Product Photography by Czarina Galac
Platt College student Czarina Galac is currently studying visual effects in our Bachelor’s program. Throughout her schooling at Platt she has shown us a variety of her skills and talents from 3D Animation to Special Effects, and most recently product photography! We recently had the opportunity to interview Czarina about her experience working with local company, Seaport Oil & Vinegars, to create these beautiful and delicious looking photos.
Interviewer: You’ve recently finished some beautiful product photography for a local San Diego oil and vinegar store. What can you tell us about this particular project?
Czarina: Thank you for the compliment! The two styles of photos were actually from two separate projects.
A long while back, Seaport Oil & Vinegars (the company I did the photos for) was in the process of updating their website, and had needed pictures of their products for their online store. They offered me some basic guidelines to follow (keep it simple with a white background), and gave me freedom to set everything up however I thought was best, and thankfully, they ended up liking what I did.
Fast forward a few months later, SOV had received an invitation to expand their online business through an established e-commerce company, and had wanted a new set of pictures that was different from what they already had on their website. Leaving me with bags of product to take home, they gave me free reign over how the products were staged and shot, and just a few days to get them all done.
Interviewer: What was the most challenging part of photographing all these different elements?
Czarina: Trying to create a convincing scene out of all the pieces I had available; A good chunk of the items seen in the photos were things I randomly found in my kitchen, or purchased from the grocery store (never thought I’d walk in to one determined to find “photogenic bread”!). It took a good amount of re-configuration and guesswork, but that’s what made it fun for me; it was like figuring out a giant puzzle – I loved it!
Interviewer: What was your favorite photo from this project and why?
Czarina: I would have to say the photo with the sliced tomatoes, definitely. It really gave me the chance to bring out my inner culinary chef, and it was probably the one photo I improvised/experimented the most on, and put the most care into (don’t get me started on those balsamic vinegar dots though!).
Interviewer: How did you first get involved in product photography?
Czarina: It started with the very first time I put an item up for sale on eBay. I was looking to sell an old camera I had previously bought from another seller, and I understood that the photos had to look really good if I wanted to bring in some potential buyers, especially on a used item. What I didn’t expect to happen was for me to be INCREDIBLY picky over every little detail though; I thought about the background (living room vs office desk), if there was any dust in the crevices of the camera, if the extra roll of film was angled correctly – it just made me realize how much thought really goes into product photography, and my appreciation towards it grew ever since.
Interviewer: Do you have any advice for aspiring photographers?
Czarina: Just have fun with it! It’s almost impossible to get that perfect shot on the very first click, so give yourself the opportunity to learn and experiment around!
