For Photographers

Product Photography Standards

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Many commercial photographers do product photography and it’s usually done on a white background. This style of product photography is very common. Web sites, catalogues, newspaper ads, brochures, and billboards, all frequently use “product-on-white.”

A white background is popular because: it reproduces easily and consistently in any medium; it doesn’t distract from the product nor cause any colour cast; it won’t go out of style; it’s easy to drop out or overlay with text; and it’s easy to merge multiple product photos together. White is the most versatile product background.

Crazily enough, in 2014, Amazon was granted a US patent for product-on-white photography. This caused quite an uproar. Tens of thousands of photographers petitioned the US Patent Office to cancel the patent. But photographers can still shoot products on a white background. Amazon’s patented technique is somewhat specific in nature and it’s also unenforceable.
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Accounting for yourself

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If you haven’t learned this by now, you must have organized records for your business and these records must be kept for at least six years.

Here’s a brief, alphabetical list of software for accounting, small business management, estimating and invoicing that may be of help to photographers. Some of these are expensive and some are free.

Acclux
Blinkbid
Fotobiz and Fotoquote
Freshbooks
Light Blue
Minutiae
Quickbooks
Studio Cloud
Studio Plus
Tave
Wave
Xero
17 Hats
Zoho Books

 

Through the looking glasses

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It’s amazing how many business portrait photographers don’t know how to properly photograph someone who’s wearing eyeglasses. Photographers like myself, who wear prescription eyeglasses, might be more sensitive about this than photographers who don’t wear glasses.

Creating a good business portrait of a subject wearing eyeglasses is not difficult to do. The photographer has to pay attention to the position of the glasses and the lighting. The subject’s eyes are the highlight of the photo and should always be unobstructed.

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Insurance for Canadian Photographers

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(Updated July 25, 2025)

It should be obvious that insuring your camera equipment and your business is very important. Some customers and some locations may require that you show proof of insurance (i.e. a certificate of insurance). In some situations you may have to increase your coverage or temporarily add a customer or venue to your policy as an additional insured. Any such additional insurance costs should be billed to the customer.

Here are some Canadian companies that offer photo-related insurance. This is not meant as a recommendation.

 

Disclosure: I was insured with CG&B Insurance (aka. Unionville Insurance) from about 1985 to 2016. I’ve been insured with Front Row Insurance since 2016.

For annual insurance, I currently pay about $1.32 per $100 of equipment insured, plus $270 for $2M liability insurance, plus other insurance options, plus provincial sales tax. The cost may vary from province to province. My policy automatically includes up to $5,000 for a laptop, and $10,000 for office equipment (desktop computer, furniture, etc.).

 

Some Canadian Insurers

PhotoPac from Arthur J. Gallagher Canada is insurance for photographers and filmmakers. Photographers may recall PhotoPac from Unionville Insurance Brokers (late 1970s to mid-1990s). Then it became PhotoPac from CG&B Group (late 1990s to 2010s). It’s now PhotoPac from Gallagher which is part of an international insurance brokerage. Note that the provided link to stepinsure.com is correct but it doesn’t always work which isn’t reassuring.
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Still Life and Portraits

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Still life photography is making pictures of inanimate subjects. Portrait photography is the opposite; it’s about making pictures of animated subjects. Yet the photo techniques of the two are the same.

What separates still life photography from portrait photography is that the former is still while the latter should have (e)motion.

A still life is about the photograph but a portrait is about the subject.

In a still life, the photographer is visibly important. But in a portrait, the photographer should be invisible.

It took me a long time to understand this.

 

The Death of Customer Relationships

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Most larger companies outsource their customer service to the Internet. Got a question or problem? Use the online user forum, online help pages, online chat, or search the company web site. The customer is pretty much forced to self-serve, self-diagnose and self-fix their problem.

This reliance on the Internet allows companies to cut costs. But outsourcing to the lowest bidder, in this case the Internet, pushes customers away. It kills personal interaction and eliminates customer relationships.

No customer relationship => no customer loyalty => no business.

Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.

– Jeffrey Gitomer

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Photographer or Psychologist

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A portrait photographer’s primary job is to make their subject feel good about themselves. Sure, you also have to do flattering photos. But if the subject doesn’t feel confident about themselves, they won’t like the photo results.

Why might they not like the finished pictures? They might think their nose is too big, their jaw is crooked, their eyes uneven, their hair not right, their smile not good enough, or any of a hundred other things.

A person doesn’t see themselves the same way as others see them. This is partly due to lateralization of emotion: a photograph shows the real us and not the reversed mirror reflection that we’re used to.

It’s also due to expectation and hope. We expect to look as young as we feel and we hope to look like a movie star. We expect to look better than average and we hope no one can see our flaws.
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