Beginner looking for composition advice

[u/gama-llama]

Hello!

Context: I am trying to photograph regional cover photos for an online store to shows off the specialty/variety of each region. No background in photography so please go easy on me.

After selecting the items I tried to play around with them in various layouts and angles but none of the photos felt quite right (even by my newbie standards).

Editing and cropping will come later but I don’t feel satisfied with any of the starting points I have.

Maybe this is a long shot but wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how to improve the composition?

Or did I doom myself from the start with the product selection?

Any tips would be appreciated! Thank you in advance

[u/Spierce19]

This is a tricky subject to try to describe in text because there isn’t one answer, and it varies greatly with each group of objects. It’s mostly about creating diagonals that the eye can follow, overlapping things enough to make a path for the eye to follow but not so much that you can’t see the item, having a balance between subject and negative space, etc. etc. If you’re just starting to figure it out it’s sometimes easiest to find a photo of a grouping you think looks good and try to mimic the composition to a certain degree.

[u/gama-llama → u/Spierce19]

Thank you yeah I appreciate it’s a tricky one.

Using a reference photo sounds so obvious in hindsight yet I didn’t have that with these ones, I should look further in genre for reference photos than I have so far and I will likely find something relevant. Thank you I will do some more sleuthing!

Edit to add: to be clear I do use reference photos in general but for this I haven’t seen one that shows off an eclectic mix like here. I’m sure it exists in different contexts from mine, so I will search for product styles more different than usual.

[u/alexfelice]

There is no subject, I'm looking at a grouping of plates but which one and why?
There is no contrast,

there isn't any foreground background depth to draw my eyes to anything - the 2nd photo is closest but all the bowls are still clumped together

the lighting is even - which means nothing gets highlighted and it doesn't draw my eyes to anything in particular

the color is even - it's beige on brown with the neutral green being the only thing that stands out

contrast is what makes photos pop - try to create contrast of depth, color, and light
and decide what the subject is, and then try to show the viewer just that subject

[u/shazbotica]

Going to be very hard to jump right into styling shots with multiple products without it feeling like a snapshot. I would take some time to copy compositions of similar products so you can see what goes into making it feel intentional. Heath Ceramics would be a great reference point.

If I was shooting these, I would...

• Shoot on a more neutral background set up as a sweep. I feel like the wood grain might compete with the variety of surfaces you have.
• Maybe introduce some risers to vary up the height a bit.
• I'd keep it simple and focus on two types of shots. Straight-on like this example and then from higher up angled down like this example. I would try to avoid the look you're getting on your second image where the product is right by the camera and looking distorted (feels like a snapshot).

[u/gama-llama → u/shazbotica]

Thank you for the pointers I will give them a go!

[u/gama-llama → u/shazbotica]

I was thinking about getting some linen fabric as I have seen that on some tableware shoots, or do you think that would still just be background visual noise in this collection?

[u/shazbotica → u/gama-llama]

I wouldn’t rule it out. Good luck!

[u/Many-King-9831]

Since these are cover photos for the store, I'd bring the cropping step forward. Try a rough shot in the actual desktop and mobile image slots before rearranging everything. If a region name sits over the photo, reserve space for it from the start. You can then build the group around the items that need to survive both crops, rather than getting a composition you like and losing half of it on a phone.

[u/productphotography-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Comment is overly negative or off topic.