Product Photos – Handmade Scarfs by Melinda LaBarge

I am so not a product photographer.

My normal beat is nature and the forest, with occasional dabbling in architectural photography. Every now and then, my wife Melinda LaBarge completes a new batch of her handmade silk and wool scarfs, and I photograph them for her website. Normally, this is a somewhat complex process involving backdrops and light stands with Melinda and I dancing around one another and our three Shelties as she arranges each scarf on a mannequin so that I can photograph them. This is a necessary part of the process, but not one that either one of us particularly enjoys.

In the last batch of photos I did, the scarfs and shawls looked distant and too formal. I wanted to create something more inviting, something that would make the viewer want to reach out and touch the scarfs. This time around, instead of the backdrop, mannequin, and lighting setup I decided to lay the scarfs on a piece of light-toned wood using only natural window light. While these photos effectively remove that feeling of formality and distance, they are still not quite there. This is the aspect of product photography that I find most challenging, but I am thrilled to see that my skills are slowly improving.