Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A BUSINESS- Starting a Prop Room

photo from Nantaka Joy by Karen Wise

As I've written before, one of the things that separates really professional looking product photography from your average shot is the overall presentation. You want to aspire and inspire your guest, and propping is a huge part of that. A great benchmark I recommend is looking at Karen Wise's shots for Nantaka Joy (two are above). They're professionally done, but what makes them so successful is that even in a small crop you can get a sense of the space and the world that the person lives in, and that while it's all visually interesting, it's not distracting from the product.

Start collecting items that work with your product to add more dimension to what you're trying to convey about it. Props can help define scale, dictate use, or illustrate a lifestyle that your customers aspire to. Look at your favorite magazines and shopping sites and see what they put in their shots for ideas. Props can come from your home or can be items that are specifically for photography purposes only. As your collection grows, find a closet space or shelving system and consider organizing it by color or by aesthetic style (modern, antique, natural, distressed, et cetera).

Here's a checklist of staples to get you started - edit as needed based on your industry:

• vases and/or other interesting glass vessels, such as bell or apothecary jars
• flowers, silk and real
• frames
• plates
• fabric, in solids and patterns
• wood surfaces, distressed and polished
• calligraphy pens
• vase filler: sand, stones, polished gems
• small pottery
• pencils and sharpeners
• cake stands (basic white ones are great to display product on)
• dried botanicals: lavender, eucalyptus (stems and pods), pine cones
• vintage or unusual stamps
• vintage dress form or bust
• antique hand mirrors
• metal trays, modern and antique
• books with interesting spines, particularly older hard bounds with foil stamping

I'll be taking a break on Thursday, as I'm out of town on business, but next Tuesday we'll look at some great finds around the Internet to get you started. In the meantime, hit up your local antique shops, and get prepared for garage sale season!

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.