Sustainable Gift Box Photography
For Zero Waste Goods
One of my personal favourites from this year for many reasons is our product photography shoot for gifting company Zero Waste Goods. They approached us wanting to update their imagery after a challenging year which saw them overhaul their service in light of the impacts of the pandemic. Moving from a yearly festival and market approach to one which focused on a gift box model typifies the ‘pivot’ that a huge number of companies have faced in 2020, and we were keen to help.
We’ve done a lot of professional product photography this year, and our growing expertise in this area has really lent itself to the positive delivery of this particular project from our London studio. It’s a nice way to end the year 🙂
One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this one personally is that I’ve been quite hands off from the actual taking of photos from halfway through this year as I’ve stepped more into company management and development, but there was something about this professional product photography project that got my juices flowing and I really fancied throwing myself back behind the lens.
This one also allowed me to flex my consultative side – with Melanie and Christina at ZWG having written a really clear brief, I was able to examine and advise on the style and purpose of the professional product photography images that were required. The brief itself was quite wide, which meant that while the core purpose of the photography was for the new website, but that also had to extend to use on social media posts, stories and adverts plus emailers and newsletter too. Being aware of different delivery sizing here as well was really important.
My starting point was to really consider what kind of professional product photography techniques and imagery would be most effective at each point of the customer journey. At certain touchpoints we wanted to engage and interest, at others, we wanted to simplify and deliver clear messaging around what a box looked like and what was included. You get the sense of variety that we needed to aim for here – which we do well anyway – but an extended consultation period in the project planning stages allowed us to really collaborate on what the best plan was for the brand.
The professional product photography shoot itself was shot-listed and scheduled as we always do, and we started with the shots that needed to be laid out consistently using a tripod, and tethered so that the clients could tweak and approve as we went along.
Shooting so close to Christmas meant that we also wanted to lend some festive cues to many of the shots, while at the same time not causing ourselves any problems for later in the year. It meant capturing certain listing shots twice, but that would give better results than worrying about removing things later in Photoshop.
During the shoot day itself, we blitzed through the requirements, often re-jigging the shooting order so that we could optimise the time, and keeping things fluid definitely helped. Soft lighting with a wide softbox gave us good overall coverage of the products but kept in a little shadow for definition. We had to manage reflections somewhat too, as we often had a mix of textures to balance. The range of professional product photography we provided included flat lays, angled product shots, macro details and lifestyle portraits of Mel and Christina.
As much as it’s satisfying to get through a long list of photographs, doing so enjoyably with a collaborative spirit between our team and our clients adds a cherry on top. We delivered just shy of 200 high quality images overall as part of this professional product photography shoot – which is a really good haul from a full day session.
“Steven and Kelly at Pocket Creatives were superb! I’ve never done a product shoot before and I am so glad I chose Pocked Creatives to work with. They were proactive, clear, empathetic, professional, understood our goals, and were able to help us work towards a superb result quickly and efficiently. It was a great day at the studio and they really looked after us. Plus Steven turned all the photos around in just a day! Worth every penny and we’ll be coming back!”
Melanie, Zero Waste Goods
Seeing the new website full of our imagery, particularly so fast after delivery, is great – and provides that immediate gratification after having worked on the project development for so long.
Steven Mayatt, Creative Director
“Fun, innovative and unflappable. Pocket Creatives are great to work with – whether it’s finding the perfect lighting for trifle to capturing GoPro footage on a whisk, they always approach every situation with a steady yet game-changing attitude. I see the whole team as trusted creative partners to make great content together.”
Kitty Aldis, River Group
“I have been working with Steven and the brilliant Pocket Creatives crew for 3 years – in fact since they started out. They have captured in excess of 100 recipes, produced 7 videos including 2 crowdfunding campaigns, their work, professionalism, and commitment to client satisfaction second to none. What’s more is how they have developed, evolved and grown in creativity, experience, and inspiration.
On a personal front the individuals in the team have to most wonderful personalities – an absolute joy to work with!”
Tanya Robertson-Lambert, Tanya’s Just Real
“I worked with Steven and his Pocket Creatives team to create a recipe video, and I couldn’t recommend their services enough! From the ideation stage, through to filming and editing the finished product, at every stage, the whole team were first-class, going above and beyond to create a compelling, high-quality recipe video that generated heaps of engagement. I would definitely work them again.”
Ben Cullen, OLIO
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