THE ART OF THE PRODUCT SHOT

Photographing ponies can sometimes be a challenge. They come in so many different colors, some have glitter, some are in funny looking poses etc. It can be difficult to figure out a way to photograph ponies so they all look good!

One of the best secrets to getttng great looking product shots is lighting. Sunlight is always a good source of light, but for taking pictures it's best early in the morning. You can also use lights to help create great pictures, but even then there's a way to do it that'll make some pictures better than others.

I'm going to show you how I take product shots for Ponyology. I actually just started learning how to do this and as a result you'll be noticing a lot of the old product shots around here getting updated.

Take the following example. This picture is a shot we had on the website of a cute little pony name Toboggan:


Now it's not a completely horrible picture, but it doesn't really do Toboggan much justice. In an effort to make the picture nice and bright it has become washed out. There's way too much shine reflecting off the pony making her look like she has a white stripe in some places. This takes away from her true color and appearance. Her hair also looks a bit too shiny taking away from the subtle color differences in her mane and tail.

The Setup

I found a great deal on ebay a little while back for a mini photo studio kit. It was only $36 and free shipping! Ponyology has been doing pretty well lately thanks to the holidays, so I splurged and wrote it off as a business expense. (It is tax time!) It came in the mail the other day and I couldn't wait to test it out. I'm happy to say that the kit has helped my product shops immensely! It came with two bright lights especially made for taking photographs, different colored backgrounds made of a velvety fabric so you don't get that shiny look on your backdrop. Add to that the whole thing folds up neatly into a carrying case!

I've been very please with the results so far and can't wait to start replacing some of the pony pics on this site! (It also helps that my wonderful boyfriend got me a new camera for my birthday :P ) Here's my setup:

The Results Are In

So remember that first picture of Toboggan that was washed out and cheap looking? Check out the new pic of Toboggan that's now going to be on the site:

Now that's more like it! This is a picture of a product I would actually want to buy! It's a more accurate representation of the pony's true colors, you can see the details much more clearly, the light is soft so it doesn't create a huge glare on her shiny body, but it's still just bright enough. I'm so excited to be able to take pics like this now! Yippee!

Site Overhaul

So this new photo studio has inspired me to make some changes on the site. Since I can actually take pics I'm proud of now, I've decided to show more pics of each pony for sale. From now on each pony's page with have at least a front and back shot. You'll also be able to click on each image to get an even bigger view of the pony for sale.

Keep in mind though that this site has several hundred ponies for sale, so it may take a while before all the pony pages have been updated. We will for sure do this for all newly listed ponies and will be making updates to ponies on the rest of the site as time allows.

Thanks for reading and if you didn't get the last email newsletter, we're giving a 15% discount on all orders until December 18th along with same day shipping if you order before 5pm that day. Just enter in coupon code PONYDAYS2009 while checking out to get the discount!