anyone here do product photography for ecommerce websites or ads in publications?

[Gato Moteado]

how do you go about finding clients for this type of work?

i recently mentored a couple people on doing small product photography for ecommerce websites, but i had to first learn how to do it myself. so, i shot some examples with consumer grade gear and speedlights, because that is what these people have. this was shot with my nikon D7200 and 50mm f/1.8 lens and two yongnuo speedlights with $12 diffusers. below it is a pic of my makeshift "studio" which was just a piece of white paper taped to the wall behind a shelf and then curved down to the shelf. i shot these handheld.....if i were to do this professionally, i'd use my D850 and 105 micro nikkor on a tripod, along with better speedlights and real softboxes.

[3Hotdogs]

1. Not an answer to your question, but

Google: My Spice Sage

Interesting product photography using a mirror

[Gato Moteado]

2. looks cool...

...it's actually a fairly common technique in product work.....it looks like they are shooting on dark, reflective acrylic, but i have seen mirrors and stainless steel used, as well.

[LunaSea]

3. Build a good diverse portfolio

By "good" I mean your very best. be ruthless and edit out anything less than spectacular.
Get it online and shop it around. Back in the day you might call every creative director at every agency in your town and arrange to meet. Now you can do that online. (can't swipe the latest AdWeek from the lobby though...)
Getting it in front of eyeballs is the main thing. Prepare for rejection and invite critical comments.

Work on your retouch skills, like straightening out the cap on that bottle, and doing something about how the bottles bend under the cap looks like it could be some icky coagulation. Not enough light coming through the bottle at the bottom. That sort of thing. They want to see perfection, or rather the illusion of it.

[Gato Moteado]

4. good advice

...yeah that was a quick and dirty two minute set up with a bottle that had already been opened, so the cap had become detached from the plastic ring beneath it. i used cheap diffusers. i had to clean up ratty edges of the label in post, as well. if i were to do this seriously, i'd use pristine bottles or packages and i'd spend more time building a studio set up.

[Arresting]

5. This is a very tough space.

I don’t really have time to go into all the ins and outs etc... But I’ve worked as an art director in both print and web, in major markets, and hired many photographers over my career. And this is a very competitive space. And nowadays (like for the last 10 years+) it’s difficult to make real money in it. I would suggest moving on from this dream. (Not a reflection on you, just the sad state of commercial photography.)

Ps. You really need a shadow to ground the bottle. (Just my professional opinion.)

Sorry. I’ve seen many food/product photographers leave the field. Many.

[Gato Moteado]

6. there was a slight shadow.....i cut the product from the image and put it on a pure white background

....i really wasn't looking to get into the biz, myself. i'm trying to help a couple friends find this kind of work. it would likely not be on the artistic side (advertising), but rather product shots for the ecommerce side of things.....just clinical, clean shots of products. i've been looking through ecommerce sites of health, nutritional and beauty products and the product photos are pretty bad in most cases.

[Arresting]

7. Let me think about it some more, but . . .

This is what I can tell you:

The truth is simple straightforward shots like this do not take a lot of skill and are easily do-able in house, and you will be competing against this mind set. So you'll need to make it super easy and cheap.

I see 2 markets.
1. new companies with an initial large number of products that might want help while they set up an in house studio.
2. current companies looking to increase sales.

for #2. You'd need to convince clients that better photos, your photos = more sales. And you'd have to actually have better photos than they can do in house.

For #1 you'll need to compete on price, timing and quality.

There was once a company called elance.com that you could find jobs like this, you'll be competing with people overseas. So rates are low. Elance was bought and rebranded, but if you do a bit of googling I am sure you can find them and other companies like that. It's kinda sad, but it's a start. The truth is most people would prefer to work with an American, but they can't always afford it.

Honestly my advice is to learn web development. Mostly because I know so many gifted photographers who are now real estate agents.

[Gato Moteado]

8. thanks...

...i don't think these people are software dev types (i'm an ex-software developer, BTW). and, really, even basic web developers are common these days and competition is high, with super cheap prices overseas.

[Arresting]

9. All the web devs I know are very busy, including myself.

So that's where I always point people. (It's what I do now, design was commoditized right along with photography, plus I just started hating clients and agencies are horrible places for the most part.)

At the lower ends of the skill set (Wordpress devs), I agree there is all kinds of foreign competition.

But if people are willing to dig in and learn something more complex, it's worth it. (I do Drupal custom sites and misc front end work, including UX. if I'm lucky, I get hired to do both the design and dev.)

And there is always work available. (Which is really the reason to do it.) But maybe that's just because no one is crazy enough to learn Drupal, which is a great framework, but poorly documented. So those of us who know it, just keep supporting what's out there.