Commercial Photography

1. Commercial
Photograpy
You can build a business around a particular subject, such as portraits,
weddings, domestic animals, or wildlife. You can be a photojournalist,
sports, event or public relations photographer

2. Commercial Photography
◦ Is always used as a tool to sell or promote another product with the goal of client satisfaction.
◦ Commercial work is often more technically demanding than other forms of photography.
◦ Commercial works standard is perfection, in addition deadlines and budgets must be keep in
mind.
◦ The client or customer might purchase the right to use your image in a published product, such as
a book, magazine, or website,

3. Students will learn:
◦ The types of commercial photography
◦ The basics of copyright.
◦ How to control 3 point lighting.
◦ How to create a simple product shot.
◦ Create a commercial advertisement using your product shoot.

4. Brush up on these key terms
◦ Art director
◦ Client
◦ Continuous tone
◦ Creative director
◦ Derivative
◦ Engraving
◦ Halftone
◦ Prop stylist (or product stylist)

5. A brief history of
Commercial Photography

6. The
daguerreotype
◦ Was widely popular in the United States for the
time it was introduced in 1939
◦ Patented by Louis Daguerre in France
◦ The portraits were characterized as crisp,
uncompromising details of American aesthetic
for factual over artifice art.

7. Compare and
Analyze:
What makes these two
portraits different.
Left:
Portrait of the Author Maxim
Gorky (1939)
Right:
Portrait of John Quincey
Adams (1939)

8. The popularity of the
daguerreotype
◦ Americans immediately set about exploring
how daguerreotype portraits could be made
and become a viable business.
◦ Sam Morse, the painter inventor of the
telegraph, was and early proponent of the
process and business

9. Baron Adolph de Meyer
◦ French (1868-1946)
◦ Fashion Photographer
◦ Connect by marriage to wealthy family of King Edward VII
Note the
soft focus
theatrical lighting
Elegant props
Elaborate staging

10. Early Commercial photography
◦ In photography's first years, portrait and travel photography were wildly
popular and very profitable.
◦ But photographic prints were made one at a time made by hand.
◦ Most illustrations for print/papers/magazines at this time were done by
engravings and etchings from drawings and paintings.
◦ A Swedish magazine, the Nordisk published a half tone image in 1871.
◦ This method took years to catch on but eventually became the
halftone/continuous tones of photography we see today in print.

12. WHAT CONTEXT CLUES
CAN YOU FIND IN THE
COMPOSITION TO THE
RIGHT THAT WOULD
SUGGEST IT IS MEANT TO
ADVERTISE?

13. Inquire
◦ Examine the color and black and white phots in
magazines and newspapers with a magnifying
glass.
◦ Identify and describe the dot patterns you see.
◦ What are some physical differences between color
and black and white reproductions ?
◦ Examine your monitor screen to see how images
and colors are created.
◦ How is the computer monitor different from the
magazine reproduction.

14. ERB PHOTOGRAPHY AND
MODERN ERA OF COMMERCIAL
PHOTOGRAPHY.

15. ERB Photography
Scott Erb & Donna Dufault
• husband and wife team
• Focuses on advertising, editorial,
commercial portrait and product
work.
• “Whether it be a chef’s food, a
model, a building, or anything else,
my focus in any commercial
photograph is on the subject. I like
to fill the frame, with
straightforward simplicity. “

19. How to make your commercial
photography shine
• Know the message
• Use props and Models
• Use creative lighting and angles
What do you see in this ad for the One Eleven Chop
house.

20. Lighting Tips for Product Photography
1. Set up at least two off-camera lights.
“Off camera lights” refers to any lights
that are unattached to your camera. ...
2. Use light modifiers. I shoot through
umbrellas 90% of the time. ...
3. Place lights strategically. ...
4. Make the backlight slightly brighter than
the front.
Is this 1 or 2 photos?

21. The goal of Commercial Photography
Commercial photographs sell products.
Think of all the images in a clothing catalogs or jewelry websites,
ads for cars, and photos of food in a restaurant menu.
All of those images clearly show the items and try to make them
appealing to the viewer.
Commercial photos do not have to feature the product be
promoted; they can trigger an emotional response from the viewer
that is then linked to that product.
Commercial photographers can sell a lifestyle, or even the promise
of a felling.
What does the ad on this page make you want?