.
We’ll follow up and email you a quotation with your order.

I am located in another province. Can you take my photos?

Yes, As long as you are able to ship us your items, we can be your product photographers. Due to our centralized, Mississauga Location, UPS and FedEx shipments reach us within 2-4 business days from all across the country. Once your items arrive the rest of the process is all electronic.

How Do I Ship My Items to You?

After you submit your order you will receive an order confirmation with instructions on where to ship your items and your order number which will be part of the address. Carefully pack up all the items that you need to photograph and ship them to us via UPS, FedEx or Canada post. Pay special attention to the products you send; ensure any labels are straight, and the product is in excellent condition.

Will you ship my products back to me after you photograph them?

Yes of course! If you want your items returned we do ship them back, simply include a prepaid UPS, FedEx or Canada post shipping label in the package, or email the digital label to us ahead of time. We can also bill you for shipping charges.
Alternatively, we can donate your products to local charities or discard them if you don’t want them back.

Do you Charge By The Photo or Product?

We charge by the photo. For example if you are selling a product on Amazon and want 3 product photos of the same item photographed from 3 different angles you will be charged for 3 photos.

What other charges do you have?

Some charges that might not be listed at the time of the quote would be:
Added products or groupings from original quote
Oversized or overweight items
Major retouching beyond our usual basic service
Clipping path on layered Tiff (if requested)
Transparent Web-Ready PNG (if requested)
Return shipping charges (if not prepaid)

What does “Basic Retouching” include?

Our base prices for our product photography include basic retouching. We will perform basic editing: (Cropping, Adjust white balance, Adjust exposure and contrast, Adjust color vibrancy and saturation, dust cleaning, Sharpen images).
If your product requires additional time for major editing such as: (Removing reflections from the product, Amending defects in the product), we will contact you to approve the extra cost. We will provide you with a cost estimate. The fee is $100/hour billed in 15-minute increments.

Can you shoot at our location?

There are times where it isn’t feasible to move products from your location and bring them to our studio for photography. Depending on your products and as long as your location has adequate space, we can certainly bring our studio to you. For small products, we require an unobstructed space that is at least 15′ x 15′ to allow room to set up our product table, light stands and lighting.
If your space is smaller, then there may not be adequate room for the light from our strobes to properly propagate.
For larger products, please let us know how big your products are and the approximate size of the space we’ll be shooting in. We have backdrops that we can bring, as well as other equipment, provided the space is sufficient.
Setting up our product table, lighting and background takes approximately 1 hour and breaking our equipment down takes approximately 30 minutes, resulting in approximately 6.5 hours of shooting.
Professional jewelry photography is a very slow and painstaking process, involving a great deal of lighting adjustments and we cannot do our best work under a time or space constraint.

What is your policy on reshoots?

In photography there are a million ways to create an image of the same product. We want to help bring your vision to life and have set up processes to make that happen. Please send us as much information as possible to convey the style of images you envision for your products. You can send sample pictures, sketches, tear sheets, written descriptions, web link URL’s… anything to convey your art direction.
We try to avoid reshoots by ensuring that we have good creative direction from all of our clients before we begin work, but if we discover that we’ve made a mistake in implementing your direction (if we photograph a product backwards / upside down / inside out), then we will gladly reshoot your product according to your specification at no charge to you. Along with our apologies, of course!
On the other hand, if you decide after viewing your photos that you’d like to have a different angle, prop, or other creative change that wasn’t previously discussed, then we would charge you a reduced rate for additional photos.
The best way to obtain a quotation is to reach out to us via our contact page and provide as much information as you’re able to.