In a perfect world, you should get a pro photographer to shoot your products. However, if you are on a tight budget, or if you are familiar with the camera, you can certainly DIY using these product photography tips.

Product photography tips that will help you to achieve better results.

Ambient light works quite well for any type of photo and very often is underestimated. Normally, shooting in the early afternoon will work best.

There are no rules for good product photography, there are only good Product photographs.

MO STUDIOS

Harsh shadows VS soft shadows

The most common property that makes light harsh or soft is how smooth the shadows are. This is not to tell what is good or bad, just to give it a name so you know what we are talking about. Shadows is created by the angle of light. For soft light, the angle is very broad, for hard light it is narrow. With a narrower angle, it takes a longer distance for a shadow cast by hard light to become soft. If you used softer light, then, the shadow would be softened so much that it would be less visible.

If you want your product photography to aim for soft shadows go for big windows or the outdoors. To avoid a harsh shadow, don’t shoot in the direct sunlight. Try shooting on an overcast day with softer light.

Using White backgrounds in Product Photography

In product photography, a white background will look best as it creates focus on the object itself. To create a perfect white background, put a roll of white paper and bend it to create a curve. If you are using a window light technique, dont forget your white reflector card. Its purpose is to bounce light back onto the product. The light will bounce off the card and fill in all the shadows.

As you are shooting, even the slightest movement can cause camera shake so a tripod can be very handy.Even a cheap tripod will make a big difference. I did a quick search on Amazon and found something that would work for less than £20.

Alternatively, you can use a lens with VR (Vibration Reduction) or IS (Image Stabilization).

If you sell, for instance, a hat in a variety of different colours, show your customers all the options that they can choose from. A group of photos showing them all will make your product look more attractive and will improve your sales performance.

Use more than just the camera to double check images.

When you download your photography product images to your computer, don’t trust the image on the back of your camera. Images look very different on a bigger monitor.
Most cameras come with an optical and a digital zoom.

Digital zoom can drastically lower the quality of the image – it’s basically just cropping a digital picture.
Your camera might have a “close-up” and it appears on most cameras as a tulip-like icon. Often, this is used when you shoot small items like jewellery or flowers. The result is a narrower depth of field and a different perspective.
Next comes the the touching up. Simply upload your pictures images to your computer, and get to business. A product photograph can benefit greatly from cropping and color correction.

Web uploads

Once you’ve retouched the image, then, it’s time to export the final images for upload to your website.

The important part is how you set the file settings and image sizing:

Image Format: Jpeg

Quality: Between 70 – 80, 100 is typically not necessary.

Colorspace: RGB

Resize to fit: Width and Height – match your crop size

Resolution: 72 DPI (this is a standard screen res)

We hope these tips have helped take your product photography to the next level. Read more of our photography blogs here.