The Client and Their Brief
Isle of Wight Tomatoes grow amazing produce, and they wanted some fresh new imagery to help show off just how amazing it is. Neil from Orange Peel Creative got in touch with us with some art direction and away we went.
The overarching theme of the shoot was ‘sunshine’. All of the shots needed to feel sunny, like the island, like the brand. We love lighting challenges in the studio so our heads got to work straight away, thinking about hard light and getting warm tones into the shots without muddying the overall look.
There were four distinctive parts to this photography brief. The boxed produce that is sold to homes and restaurants, some new sharp and clean packshots, some flay lay group shots and some eye catching, scroll stopping ‘burst’ images.
Over three days in our studio we worked through that brief picking the best fresh tomatoes to showcase the brand. We enlisted Rebecca Smale to style the ‘burst’ shots, which were flat lay product shots of ketchup, pesto, juice etc. with the ingredients cut and arranged about the tops to look like flavour bursting out of the tops. Chef’s kiss!
What We Did
Having a tight visual brief for photography shoots like these is key. IOWT already had some good work on their site, we were looking to level it up. Which means solving challenges ahead of time. We talked a lot about the highlights on the glass bottles and jars, we had new labels delivered so that we could apply them ourselves so they were perfectly straight. Some of the clear labels had given them issues previously due to air bubbles getting stuck and looking messy. We knew we could smooth this out in post production, and yes some was needed, but in our experience it’s best to make issues as small as possible! So a lot of time went into preparing the products before shooting.
Neil helped us group the right things together in the boxes and for the brand imagery. For these we wanted some warmth in the shadows, but not overpowering the cleaner white balance of our main light, so ran two light heads in similar positions, one with a warming gel on to add that warmth into the shadows.
The burst shots were a work up, brand colours were chosen to complement the labels and colour of the sauces, juices, etc. These are all about shapes, vibrancy and fun. Watching Bex meticulously and carefully construct these was a joy to behold. Having clear art direction and a stylist to execute the plan really elevates campaign imagery. In particular Food Photography suffers if you’re making big decisions on set, it makes time for food to go passed its best.
How It Looks
The Results
The final collection gave Isle of Wight Tomatoes a consistent bank of imagery they could use across their website, marketing banners, point-of-sale materials and social channels.
Most importantly, every image carried the same feeling: fresh, vibrant and unmistakably sunny.
