Tech Product Photography: Tips for Taking the Best Images

Posted on 6th June 2023 at 12:00

As a tech and engineering product photographer in Reading, Berkshire, Mike Green has been able to shoot different types of products for many businesses. Tech and engineering product images can often have a more clinical and intricate feel than other types of eCommerce photography, with their small or large, industry-specific components often highlighted.

Whether shooting photos for catalogues, brochures, eCommerce websites or social media campaigns, the images must show the product features and benefits in the best way possible.

These tips will lead you in the right direction when commissioning a reputable technical, commercial photographer.

What is Technological Product Photography?

Tech photography is a type of commercial photography that involves taking photos of your products, which utilise technology in some way. Product photography for technical, electronic and engineering industries can involve taking high-quality images of things like:

Mobile phones

Electric cars

Circuit boards and PCBs

Pipes and valves

Robotic arms for nuclear technologies

Oil and gas testing equipment

Drill bits

Heat diffusers

Engine test parts

Telecommunication

Electric vehicle charging points

Advanced battery technology

However, the list of electronic and engineering products doesn’t stop there.

A technological product photographer’s role is to capture these products’ essence and ensure their best features and benefits are highlighted with clarity and precision.

The Importance of Product Photography in Engineering and Tech

Product images help a technology business or engineering manufacturer tell their story to potential customers in their industry.

Creating memorable engineering product photos helps to provide context to the product descriptions and list of features. People remember clear and engaging images, particularly if they can see important, intricate details that serve a clear purpose.

One reason Mike takes pride in being an expert in tech and engineering product photography; he is passionate and knowledgeable about many technical disciplines, and thus knows how best to photograph them. Usually, these images are viewed by engineers in a specific industry and thus have to be photographed to a very high standard, that their viewers would expect.

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Tips to Help Tech and Engineering Products Stand Out

Making your products stand out is a challenge. Still, Mike can help, given that he is familiar with taking numerous product shots for marketing and PR applications.

Here are some tips to help you make your tech and engineering products look like the next big thing:

Use the correct lighting. To showcase the features of your products at their best, never use natural lighting as it is impossible to control. This will only lead to inconsistent and disappointing results.

Instead, use high-quality artificial lighting with professional light modifiers and enhancers. These can be adjusted to emphasise fine details and textures in your product’s design, without obscuring them with shadows or faint and changing natural light.

Request multiple different images using various backdrops. It may seem obvious, but white backgrounds in product photography helps to showcase their sleek and modern design. However, you can experiment with different backgrounds depending on the size and complexity of your products.

Some backgrounds may add more value to your product images than others, and ultimately, it can’t hurt to ask your commercial photographer to try out some alternative colours.

Focus on the important details. Your commercial product photographer should know how to bring smaller, finer details into sharp focus taking advantage of the depth of field to enhance specific details.

Using macro-lenses will help the small features to pop out of the frame. Tilt-shift lenses will also add a whole new perspective to viewers who see your product images.

Why Lighting is Important in Engineering Photography

Lighting is crucial for achieving a successful product image, determining its brightness, tone, atmosphere and mood. Thus, having the ability to control and manipulate the lighting to achieve the best texture and colour vibrancy for the subjects is also vital.

Most tech products are metallic and thus have difficult-to-light surfaces, which can only truly be captured using the correct lighting equipment mixed with decades of experience.

No one method of photography lighting will be effective for every single product. In other words, you’ll likely need a bespoke lighting setup if you’re shooting small technology products instead of corporate portraits.

That said, when done correctly, your photography lighting setup will make products seem modern and exciting, which helps when selling directly to customers via eCommerce stores.

Mike will be publishing a blog soon about product photo lighting, so stay tuned.

Hire a Local Product Photographer in Reading

Hiring a professional technology photographer is the best way to ensure your specialist products are portrayed exactly how you want.

Mike Green has many years of experience providing bespoke product and corporate photography services for businesses across the UK. While he advertises himself as a corporate photographer in Berkshire, he is not restricted to this location and can travel to any location.

Mike also provides other types of photography, including headshot photography, portrait photography, architecture photography and almost any type of location photography you need. He knows what goes into creating high-quality, engaging advertising images, so when it comes to taking eye-catching photos of the crucial products to your business, Mike can help.

Contact Mike