One thing about me, is I don't fuck with Gen AI. Not only is it theft, it's terrible for the environment! So I'm making our product photos a bit more rustic so you can obviously tell our products are made by humans.

And one thing I've noticed is a rapid increase in AI product "photos" on social media like Pinterest and Tiktok and marketplaces like Etsy. The more of these AI slop "modeled" photos of non-existent clothes and jewelry came across my screen, the more I realized how I do product photography was gonna have to change.

See, I've been in the solid color background camp of product photography for well over a decade. Etsy had us all in a chokehold with white background photos for years. And while I prefer to show our products in a wide variety of settings, I don't think a white background or empty space is a necessary one - at least anymore. 

When I'm shopping online I want to see the real product in real settings so I know it's not a scam - which means I'd rather see lower quality user-submitted photos of real customers wearing something than a photoshopped mannequin on a brilliant white empty field. So I'm trying for a middle ground here - products simply displayed or held in my hand with my workshop in the background as "proof of life".

My goal is to also include process photos and videos of most products, on top of photos of them on models of a variety of sizes and skin tones, in a variety of IRL settings, and some nice close-ups for all the details.

What do you want to see when it comes to product photography? And if you say AI you can GTFO.