Chamber Creative Collection: Product Photo How To's

Welcome back to the second Chamber Creative Collective — a blog series designed to give you simple, practical tips to feel more confident with your marketing and promotions.

In this series, we’re focusing on easy ways to improve your social media presence, create better assets, and make the whole process feel a lot less intimidating.

This Week: Photos 📸

For most of the photos we take (and videos, but we’ll get to that later), we use our phones. It’s convenient, always within reach, and honestly, more than capable of producing great content. While we do use cameras in certain situations, day-to-day, our phones get the job done.

For this blog, we’re focusing specifically on product shots — something many of our members rely on to showcase what they offer.

Our Tips for Taking Great Photos

Lighting

Lighting is half the battle.

You can have the perfect setup, but if the lighting isn’t right, the photo won’t land the way you want it to when people are scrolling. And while editing helps, it can only do so much.

Whenever possible, use natural light. It brings out colours, feels more authentic, and usually requires less editing. If natural light isn’t an option, make sure your subject is well lit and that you’re not unintentionally blocking your light source.

Also, pay attention to whether your lighting is warm or cool. This will impact the overall feel of your photo. We tend to lean toward cooler tones, but this comes down to personal preference and can always be adjusted during editing.

Subject

When we’re taking product shots, we usually focus on one main item. That said, the background still matters.

An interesting or recognizable background can add context and personality to your photo. This is especially helpful if you have a storefront, signage, or a space people already associate with your brand.

Over time, as you take more photos, you’ll naturally develop a style that people begin to recognize — even without obvious branding.

Example:
One of our favourite shots is from Georgian Grill’s Greek Fries. It was a sunny day, so we leaned into the natural light, captured the blue sky, and included their iconic sign in the background with the fries front and centre.

What we didn’t plan for? That perfectly timed drizzle of flavoured oil. Total accident — but it ended up making the shot. That’s the fun part about photography: sometimes the best moments aren’t planned.

Positioning

You’ve probably heard of the rule of thirds, but for product shots, we often prefer placing the subject right in the centre. It creates a clean, balanced look, especially when you’re highlighting a single item.

We still like having some depth in the background — a bit of blur, a bit of texture — just to keep things visually interesting.

That said, this is where personal style really comes in. We tend to lean toward slightly “busier” backgrounds, but a minimal, clean look can be just as effective. You’ll figure out what works best for you over time.

“Okay… but how do I actually get better?”

The honest answer? Practice.

We’ve taken a lot of not-great photos to learn how to take good ones. It comes down to trying things out, looking critically at what you’ve captured, and asking yourself:

• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• What would I change next time?

Social media can make it feel like everything has to be perfect, but that’s not reality. What looks perfect to one person won’t to another.

Our biggest piece of advice: just start. Try things. Experiment. Even now, we still take photos that don’t turn out — it’s part of the process.

And don’t let perfectly polished feeds (or AI-generated images) stop you from creating your own.

Our Tips for Editing Photos

The Programs & Apps We Use

Canva

If we know a photo is going straight into a Canva design, we’ll usually edit it directly in Canva. That way, we’re not editing the same image multiple times.

Canva’s tools cover the basics really well — brightness, contrast, temperature — and that’s typically all we need for most images.

Photoshop Express

For most of our editing, we use Photoshop Express on mobile.

It’s easy to use, has all the essential tools, plus features like retouching and filters. We use the retouch tool a lot — whether it’s removing crumbs, cleaning up a plate, or getting rid of something random that made its way into the shot.

It’s around $50/year, and for how often we use it (both professionally and personally), it’s been well worth it.

Example

A recent photo we took on MegaMindful’s patio needed a bit of brightening, but more importantly, there were a few stray “bacon” bits that distracted from the shot.

Using Photoshop Express, we were able to quickly clean that up and bring the focus back to the food — simple edits that made a big difference in the final image.