Location Product Photography- behind the scenes

Location product photography with Finale Shoes. It doesn’t always look glamorous behind the scenes!

Set in Corbridge, Northumberland, Finale Shoes is a family run business that sell Italian designer shoes. They visit all the trade shows in Milan so they can pick what new styles to get in stock for the upcoming season. It may sound very glamorous but I know it can be a busy and often hectic time for Faye and her Mum.

That’s part of the reason Faye got me involved to help with the photography so that it was a big weight off her shoulders. Faye had been trying to do her own product photography set up and had previously bought some photography equipment. But the results weren’t as good as she hoped, didn’t look professional enough and ultimately Faye needed to concentrate on the business sales and marketing rather than struggling with all the photography too.

I’ve been working with Finale shoes since 2018. We do two big shoots each year – for spring/summer and autumn/winter stock. The imagery helps her promote and sell the products online as well as raising brand awareness and bringing customers into the shop.

The day of the photoshoot was the same day Storm Freya appeared in March so that was, well, interesting. The photoshoot was for the Spring/Summer range so we were going to have a challenge on our hands to make it look and feel like summer when it was really about 6 degrees and blowing a gale! You can see from some of the images, it was cold for the models wearing the summer sandals, but we all had fun.

We met the models at a property in Corbridge at 9:30am and got them changed into their selected clothing. We had already planned the day and discussed product photography ideas so all the shoes and outfits had been picked out. Because I’ve worked with Finale shoes before I already had a good sense of what is needed and the areas on location that would show off certain types of shoe.

The morning was quite sunny, which meant we felt a bit warmer. We got through a good amount of product photography. Each shoe has to be carefully groomed to look its best, but equally after they have been modelled they need to be looked after and re boxed so that they can be sold.

After taking a break for lunch, the photoshoot continued but the weather took a turn and the wind and dark clouds emerged.

It was time for the beach style shots, I got my flashes out to make the images look bright and sunny as the models got their hats and gloves out because the storm was brewing by the minute.

You can see the difference that artificial lighting can make to a photography setup to create a different feel altogether.

It was a great day and I look forward to working with Finale Shoes again.

If you’d like more info on product photography for your business I’d love to find out more. Let’s chat!