I recently did a product photo shoot for a kids product I invented and am launching. Instead of staging and styling the photos myself, I decided to use an IKEA store.
I’m not a professional photographer, I’m an inventor, so someone who knows how to use a camera properly will inevitably be able to get much better results from this little trick than I did… but it served me well!
Recently, I kept on getting request from bloggers for some more photo’s of my product in situ. All the original photography had been done in a studio and dressed with items from high street stores, but the second time around I had neither the time nor money (nor energy) to do this again!
I realised that IKEA was nearby with a multitude of home and office environments that teams of people had spent getting just right. So disguising my product in the nearest designer FRAKTA bag, I headed for the nursery section and set up some shots.
It was surprisingly easy to get away with. Here are the photos I ended up with:
And here are some tips if you’d like to try this yourself:
1) Go an hour before closing – by this point the staff will want to go home and won’t care.
2) Take a cover story just in case they do.
3) Move tags out of shot — it’s easier than Photoshopping (which I later found out)
4) Don’t be afraid to move things, especially lighting.
5) Confidence is everything
6) For extra credit, swap you blue FRAKTA for a hello on the way in.
My concerns about hostile staff didn’t turn out to be an issue, although I did do our best to be subtle and make sure I put everything back in place to not cause any burden or problems for IKEA.
About the author: Jeremy Bond is an inventor based in London, UK, and the creator of MURO. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Image credits: IKEA store photo by Magnus D
