Many commercial photographers do product photography and it’s usually done on a white background. This style of product photography is very common. Web sites, catalogs, newspaper ads, brochures and billboards all frequently use “product-on-white”.
A white background is popular because: it reproduces easily and consistently in any medium; it doesn’t distract from the product nor cause any colour cast; it won’t go out of style; it’s easy to drop out or overlay with text; it’s easy to merge multiple product photos together. White is simply the most versatile product background.
Crazily enough, in 2014, Amazon was granted a US patent for product-on-white photography. This caused quite an uproar. Tens of thousands of photographers petitioned the US Patent Office to cancel the patent. But photographers can still shoot products on a white background. Amazon’s patented technique is somewhat specific in nature and it’s also unenforceable.
If you do product photography, how do you set yourself apart from all the other photographers doing the same thing? Easy, market yourself as a GS1-compliant photographer.
What many product photographers don’t know is that there are international standards for product-on-white photography. These standards have existed for a while and should be followed especially when shooting for larger manufacturers.
To be clear, product photography is very different from advertising photography. An advertising shot of a product can be anything the manufacturer, ad agency or photographer might want. But the official product photos, (aka product-on-white), should be shot, edited and delivered to meet certain standards [link to PDF].
These product shots are used by regulatory agencies to match a product to its Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). The GTIN includes codes like UPC (Universal Product Code), EAN (European Article Number), JAN (Japanese Article Number), QR (Quick Response Code), ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and a few others. These pictures can also used for advertising, media handouts and other marketing collateral.
If you do product photography, get to know these image standards and then market your new knowledge to potential customers. Being able to shoot products to GS1 standards shows that you understand your customers’ business needs. This will give you more value to offer.
