Photography Tips with Jeff Delacruz President of POW Photography #25

today we’ll be talking about photography and what it takes to have good photos. My name is Stephen Pope, and I’m the founder of my Amazon guy. This is theme I Amazon Guy podcast. All right, so now I’m joined by Jeff Dela Cruz, who’s the president of power photography or products on white photography. I’ve thanks for Thanks for joining me, Jeff. I appreciate it

happy to be here,

so I’ve personally used their service and absolutely recommend them to my clients. And some of my clients have also used their service, and I think there are go to place of professional photography. But just to start us off on our podcast today to qualify you as an expert in the space, can you walk us through why you guys are the go to place? Why do you think you guys are doing it right, so to speak?

Sure. So products on life photography we specialize in just white background product photos for e commerce. Amazon Sellers. That’s our specialty. That’s what we do. 9 to 5. Monday through Friday, seven days a week. Um, right now we got seven full time photographers shooting this stuff every day. Um, and one of the things that really makes a special. Besides, the fact that we’ve photographed hundreds of products for thousands of sellers, um is that we really focus on quality. So I think a lot of sellers out there I’m sorry. A lot of photographers out there we’ll just stick it in a light tent or just use cookie cutter lighting. We’re not doing that. One thing that we’re doing that’s really special is actually lighting these products in a very special way. So if you imagine we have these big sets such a product on their we look atyour match directions and we can copy it exactly. We can say all we want to highlight here, or we want toe, uh, at a little bit of fill in the cider at a hard shadow. Um, each product is being lists, especially and then retouched. We do a lot of compositing to really make it look beautiful and just putting this. You’re putting your product in a light tan and taking a shot. There’s no way you could make it look this good. So that’s really what we do best.

I I completely agree with you and the reason I know this is because I tried to shoot some photos of my wine glasses and they looked like trash. And so then I sent one to you guys, and it looked way better. I also sent one of my glasses into Amazon’s photo service and yours be theirs as well. So, um, so yeah, definitely would prop you up. Is an expert in this space here. Um, how did you come up with the name of your company?

Well, you know, it’s products on my backgrounds. We wanted to keep it pretty. Uh, pretty simple. So products on Wait. Um, and then we were like, Wow, this is kind of cool. We could call it Powell. So we call power for short when we’re talking to people. You know, the answer. The phone. How How can I help you? You know, it’s,

uh how can I help you there, Ugo? That’s great.

So, uh so, yeah, so I don’t know. It’s ah, just want to make a simple

and so right now is you know, the economy is going through this crazy revolution on, and as I understand it, you started your company in the middle of the last economic fallout back in 2000 and walk me through that.

Yeah. So, um, first of all, I’ve been a photographer for a really long time at this point, Um, you know, So I remember what it was like to be a photographer before, before the 2008 meltdown. And, um so it was me and my business partner in 2008. Um, is we just lost all our business as freelancers? June custom stuff, lifestyle stuff. Um, and but one thing that kept coming in was the’s just white background photos and people just wanted, like, one or two shots of their product. But as a professional, we would build it as a day rate. We would say, Oh, you want a full day of shooting? That would be, you know, 5 500 to $1000 a day or something like that. And that was just ridiculous. If you just wanted one product photo on a white background. So we’re like, there’s gotta be a way we can help all these sellers, right? And so that’s how we created our system, where we flat rated per photo where you can send send it in order online, sinister products but what it was. But the genesis of that when we came to realize is that, um is that this was the kind of the beginning of the Amazon gold rush. And this was these were sellers that had been laid off of their job. They had kind of maybe lost faith in having job security. And they were like they wanted to take their, um they’re, ah, life into their own hands, right? And this was a way that they could do it. They could say I could I could get my own products from China and resell them on Amazon. Or I could create a brand and sell it on Amazon and was super easy back then. It’s a little bit harder now. I think that’s

why we’re in business.

That’s right. That’s why you’re around here. Uh, but back then it was so much easier. And I think it was a real opportunity for people to kind of take control of their lives. And I think we’re probably going to see that again. Maybe differently. Now. I think it’s gonna be more established. Businesses that have kind of resisted the e commerce push that are saying

I’ll have no choice.

Now, I have no choice. Yeah, we have a couple of clients like that right now. You are

mad, Dash. Okay, we’re gonna shoot 1000 photos. We need We need this by Friday. Come on, Jeff.

Get exactly exactly

sure that’s coming in. Uh, it’s definitely definitely chaotic right now. So, um, so let’s get into the heart of our conversation today. Photography is an art that is hard to get, right. And you’re an expert. You can speak to both the art and the science behind photography. So? So this question would not surprise me if it took us the majority of our podcast to get through. But what makes a good photo?

Oh, man, that’s such a ah e. It’s a cultural Ah, kind of, like, you know, aa dark hole there because you could really go into, Like, what? What do we like? You know what? What is pleasing to us? What do we need? You know, maybe we could just kind of compartmentalize this to just, um, Like what? What is going to encourage people on Amazon to click my listing photo? Right? Because when I think about it, when I think about Amazon, that may listen. Image is the most important image into getting somebody to click. And, um, and if somebody doesn’t search for like like, um, like, lip balm, bunch of it lip balms are gonna show up. One of them is gonna be your image. And the rest of you were going to be your hundreds of other competitors, right? And making optimizing that image. Making that image look good is the real question I think that we need to focus on, I think.

Yeah, yes. Oh, so I agree with you, and I teed that question of knowing it was impossible to answer. Right. But, like so we’re gonna try, and we’re gonna try and tackle that question and compartmentalize it a little bit. So, uh, clearly, a lot of people know at this stage that they need their main photo on white all ah, power photography pictures on white photography. And and so but there’s a lot of elements that go into it. So, like, walk me through why your studio shot is superior to that light kit tent, if you will.

Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I think first of all, you know you. You got to get beyond the idea that you just got to meet the requirements. The Amazon image requirements for that main list image is just, ah, product on a white background. That’s like the bare minimum. Right? And anybody can really do that. Um, you know, you could just put up a piece of white paper and take a photo of your product, and you’ve done it right? But that’s not what we’re talking about here we’re talking about How do I win that click? How doe. I have my photo stand out. And really, it’s all about how you light the product. How do you make it different? How do you make it look better? Um, you know. Ah. And I think that’s that’s what that means is different to every product. So, for example, like we could shoot a bottle you’re talking about like a white wine bottle before.

Yeah, So wine glass I’ve got No, I don’t have

a glass.

Well, maybe I d’oh. So a wine glass is very difficult to shoot photography wise. Cause of the lighting because of the refraction of the glass makes it really, really difficult. So we packed these really well, that’s why it took me so long and hear that crackling in the background, if you just listening in. So

like a transparent glass with some type on the front, very difficult product and to photograph.

And as I put this on the Webcam for those that are watching the video, you can see the refraction of the wine glasses. I rotated around very difficult to actually read what’s on the Glass. And so when I was trying to get this wine glass shot, we would throw liquids into it. We would try and take without a liquid shot and play around with it. And it’s not easy, not easy at all.

Yeah, and I think like a lot of people find us when they’re struggling to kind of take these type of product photos because you’re just you’re just not gonna be able to make that look good on your own. Not unless you have all the right gear and know how to use it.