Product Photography Case Study - Bella Rosa Sticker Books
Bella Rosa sticker books are created and published by two sisters, Bella and Rosa, who live in Warwickshire. They approached me to help them with some lifestyle product photography to help promote their sticker books. The books are currently available on Amazon to domestic customers, but the sisters are also now working with wholesalers, with the aim of placing a range of their titles in souvenir and gift shops.
The Brief
Bella and Rosa already had catalogue-style product imagery of their books, so they were looking for something more in the line of lifestyle product photography. The idea being that the photos would attract more attention, showcasing the products in environments that both suited the individual books and made sense in terms of the holiday / souvenir concept that applied to the range as a whole.
The challenge for me was to come up with a set of photos for the individual books that gave a consistent look across the range, while still in keeping with the subject of each book.
The sticker books are very child-friendly, with lovely colourful illustrations. My initial reaction was that the photos should reflect this - for example, by having plastic toy dinosaurs surrounding the Dangerous Dinosaurs book. But Bella and Rosa were thinking the settings should have a more ‘grown up’ feel, without toys or anything relating directly to children.
I think this works well - it ensures the books stand out and gives them a sophisticated look. It also makes sense in the context of these specific photos, as the intended customer is not the child or even a parent, but retailers and wholesalers.
First Steps
It’s always useful to establish what the client has in mind - either in terms of how they want the photos to look, or whether there’s anything they want to avoid - as early in the process as possible.
The easiest thing to agree on was that as the books are thin, flat products, they were best photographed from above. Flat lays are commonly used in product photography, as the style allows the subject to take centre stage, framed by complementary accessories and props.
Finishing Touches
The overall style we developed was a light, airy look, with backgrounds and props that echoed the pastel colours of the books’ illustrations.
Bella and Rosa liked the look of the sand background, and we ended up using it for three of the individual books as well as the banner and more rectangular group shots. Sand is “interesting” to work with - it never behaves quite as you expect and getting it to look natural is surprisingly difficult. But it suits the holiday mood I was trying to create and, again, provides a far more appealing background than a plain white or coloured backdrop.
Lifestyle Product Photography to Boost Your Business
If you have a product or range of items that could do with some more engaging imagery than plain white catalogue shots, why not get in touch? I’d love to talk to you about how we can reflect your brand and showcase your product, creating eye-catching photos for your website or social media output.
