Advertising product photography for brands
Tabletop product photography for campaigns, packaging and brand libraries.
Mood. Atmosphere. The surface the product sits on. The shadow it casts. Advertising product photography is the slow, careful version of the work: hero images for campaigns, packaging, editorial and brand libraries that need to last a few years rather than a season. The set, the light and the texture earn their place in the frame next to the product. Studio Ballena shoots it in its studio in Welle, Belgium.
The work below is a selection from fifteen years of tabletop photography for consumer goods, drinks and industrial brands, including Tupperware, Neuhaus and AluSense. Looking for clean catalogue and webshop shots on a white background? Those are on our packshots page.
Creative product photography and colour
Compostable packaging usually gets kraft paper and earthy tones. For the AluSense launch we went the other way and built every image around the colours of the capsules, so the range reads as colour first, on social, the website, the trade fair stand and the product sheets. The thinking behind it is in the AluSense case study.
Beauty, care and health products
Small products carry a lot of brand on very little surface. The set stays simple enough that the pack, its finish and its label are the first thing you see. A prop only comes in when it tells you what the product is for.
Design and industrial products
Some products sell on how they are made. A bottle, a bike part or a spectacle frame is photographed the way its designer would want it seen, with the material, the finish and the build clear in one image. That is the commercial product photography side of the studio: less mood, more of the object itself.
Real products, shot for real
Everything in the gallery is the real product on a real set, photographed. Still life product photography lives on details viewers notice without knowing why: the edge of a cap, the weave of silk, a reflection in a lipstick case. Our view on where AI fits in commercial photography, and where it doesn't comes from that.
Why product photography works on the viewer at all is the subject of our post on advertising photography and the emotional connection with your audience. How a project runs, from brief to delivery, is on our photo and video production page.
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Product photography questions
What is the difference between product photography and packshots?
Packshots show the product clean and accurate, usually on white, for webshops, marketplaces and catalogues. Advertising product photography builds a set, light and mood around the product for campaigns, packaging and brand images. Our packshots page shows the first, this page the second.
Do you shoot product photography on location?
Both. Most product photography is shot in our studio in Welle, where a delivery truck can pull up on the driveway and unload straight into the studio. Shooting on location or in a rental studio is possible too, but for cost efficiency our own studio is still the best choice.
Can stills and video come from the same shoot?
Yes, when it's planned that way. The same products, set and styling serve both, and the video work is on our video and motion page.
Want to talk through a project?
Tell us the product, what the images are for and when you need them. We'll come back with how we'd approach the shoot.