Packshot photography: how Orbitvu has become a key partner for brands

In the world of e-commerce, packshot photography has become a key element in sales and customer loyalty. Brands need to be able to present their products at their best, with attractive images and precise details. However, many problems can arise during packshot photography. Shooting by hand is time-consuming and can be costly. Furthermore, mistakes are common, image quality can vary, and these problems can have a negative impact on sales. It’s against this backdrop that Orbitvu has established itself as an essential partner for brands such as Bosch, Clarks, Mercedes-Benz, Seiko, Chanel and Jagermeister. Founded in 2004, this Polish company offers efficient, high-quality automated packshot photography solutions. In this article, we take a closer look at why brands are increasingly looking to Orbitvu to enhance their packshot photography.

What are the most common problems that brands encounter in their packshot photography?

Finding the right light

One of the most common problems in product photography is the difficulty of obtaining the right light. This can quickly turn out to be a real headache…

 

 

The settings required can be numerous and complex. The height and angle of the lights, their color temperature, intensity, etc… And then you need to take test photos to determine whether these settings are the right ones… Or whether they need to be adjusted.

This problem becomes even more acute if the products you have to photograph are very different from one another. Your settings will have to be modified according to the needs of each product, its shape, color or texture. If you have the misfortune to go from a very bright or reflective product to a particularly dark one, for example, you’ll need to review your entire light profile. If you’d like to find out more about the particularities of light in packshot photography, and in particular the advantages of a toplight, we invite you to read our dedicated article.

Adjusting your lighting alone can take up a considerable amount of time before you even start your product photography session…

Setting up the photo studio

 

 

If lighting can be difficult to set up, you can imagine that the same goes for your entire photo studio, from product placement to camera placement and background choice. The problem gets even worse if you want to go beyond still photography: 360-degree animation can be just as challenging with a traditional photo studio as video.

Setting up all this equipment can be tedious and time-consuming, sometimes requiring hours of fine-tuning before you can start shooting.

Time wasted on repetitive tasks during retouching

After the actual packshot photography, comes the post-production retouching phase. If you’re just starting out with a professional studio, or if you don’t have the right equipment, you’ll often have to correct lighting, color, composition and contrast to do your product justice. However, all these corrections take time, and can often delay the launch of your new product photos…

In addition to retouching, you’ll often need to make other, more advanced modifications to the image, of which background removal is a good example. This can be a relatively easy task to do by hand with a simple tool such as Photoroom, if your product is not complex and has a good contrast between the background and the product itself… But background removal becomes particularly difficult on other products, such as a white product on a white background! In such cases, rudimentary tools such as Photoroom are no longer sufficient, and professional tools require advanced knowledge to master, not to mention the surgical precision required.

And whether we’re talking about retouching or more advanced modifications, the fact remains that most of the tasks carried out in post-production will always be the same. Freeware doesn’t allow you to automate or “batcher” these tasks to save you time, whereas professional software like Photoshop will require you to pay for a license, as well as manpower trained in their use. This leaves you either with a long list of repetitive tasks with no way of automating them (a damaging waste of time and productivity), or with a subscription to pay every month and employees to train in the use of complex retouching software.

Fortunately, there’s a third solution that greatly simplifies this process, from shooting to publication, including all the retouching and editing you might need, and all without a subscription to pay every month… But we’ll tell you more about it later in this article.

The difficulty of ensuring continuity and homogeneity between all your photos

Without careful planning and execution, you can end up with a set of photos that lack harmony and coherence.

Variations in light can affect the color, saturation and contrast of products, creating inconsistencies. This light can also have an impact on the hue of the background, which can distract the customer’s attention away from the product. Framing is also important: if your products are not always placed in the same place in the frame, or at the same distance, this can also be particularly distracting for the customer, especially if we’re working on the same type of product (shoes, for example).

 

 

So it’s essential that you plan your packshot photography carefully. You need to make sure before each shoot that the shooting parameters are consistent, that the light is uniform, that the backgrounds are identical, and that the orientation and framing conform to a predefined standard.

The need for a sound knowledge of photography

To produce professional-quality photos, it’s often necessary to have a sound knowledge of photography and a thorough command of the photo studio. Unfortunately, many companies don’t have the in-house skills to produce quality photographs of their products. For this reason, many brands use professional photographers, either in-house or outsourced, but this can quickly become a costly proposition.

Orbitvu: automated solutions to take your packshot photography to the next level!

A brief presentation of Orbitvu

With over 10 years’ experience in the industry, Orbitvu is the largest manufacturer of automated solutions for photography, distributed worldwide. As the preferred partner of over 6,000 brands, from America to Japan to France, Orbitvu is synonymous with quality and reliability.

 

 

Based in Poland, Orbitvu can rely on a team of over 20 skilled and dedicated engineers, who develop all products in-house and from scratch. This team is at the cutting edge of technology and works tirelessly to innovate and offer its customers ever more effective and efficient solutions.

Orbitvu is the number one choice of packshot professionals and brands worldwide. If you’re looking for a quality solution for your automated photography needs, don’t hesitate!

Orbitvu automated photo studios: what are they?

An automated photo studio for packshot photography is a sophisticated electronic device for producing product photographs with extreme precision and quality. This type of studio is equipped with a set of automated devices, including lighting, camera supports, background and a rotating platform (among others and depending on the model), all of which are computer-controlled.

 

 

But to go a step further, let’s take a look at some of the common problems in product photography… And how Orbitvu can make your life easier.

Why do brands choose Orbitvu for their packshot photography?

Your studio and lighting set-up in the blink of an eye

The photography process with an automated photo studio is extremely simple and efficient.

Lighting and camera settings can be automatically adjusted according to product type. You can also reuse old saved settings to ensure perfect consistency. When you install the Orbitvu Station software, you’ll benefit from pre-saved templates ! They enable you to have a typical lighting set-up according to the desired rendering on your product.

 

 

The product can be placed on a turntable, which automatically rotates it under the camera lens. This makes the production of 360-degree videos or animations particularly trivial.

Say goodbye to repetitive tasks during alterations

 

 

Orbitvu studios come with an intuitive software package, Orbitvu Station. This software lets you automate most of your repetitive tasks. It also offers you turnkey features to optimize all your post-production processes. Precise background cropping or fine image adjustment, automatic export and publishing of your content, and much more. With Orbitvu, optimize your workflow and boost your productivity like never before!

Guaranteed standardization and consistency for all your photos

Orbitvu Station also saves all your parameters – from lighting to camera settings to placement – as profiles for reuse.

No more hours of setting up and planning. All you have to do is click on the right profile before shooting, while ensuring perfect consistency between all your photos, past and future!

A turnkey solution

With Orbitvu, you don’t need years of photography experience to successfully showcase your products. The studio automates all the technical and complex parts, and does them for you. It’s a totally turnkey solution, thanks in particular to the companion software, Orbitvu Station. So you’re up and running straight away!

We also offer a short optional training course if you’d like to go further or need additional support.

Offer your customers a better shopping experience

 

 

With Orbitvu Studios, you can quickly and easily create high-quality videos and 360-degree animations of your products. These medias will hold your customers’ attention and help them form a better opinion of your products before they buy. They’ll buy with greater confidence, which in turn will increase conversions on your e-commerce site. A win-win situation!

And it’s for these reasons that Orbitvu has established itself as the essential partner for brands. Thanks to their patented technology, they have succeeded in simplifying and accelerating the creation of high-quality packshot visuals. Orbitvu saves you time and money, while improving the quality of your visuals and their marketing impact. Contact us for more information, and we’ll be happy to help you!