# Product Photography: Create Images that Sell - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/product-photography-create-images-that-sell/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Photography · Solid intro · Rated 7 /10 # Product Photography: Create Images that Sell Updated August 2026 Olena Hassell · Photographer, Videographer, Stylist All levels · 95 min A working Instagram photographer hands over her exact prop rules, light setup, and phone-editing formula in under 100 minutes. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fproduct-photography-create-images-that-sell%2F1799171038) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## A prop closet turned into a curriculum Olena Hassell builds this course around a genuinely useful premise: you do not need equipment to shoot sellable product photos, you need a system. The arc runs from prop selection through studio setup, shooting angles, composition, styling, phone editing, and Instagram promotion, and each stage hands the viewer a concrete rule rather than a mood. The "Shoot Prep" lesson alone is dense with specifics: build props around size, color, and charm, favor small saucers over dinner plates, start with white, beige, gray, and black before adding accent colors, and hunt thrift stores for tarnished brass and handmade ceramics because imperfection reads as charm on camera. This is the kind of granular, opinionated advice that separates a real working photographer's course from a generic one. The studio setup lesson is where the course earns its "beginner friendly" claim most convincingly. A rickety chair, a piece of canvas or cardboard, poster paper, and tape become a seamless backdrop, and a single north-facing window supplies all the light. The demonstration of diagnosing harsh shadows and fixing them with a reflector placed opposite the window, then softening direct sun with a diffuser or a sheet of parchment paper taped over the glass, is the most transferable technical content in the class. It also flags an easy mistake beginners make without realizing it: wearing a brightly colored shirt while shooting, which casts a color tint onto a white product scene. ## Where the structure thins out Composition and color theory get a full lesson each, walking through the rule of thirds, visual triangles, and complementary, analogous, and triadic color pairings, illustrated with real scenes like a birthday card flatlay and a pastel nail polish shot. The styling walkthrough that follows, building a cozy autumn tea scene layer by layer with a sweater, scarf, pumpkins, and fairy lights glowing through poured tea, is the closest the course gets to a masterclass moment. It shows the actual decision-making, not just the finished frame. The editing lesson is thorough on execution but narrow in scope. It walks through Lightroom Mobile's crop, profile, curves, and color panels step by step, down to specific slider values, then layers a VSCO filter on top. That level of detail is a gift for anyone who has never opened these apps, but it also means the lesson teaches one specific look, a warm autumnal edit, rather than a transferable editing framework. A viewer shooting a cool, modern, minimal product line will have to reverse-engineer the same panels toward a different result on their own. The closing promotion lesson covers posting cadence, hashtag strategy, and analytics access, useful context but not photography instruction, and it dates the course to a specific era of Instagram's algorithm rather than evergreen practice. ## The verdict This is a well-organized, specific, and honestly practical introduction to shooting product photos at home, let down only by an editing lesson that teaches one filter recipe instead of general principles and a promotion lesson that will age faster than the photography content around it. For its intended audience, a beginner selling handmade goods online, it delivers exactly what the title promises. The standout The step-by-step styling demo, where a cup of tea scene is built layer by layer from a base sweater to a scarf, hero placement on grid intersections, and story-supporting props like pumpkins and anise flowers, gives a repeatable template rather than abstract advice. ## What you will learn - · How to build a one-window natural light studio using a chair, poster paper, and a reflector - · How to select and layer props using the size, color, and charm rules - · How to shoot straight-on, three-quarter, and flatlay angles without slanted horizons or shallow focus mistakes - · How to compose a scene using the rule of thirds, a visual hero, and complementary, analogous, or triadic color schemes - · How to edit a photo on a phone using Lightroom Mobile crop, profiles, curves, and color panels followed by a VSCO filter pass - · How to plan an Instagram posting rhythm, hashtag count, and engagement strategy around a business account Best for: A small business owner or craft seller who already owns a smartphone and a window and wants a repeatable system for shooting and editing sellable product photos at home. Skip it if: Anyone with DSLR studio lighting experience, or a photographer looking for advanced retouching, off-camera flash, or e-commerce platform specifics beyond Instagram. Helpful Examples Engaging Teacher Clarity of Instruction Organization of Lessons [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fproduct-photography-create-images-that-sell%2F1799171038)